Echoes of Fire (The Mercury Pack #4)(63)

“I don’t just mean that,” said Roni. “Dominic needs a female who’ll give him the room to mess up. Madisyn would kill him.”

Marcus tilted his head. “Yeah, there is that.”

“On another note,” Eli said to Bracken, “I offered to put guards on the shelter, but Dawn turned it down. I get why. If lone shifters think it belongs to a pack, they won’t go there for sanctuary. We put guards there once before, and she said it made a lot of people leave.”

“The bears won’t return to the shelter.” Bracken took a swig from his bottle. “They’ll try to speak with Madisyn again, but not there. When you’re dealing with someone like her who’s hard to intimidate, you try to take them off guard to give yourself more of an edge. They’ll show up somewhere she least expects.”

“Like the grocery store or something like that,” said Eli.

Bracken nodded. “Exactly.”

“If this were any other situation, the fact that you’re her mate would probably be enough to keep them away from her.” Eli rubbed at his nape. “But for all the sows the Maverick Clan has taken over the years, Daisy is probably their heroine. She could inspire them to rise against Archer or even flee. He’ll know that, so he can’t just walk away from this.”

“No, he can’t,” agreed Cain, coming up behind them. “You know you can call on me for backup.”

“Ally doesn’t like bringing you into pack problems,” Bracken reminded him.

Cain gave a careless shrug and studied Bracken. “The last time I saw you, your eyes were empty. Even though you’re clearly pissed right now, you seem a lot better.”

“When you’re here, so do you,” Bracken told him.

“How did you like Vinnie Devereaux?”

Bracken frowned. “How do you know I met him?”

Again, Cain just shrugged. “I know lots of things.”

“He told me that Archer went to see him.” Bracken relayed the rest of what Vinnie had told him, adding, “Do you think he was telling the truth when he said he’d side with Madisyn?”

“Yes. I could tell when I spoke with him on the phone that he’s especially protective of her. Vinnie isn’t protective of many people. If he says he’ll fight alongside you in the event of a battle, believe him. On an unrelated note, how’s the Claudia Brookson matter going?”

“She wasn’t hearing my ‘no,’ so I had a talk with her, told her I was mated now, and made it clear that there was no chance I’d leave my pack. That will hopefully be the end of it.”

A deep growl rumbled out of Nick. “Don’t push me, old man!”

Bracken turned to see the Alpha glowering at Shaya’s father.

Stone just smiled at Nick, all amiable. The ex–Navy SEAL knew and happily stomped on every hot button the Alpha possessed. “I was just pointing out that the burgers are—”

“Biting the hand of the person who’ll choose your nursing home is not smart,” Nick told him as he stiffly flipped the burgers. Noticing the smirk on Marcus’s face, the Alpha sneered. “Laugh it up, Man-slut.”

Roni frowned at her brother. “Hey, we don’t call him that anymore.”

“Hold on a minute,” said Marcus, turning to his mate. “You used to call me that too?”

She shrugged. “Only in my head, so I figure it doesn’t count.”

“It totally counts.”

“Does not.”

“Does too.”

Not interested in listening to them argue, Bracken transferred both beer bottles to one hand and grabbed the bowl of pretzels from the table. He turned to walk away . . . and found himself face-to-face with Shiloh. It wasn’t often that she made eye contact with him—for two reasons. One, she was usually so engrossed in whatever game she was playing on her phone that it took her a moment to realize he was even there. Two, he got the feeling that the introverted feline avoided meeting people’s eyes because it discouraged them from trying to talk to her. But when she did make eye contact, it was never shyly—she did not blush, stutter, or fidget. No, she had a very bold stare that dared a person to lie.

When he’d first met her, she’d flicked him a bored look from under coppery-blonde bangs . . . and he’d smiled. She’d intrigued him that quickly. And the more she’d withstood his efforts to get her attention, the more he’d wanted it. The whole thing seemed trivial now.

“I heard about you and Madisyn. She’ll be good for you, so don’t fuck it up.” And then Shiloh nabbed a fork and ambled away. Huh.

Becoming very aware that silence had descended, he raised a brow at the people watching him . . . and suddenly, they all had something much more interesting to look at. With an inner snort, he headed for his mate. And frowned. Because she wasn’t on the sofa. Glancing around, he saw no sign of her. “Where’s Madisyn?” he asked Shaya.

The redhead blinked. “I don’t know. She was just here.”

Bracken once more swept his gaze around the groups of people. And another question formed in his head. “Where’s Kathy?”

Shaya jumped to her feet. “Shit.”





CHAPTER TWELVE



Madisyn had known that if she headed into the main lodge, Kathy would likely follow and try to get her alone, so it didn’t surprise Madisyn to step out of the bathroom and find the woman waiting there. It also didn’t disappoint her because she had a few things to say to the old bitch.