Page 61 of Claimed

He rolls his eyes and asks, “Anything else of interest?”

I shake my head. “She didn’t have much there at all. There’s a bunch of wrapped gifts with names on them that were hidden. I put them into the suitcase. I also found seventy bucks hidden under the mattress, wrapped between two bags of catnip. The whole suitcase had catnip dustings in it.”

I found out catnip helps hide scents from shifters from Tyson. Ty told us he ate it daily for years whenever he was within thirty minutes of Arcana Falls or Drowsy Hollow.

Grey says, “I’ll go through everything when I get back. Leave it here. But do not go maverick on this shit, Bailey. If your help is needed, we’ll ask for it. Yeah? Which room at the HoJo?”

I look away and roll my eyes. “Four.”

Jason Creed strolls up on foot looking and smelling as incredible as he always does.

“Grey. Squirt.”

I shoot him an evil eye for the nickname, but I don’t really mean it and he knows it. He snickers, flashing his dimples which makes me weak in the knees (as always) before his attention turns to my brother. “Anything I need to know before you go?”

Grey raises his finger to Jase and levels me with a serious look.

“Tell me you hear me, Bailey. My mate’s former pack alpha, her brother, is probably still out there plotting to take over, to take the council members out and kidnap Erica. Don’t fuck around.”

“What’d she do now?” Jason asks, looking tweaked.

Now?

“One sec, bro,” Grey says and looks me in the eyes. “Tell me you get me, baby sister.”

“Okay, okay.” I wave my hands in assent.

“Talk later, Bail. Thanks for comin’ over. Jase’ll hang and make sure all’s well until I get back.” He jerks his chin toward the door, giving me a meaningful look that meansscram.

He already texted me saying she needs a friend, that she’s filled with guilt and that her former pack did damage to her self-esteem, doesn’t value and respect women. He said she’s feeling guilty about shooting Tyson, about poisoning some of our alphas. That she was forced to do these things. I assured him I’d help. And I will.

I grab the three-quarters full trash bag of clothes I threw together and go inside with my big tote bag slung over my shoulder.

Stacy is sitting on the couch, nibbling on her thumbnail. She looks like a fish out of water.

“Hi. How are ya? Settling in okay?” I ask, setting my tote on the coffee table, the trash bag on the rug.

“I…yeah. Thanks.” She clears her throat.

“Honestly?” I prod.

Her face flushes pink. “I… don’t know actually,” she says with a shrug while watching me fish through my tote, pulling out the bottle of coconut rum.

“You guys drink that orange juice we brought over?” I unearth two tetras of pineapple juice, too.

“It’s still there,” she replies.

“Want a beverage?” I ask.

It’s only two in the afternoon but I do plan to loosen her up with liquor. I want to know more. I also want her to relax and feel at ease.

It worked wonders with Amelia when she got here and it seemed like it could have helped with Erica before the council carted her off to be locked down with Riley as Cicely cracked open a bottle, so I’m gonna try it with Stacy.

I had suggested to Grey that I bring some of the other girls over with me to welcome her properly, but Grey thought it might be a little soon for that and asked me to put her at ease, befriend her, but plan something like that with some of the other women a little later on.

So, it’s just me today. I’ll have to be mindful I don’t get drunker than she does before she starts opening up.

“I…okay,” she says softly and follows me to the kitchen where I pour us drinks, adding ice.

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