Wild and Free (The Three #3)(60)

I didn’t mind sitting in his lap, say, should we be having a quiet moment or he wanted a cuddle. In fact, I’d love it.

But this…

Weird.

I didn’t protest, mostly because of the way he did it. Like it was natural. Like we’d done it a million times before.

It was not lost on me he’d had other women. But during a strategy session, I didn’t need to get miffed and jealous, thinking about how he’d had practice yanking women in his lap and conversing like they were seated beside him, not on him.

We’d discuss that later.

Now, we had more important matters at hand.

“So none except the ones at that hotel,” Dad replied.

“None except them,” Abel confirmed.

“You think it’s pertinent we move?” Dad asked.

“I think we should consider it,” Abel answered. “They know where we are and we’re an unmoving target.”

Oh man.

“That said, we know the lay of the land here, we got a network, and they might expect us to move, gettin’ us to a place where we lose that upper hand,” Abel went on.

“Where are you leaning?” Dad pushed.

“Stay,” Abel declared. “It’s populated, and my guess is my kind are hidden. They attacked in the night, not broad daylight. They don’t want attention. But we also can dig in. More cameras on the restaurant and alley, patrols with me to see if we can sniff any out, give a heads up to those in town who owe the Jin boys a favor to keep their eyes open for new players in the city and let us know who they are so we can take a look at them.”

“Think that’s smart, bubba,” Dad grunted.

“I also think we make a meet with The Biltmore supernaturals,” Abel continued, and my body went solid.

His arm around me got tight, his fingers digging into the flesh of my hip.

“Like Jian-Li said, one of them, all of us,” Abel concluded.

“Agreed,” Xun put in. “Ma isn’t stupid. She trusted them. And if they agree to that kind of meet, that’s more trust.”

“Little girl?” Dad called, and I looked from Xun to him. “You don’t look convinced.”

“The only time I’ve been around supernaturals, they’ve been trying to kill us,” I explained.

“See your worry,” Dad muttered.

“We’ll be safe, Lilah,” Abel said, and I turned my head to catch his eyes. “Promise, bao bei. We’ll take every precaution we can.”

“We need to take Lilah out, teach her to shoot, if she doesn’t already know,” Chen announced and all eyes turned to him. “Teach her self-defense moves.” He lifted his hand and shook it in a way that it was obvious someone was preparing to negate him. “I know a bullet doesn’t stop vamp or wolf, but it might slow them down. And not much she can do without proper training, which would take years. But something is better than nothing.”

I totally agreed with that.

And, luckily, my father had taught me to shoot.

Before I could share that, Dad did.

“You think I didn’t teach my little girl her way around a firearm?” he asked with mild affront.

Chen might have responded, but I didn’t hear him because, all of a sudden, I felt Abel’s entire body tense.

Then, in a flash, he was out of his seat, me with him, his arms squeezing me so close it was like he wanted to absorb me. His head was turned sharply, ear to the back wall, beyond which was the front door.

He was sniffing.

“Wolf,” he whispered.

The room went wired at the same time it filled with activity, everyone heading toward the door.

“Stop,” Abel growled. Everyone stopped and turned to him. “It’s the female.”

“What?” I asked.

“Warn Jian-Li,” Abel ordered, and Wei shot out of the room.

Abel sniffed the air again.

“Okay, crap, okay, crap!” I wasn’t proud, but I started panicking. I mean, a wolf was descending! “Abel, are there more?”

“Only her,” he murmured, then pushed me toward Dad. “Hold tight. I’m gonna check.”

“What?” I asked. “No!” I cried when he was gone in a blur.

Dad grabbed hold of me.

“Cool it, little girl,” he warned.

I stared at the door.

Thirty seconds later (I counted), we saw a blur, then we saw Abel, his eyes to my father.

I leaned against Dad in relief.

“No more. Just her,” he declared. “You want different scenery for lunch?”

“Sit down with a female werewolf?” Dad asked, brows high, eyes dancing with the promise of adventure, the crazy biker. “Number one on my bucket list.”

“I’m going,” I stated.

Abel looked to Snake, Jabber, Moose, and Poncho. “She’s in here with you. Xun will be at the door.”

“What?” I snapped, and Abel looked to me. “I’m going.”

“No, you’re not,” he returned.

“You said she wasn’t a threat,” I pointed out.

“Doesn’t mean one isn’t at her back,” Abel retorted.

“You didn’t smell him,” I reminded him.