Page 104 of Power Shift

I nod stiffly and focus on not spilling the milk all over the place as I pour a splash into his mug. “What happened?”

“You remember Sadie, yeah?”

“Her friend from the clinic, yes.”

“Yeah. She’s got two alphas who can’t comprehend the meaning of a restraining order. They showed up at her place and tried to bash the door in before we got there.”

“How is she? I imagine that was stressful, especially for a pregnant omega.”

“I didn’t ask. Should I have?”

I give his coffee a stir with the spoon I used for mine and sigh before glancing at him over my shoulder. “What did you talk about after, then? Tell me you at least asked Briar if she was doing okay when you dropped her off.”

“’Course I did. Fuck, I’m not a total idiot. She assured me everything was fine.”

“And you believed her? Tell me exactly what happened.”

I bring his mug to the table and set it in front of him before sitting back on my stool. Despite the temperature of it, he takes large gulps and shuts his eyes, exhaustion hanging heavy from his slumped posture.

When he sets the cup down, all that’s left inside is a few dark drops. If I didn’t think he was ready for bed right now, I’d offer him a second cup.

“Just bullshit about Sadie belonging to them and that they were adamant about seeing both her and the baby. Briar pisses them off because she won’t allow them to. That’s my concern.”

I nod. “Do we need to get involved?”

“I’m already involved now.” He taps the counter, his jaw tightening. “I recognized Thorne’s car tonight.”

“From where?”

“It was outside of Briar’s place the night she came for dinner at the pack house, and I followed her home. I marked it when I was waiting for her to get inside, and it drove away soon after. It was fucking weird, but I didn’t make the connection then.”

A cold sense of dread drips down my spine. “Do you think he’s been following her around since then?”

“I don’t know if it was only that one time or if it’s a constant thing. Either way, he had to follow her home once to know where she lives. I don’t fucking like her going anywhere on her own.”

“We can’t bundle her up and refuse to let her live her life, Ro. That’s not what we’re here for,” I argue, cautious not to sound too scolding. He has a fair point.

“We’re supposed to protect her. She’s linked to these fuckers now, and I don’t want them anywhere near her. If they so much as get close enough to look at her, I’ll make them regret it.”

I palm my mug, humming in agreement. “We need to talk to the others before we start making any sort of decisions. Including Briar.”

“And until then? I’m not leaving her alone for longer than absolutely necessary. We should ask her to stay here.”

“Without talking to Landon and Dash first? You know that isn’t how things work. It might make everything even worse, and I don’t want to move Briar from one tense environment to the next without a concrete plan. The last thing we need to be doing is acting impulsively. The ice beneath us is too thin for desperate moves.”

Ronan stops tapping the countertop and curls his fingers into a fist instead. “I’ll be spending every free moment I have parked outside of her place, then.”

“When do you plan on sleeping?”

“I’ll figure it out.”

“We’re in the final stretch before playoffs. If we win our next two games, we could clinch a wildcard spot. You can’t be running off hopes and dreams and risking an injury.”

“Then she needs to stay with us here,” he argues, as stubborn as he’s always been.

He knows just as well that I’m equally as stubborn when it comes to things I care about.

“Not without speaking to the others.”

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