Page 7 of Brick

He hurried into the room. “What’s up, boss?”

“Get everyone together. We need to brainstorm how to take out the wolves. We fucked around too much with the tigers helping Hawthorne when I knew it was a fool’s errand. It’s time to get serious.”

Paul nodded and strode off. Brent gathered his things and left the small room in the abandoned office space he’d taken over as his new headquarters in a town called Cedar Mills, twenty minutes south of the wolf pack.

He was certain they’d be able to come up with a way to take out the witch-wolf creature who used magic to keep the pack’s hunting territory safe and destroy the pack.

Those animals’ days were numbered.

Brick yawned as he made his way from the second floor of the alphas’ home to the kitchen. Like several other high ranked males, he lived in the alphas’ home along with Adam’s parents, Craig and Lucy. Adam’s sister, Angie, had lived in the house once, but she was now mated to two vampires and lived atthe vampire-owned club in downtown Cleveland. He missed his artistic, sweet cousin and hadn’t seen her in a few weeks.

He was surprised to see his aunt and uncle as well as Adam and Cinder sitting at the kitchen table when he walked in.

“I didn’t miss a family meeting, did I?” he asked. He patted his jeans pocket and realized he’d left his phone upstairs.

“No, I was about to call you though,” Adam said.

“Do I have time to get coffee first?”

Adam nodded.

Brick filled a mug from the pot on the counter and picked up a breakfast sandwich that his Aunt Lucy had made.

He pulled out a chair and sat down at the large kitchen table. “What’s up?”

Adam took Cinder’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Cinder’s pregnant.”

“Hey, congratulations!”

“Thank you,” Cinder said, smiling gently.

Brick frowned as he caught the concern in her eyes. “What’s going on? This seems like something you’d all be happy about.”

“We’re deliriously happy,” Cinder said. “But I had trouble shifting last night and my magic was wonky. I was still able to cast the protection spell, but I don’t think I’ll be able to shift again. Not until after the baby is born.”

Adam pressed his lips into a thin line, then said, “I don’t have to tell you that our pack has relied on Cinder’s magical protections since she and I mated, along with our security team and the technology we use, such as the motion cameras in the woods to alert us to intruders.”

“How far along are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Six weeks,” she said. “So we’re looking at somewhere around eight months of needing to figure out how to keep the pack safe without my magic.”

“You don’t have access to it at all?”

“Not like I do in my shift.” She looked at her hands and then at Adam. “I can feel my magic and my wolf, but it’s muted.”

“We’ll recruit more pack members to join the security team,” Brick said. “We can also add more motion detectors and cameras in the territory, and I had an idea about closing off the access roads and making it one way in and one way out of town, setting up a security booth to help keep track of who comes and goes in town.”

“But we let anyone come into town,” Craig said. “If we close off the roads and use a security booth, our businesses may suffer.”

“It’s not a bad idea though,” Adam said. “Even if it is just for eight months. We can convene a meeting with the high ranked and elders and get everyone’s take on it. Maybe we can do it in the future if we need to. For now, recruit whoever you need to and let me know what the schedule looks like.”

“I’m going to reach out to the Wiccans and see what Lorene and the Corners can do for us. They may be able to set up some protection wards around the territory that will help keep everyone safe,” Cinder said.

“I want a pack-wide bulletin sent out that no one goes anywhere outside of town alone, period. Don’t share the news about Cinder’s pregnancy yet. We’ll share it with the pack once we have everything in order to keep our people safe. We don’t want anyone panicking unnecessarily because they’re worried about their safety.”

“Of course,” Brick said. “Hey, I’m really happy for you guys and don’t worry. No one has seen or heard from that shifter poacher asshole or Foley and his merry band of anti-shifter dickheads.”

Cinder grimaced. “Brick, honestly, do you have to curse every other word?”

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