Echoes of Fire (The Mercury Pack #4)(87)
Madisyn felt her eyelid twitch. Oh, this guy could not be believed. She splayed her hands on the bar. “Petty? Petty is sitting in a corner, rubbing yourself all over one guy to get a reaction out of another guy—too vain to be able to handle that he is not now nor ever has been interested. Even you have to be rolling your eyes at that shit. If you’re not, you’re as pathetic as she’s acting.”
His eyes narrowed as he studied her. “You’re not a bobcat.”
“Aren’t I?”
Ally sidled up to her. “Is there a problem here?”
“Claudia just wanted to buy Bracken a congratulatory drink on finding his mate,” said the asshole, pretending innocence. “The cat here mistook Claudia’s intention.”
Ally snorted. “Not even a loyal shopper like me is going to buy that crap. Madisyn, go take your break. He isn’t worth your time.”
“You got that right.” Madisyn walked out from behind the bar and made her way to the break room near Harley’s office, resisting the urge to toss Claudia a well-deserved snarl.
The coffee maker and vending machine took the brunt of Madisyn’s annoyance as she forcibly jabbed buttons and stomped around. Plonking herself on one of the padded seats, she shoved aside a pile of newspapers and roughly bit into her candy bar. No, it wasn’t fair to take her mood out on the chocolate, but whatever.
Trying to pull back her frustration before it reached Bracken through their bond, she distracted herself by reading the safety posters on the wall and the notices on the corkboard, all the while tracing the scars on the surface of the table to give her restlessness an outlet. Little by little, her tension began to fade.
She was sipping her coffee when the door opened . . . and in breezed Claudia. Madisyn jumped to her feet, gaping. “What the ever-loving fuck?”
Claudia shut the door and held up her hands in a gesture of peace. “I just want to talk.”
“Yeah? I don’t.” She wanted to scratch the bitch’s eyes out. Her cat wanted to claw off her nipples, which sounded more fun.
Claudia shoved a hand through her hair, looking . . . embarrassed. “I owe you an apology. Bracken is your mate, and I didn’t give that the amount of respect it deserved. For that, I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I think we can help each other.”
Madisyn stared at her, lips parted. “Are you high?”
“Look, now that he has a mate, I understand that it’s no longer possible for Bracken to be my personal bodyguard,” conceded Claudia, all reasonable. “But he can still be a member of my security team. Surely you would want that?”
“Oh, you’re definitely high.”
“He’s your mate. You care for him. And you have to know just how damaged he is deep inside.” Claudia glanced at the wall, gaze focused inward. “I knew someone whose bond just wouldn’t snap into place. Her mate . . . he was constantly wrestling with something dark inside himself. She thought the bond would be enough to help heal his wounds, but it wasn’t. And bit by bit, their bond disintegrated.” Claudia’s eyes met Madisyn’s. “Until then, I hadn’t known that a mating bond could crumble. But it turns out that if the bond is only partially formed, it can, in fact, happen.”
Madisyn hadn’t known that either.
“Having a mate won’t be enough to heal Bracken’s wounds. They’ll scab over, but that’s all. The only way he can deal with those wounds is by facing what caused them. He can’t go hunting extremists anymore—that would only eat at him inside—but he can still go against them in his way. Joining my security team would help him. In turn, that would help your bond progress.”
“How could that possibly happen, when you’d be doing your best to lure him away from me? You’ll want his loyalty to be only to you—don’t lie.”
Claudia shook her head. “No, I understand that it can’t be solely to me. But he can still owe me loyalty, just as he could pledge it to my father if he accepted him as his Alpha. I know that Bracken is tight with his pack mates, but I can also see that he seems to hang on the periphery of his pack now. He’s not comfortable there anymore. A fresh start would be good for him and, by extension, good for your relationship. You don’t want him in a place where he’s haunted by memories—good and bad—that will make him think of his family.”
“And your pack will easily accept a feline?”
“We already have a bobcat, so you’ll be around another of your kind. We’re very tolerant of other breeds of shifter. We don’t believe that canines should stick with canines and that felines should stick with felines. That is a narrow-minded viewpoint.”
Madisyn narrowed her eyes. “Tell me this: why are you so determined to have him on your team? He can help your image and scare the extremists that are on your ass, sure, but you don’t need him. Tell me the truth, and then we can talk about whether or not it’s worth us joining your pack.” Calling the she-wolf’s bluff, she skirted around her and went to leave the room.
“I was approached by the marketing team of a major TV company,” said Claudia. When Madisyn turned to face her, she went on. “They’re interested in giving me my own show. It’s an opportunity I’m not willing to pass up. But it will bring me a level of attention that has plenty of negativity attached to it. I’ll need my security team to be tougher and tighter than ever.” Claudia stepped toward Madisyn. “No matter what Bracken says, I don’t believe he isn’t part of the Movement.”