Echoes of Fire (The Mercury Pack #4)(58)

“Everyone’s outside,” said Kathy. “Go on through and join them.”

Casting Kathy an odd look, Bracken tugged Madisyn through the lodge, passing the empty living and dining areas. “I’d like to say that Kathy seems to have heeded my warning, but I’m not convinced.”

Neither was Madisyn. At the baby shower, Kathy had done weird stuff like ignore Madisyn’s input in a conversation as if she weren’t there and cut everyone a slice of cake except for Madisyn. When Jaime opened Madisyn’s gift, Kathy simply said, “Huh.”

Her smile had been genuine just now, but there was no real welcome in Kathy’s eyes. Madisyn shrugged. “I’d like to think she won’t do anything that might ruin the barbecue, if for no other reason than she wouldn’t want the pups to be upset.”

“So would I,” said Bracken, reaching the rear of the lodge. “Right, here we go. Ready?”

Madisyn gave a firm nod. “Ready.”

He pushed open the back door and stepped out onto the porch. The smoky air shimmered above the barbecue that Shaya’s father and Nick were manning while arguing among themselves. The people who’d gathered around them were clearly enjoying the spectacle.

Most of the guests were relaxing on the open field; some lay on blankets on the grass, and some lounged on lawn furniture, eating and drinking. The children were enjoying themselves in the play area while a Phoenix mated couple, Riley and Tao, kept watch over them.

Shaya was the first to notice Bracken and Madisyn. Beaming, she headed their way. “Hey there!”

And then it was just one hug after another as everyone made a point of passing on their congratulations. When he sensed that Madisyn was close to baring a fang, Bracken curled his arm around her waist and brought her neatly to his side. “I’m done with you lot touching my mate. I want her back, so fuck off.”

There was a female chorus of “Awwww.”

Dominic, a Phoenix enforcer with a propensity to throw cheesy lines at both mated and unmated females, grinned at Bracken. “I don’t blame you for being possessive. Madisyn’s like a candy bar—half sweet, half nuts.”

Bracken narrowed his eyes . . . mostly because that was a fairly tame line for Dominic. The enforcer tended to come out with some truly inappropriate stuff.

Grin widening, Dominic added, “I’m happy for you, Brack. I am. Though it really does pain me that I’ll never get to use her thighs as earmuffs.”

Yeah, that was more like Dominic.

When Dominic’s Alpha fisted his collar and yanked him out of Bracken’s reach—causing the enforcer to laugh idiotically—Bracken pinned Trey’s gaze and warned, “If you want him to live through today, keep him away from me.”

“Consider it done,” said Trey. As the Phoenix enforcer began to protest his innocence, Trey held up his hand. “Don’t even.”

Bracken turned to his mate. “Hungry?”

“Yep,” she said simply.

“Then we eat.” With a hot dog each and a plate filled with foods they’d selected from the long patio table situated on the grass, they both settled on a rattan sofa. Looking at Shaya, who was sitting on the chair beside the sofa, Bracken said, “I didn’t know you’d invited your dad.”

“I didn’t,” said Shaya. “He just showed up and, well, I couldn’t exactly chase him away. Though Nick really, really wanted me to. There might have even been begging involved.” Yeah, Stone and Nick didn’t get along so well.

As Madisyn took a bite out of her hot dog, the tastes of charred meat, tomato ketchup, and soft bun exploded in her mouth. “Damn, that’s good.” Hearing a whistle, she looked to see Makenna relaxing on a blanket with Ryan, who looked as grumpy as always.

Makenna subtly tipped her chin at an elderly, bitchy, and somewhat maladjusted member of the Phoenix Pack, who was also Trey’s grandmother. “Greta has Allen with her, her special friend, so she’s on her best behavior.”

Allen was the uncle of another Phoenix wolf, and he seemed blissfully unaware that Greta was a mean heifer who tried to run off every unmated female that came near her boys. By that, she meant Trey, the Beta male Dante, Tao, and the four Phoenix enforcers—Trick, Ryan, Marcus, and Dominic. Only Dominic remained unmated. She was bitchy to each of her boys’ mates except for Roni, who’d tricked the old dragon into liking her.

“Not that you need to worry that she’ll ever be shitty toward you anyway,” Makenna added. “You have her approval.”

Madisyn blinked. “I do?”

Makenna’s eyes danced with amusement. “Apparently she thinks that pallas cats are much like her.”

“Like her?”

“Unassuming, with plenty of spirit and a wicked streak.”

Madisyn frowned. “I hate that I can’t even dispute that. I don’t like to think I have anything in common with that woman.”

Taryn, the Phoenix Alpha female, raised her hands. “Okay, I wasn’t gonna say anything, but my filters are failing me. I watched the CCTV footage of you with those sows, and damn I want to be a pallas cat.” When people burst out laughing, she said, “I’m not even kidding.”

“She’s really not,” said Frankie, the Phoenix Pack’s newest addition, who sat between Trick’s legs on a blanket.