Page 63 of His Wild Storm
“Yeah,” Mason cheers with a big grin on his face. “I like him too, Uncle Knox,” he agrees before his face scrunches up slightly, “even though he likes cats more than dogs.”
“Cats?” I can’t help it when the one-word question slips past my lips.
Ethan nods eagerly. “When we asked if he would rather have a cat or a dog, he wasn’t sure because he’s never had a pet. After thinking about it for a moment, he chose cat. Dogs are way moreloyal, but they’re better than fish because then you have to clean their tank.”
Troy is almost doubled over in laughter, his finger pointing toward my face which I’m sure is a mixture of confusion, amusement, and a touch of terrified horror. The twins don’t seem at all concerned about my reaction considering they look at each other and shrug.
“No one wants to clean tank scum,” Troy says, his face carefully blank bordering on serious. How he manages to keep his voice even, I’ll never know.
Before I can come up with a retort regarding the dog, fish, and cat debate, Duncan is standing there with a serious expression on his face which is not a façade or a joke. It’s real. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end and my gut sinks.
When I glance over at Haven, she’s laughing at something and not paying attention. As much as I love to have her focus, I’m glad she’s distracted.
Whatever Duncan needs to talk to me about isn’t good. ‘Bad news incoming’ might as well be flashing in neon over the man’s head right now.
“Sorry,” Duncan’s voice drops an octave, “I know this isn’t the best time, but I just got some information you’ll be interested in.”
“Use Cole’s office,” Troy prompts, “he won’t mind if you want to keep this conversation private and away from little ears.” He looks down at his twins who are trying, and failing, to look like they’re not paying attention to what the adults closest to them are doing.
I glance back at Haven and wonder whether I should have her join us or not. The way Duncan shakes his head tells me he doesn’t think it’s a good idea. But the thought of keeping anything from her doesn’t sit right with me.
“I’ll meet you there,” I tell Duncan before heading toward my woman.
Duncan doesn’t have to think anything. I really don’t give a fuck. This is the right decision for us. And I’m not going to fuck up my chances at forever with my little storm by trying to be sneaky.
Haven’s eyes light up when she sees me coming and my heart sinks. As much as I hope this doesn’t ruin her night, I know this is the right thing to do. Even though I hate it.
When I’m close enough, I hook an arm around her waist and pull her flush against my chest. She doesn’t protest and melts against me. Her trust only twists my insides into a tighter ball.
“Everything okay?” Haven murmurs, “You’re so tense.”
“Can you come with me to Cole’s office?” When she looks up at me, her head tilted to the side like she’s trying to figure out where my question is coming from, I explain, “I asked Duncan to look into something for me, in the name of you and Wilde’s safety.” She blanches and swallows hard before nodding slowly, probably knowing exactly what I’m talking about. “He has some news and I’m not going to ever hide anything from you.”
The way she sags against me, has me bracing and holding her steady. “Okay,” she murmurs, something broken and resigned in her voice.
I grip her tighter, trying to give her whatever she needs to stand strong and tall. “You’ve got this,” I vow. “We’ve got this,”my voice is fiercer this time and I can feel her take a deep breath before letting it out slowly.
“Okay,” her voice doesn’t wobble this time even if it is soft and a little scared.
I lead her away from the ladies she was making friends with while knowing they’ll keep an eye on Wilde. When I meet Amelia’s eyes as I pass her, she gives a nod, not needing the question to even be spoken. She’s got him and she’ll mama bear out if needed.
I would never expect anything less.
By the time we make it to Cole’s office, Duncan is already there along with Blake Higgins. I’m not surprised to see the big boss. Not only does he take the safety of the shelter seriously, but the man is nosey as fuck. He would say he likes knowing all the intel, but it’s just a cover.
The ladies in this family aren’t wrong when they tease the men for being gossips. And I can’t deny that I’ve been in the mix more than once when it comes to getting all the details.
“How are you liking the party, Haven?” Blake’s crystal blue eyes are soft as I lead my woman over to a chair. “I hope it’s not too overwhelming; this group can be a lot.”
The chuckle that comes out of Haven is a little lackadaisical, but it’s genuine. “I was definitely overwhelmed at first,” she admits, “and was wishing everyone wore color coded outfits for smaller family groups or name tags or something.”
Blake and Duncan chuckle while I tease, “I bet if you mentioned it to Amelia then she’d make something like that happen.”
“I was kidding,” Haven gasps and the look of horror on her face makes me grin.
After leaning over and kissing her softly, we turn toward Duncan who is wearing his super serious expression again which the man must have perfected in the military. Blake gives a nod when Duncan glances his way before all his focus is on my woman.
“I’m sorry it took me a little while to get the information we were looking for. I wanted to make sure it was accurate before I said anything and the holiday season slowed everything down. I had the guys at Sullivan Protection in New York investigate.”
