With Abandon: With or Without, Book 4

by J. L. Langley

  Aubrey pressed his thigh against Matt’s.

  When Matt glanced at his mate, Aubrey gave him a little nod and an encouraging quirk of his lips.

  “So, Matt, what are you going to do with a criminal-justice degree?” Howard asked. “Any specific plans? Keaton said you worked for Jake. Are you wanting to be a PI?” As before, his tone and the fond look served to ease Matt’s worries.

  “I want to be a police officer.”

  “Matt wants to be a homicide detective,” Aubrey said.

  Using the toe of his shoe, Matt rubbed it against Aubrey’s leg and smiled.

  Aubrey frowned and shook his head, then seemed to notice he was doing it and hurried to take a bite of his mashed potatoes.

  Howard took a drink, studying both of them. When he noticed Matt looking, he grinned. “Why homicide? Won’t that be tough with the blood and stuff? Being a wolf, I mean.”

  Matt shrugged. “I’m pretty good at controlling my wolf tendencies.” He just wanted to catch bad guys and help people. Murderers were the baddest of the bad.

  Thompson leaned back in his chair a little, stretching his arm around the back of his wife’s chair. Martha’s husband was her exact opposite in everything but temperament. He was a huge white man with a bit of a beer belly. He looked like a biker, bald head and all. “I think it’s an admirable profession. Our son-in-law David is on the Macon SWAT team.”

  “Being a cop is dangerous work.” Aubrey waved his fork. “But at least in homicide Matt isn’t likely to get shot at.”

  “He’s a wolf, for crying out loud,” Martha offered.

  “A bullet to the head can kill even a wolf. I don’t want— Never mind.” Aubrey’s voice was clipped, then he clammed up and concentrated on his dinner.

  Howard cleared his throat. “Matt, how is your family? Have you talked to them since you’ve been in Atlanta?”

  Matt finished his bite of food and nodded. “I talked to my brother Logan just this afternoon. He says there is a cooties outbreak at Darren’s school. Darren just started pre-kindergarten and a girl kissed him at school yesterday. Now he has a case of girl cooties. He wanted to stay home this morning.”

  Everyone chuckled.

  Thompson shrugged. “Sounds reasonable to me. Kids get to stay home for chicken pox, why not cooties?”

  Matt nodded. “Unfortunately, Dad made him go to school.”

  “That’s just wrong.” Martha grinned. “Doesn’t your father know how contagious cooties are?”

  Howard laughed. “Just give him a few years. He’ll be complaining about the girls not kissing him.”

  “Very true,” Thompson agreed.

  Joanna shook her head. “If he looks like Matt, that won’t be a problem. He’ll have the girls falling all over him.”

  Matt took a drink of his tea. He did not want to discuss his sexual orientation. They had a gay son, so that shouldn’t be a big deal, but…yeah he didn’t want to talk about it.

  “Speaking of girls falling all over them…” Joanna gave Aubrey a pointed look. “When am I going to get to start planning a wedding?”

  Matt tried not to squirm as Aubrey choked on his tea. Talk about being put on the hot seat. Matt couldn’t wait till the day they knew he was Aubrey’s mate, but until then…this was a conversation he wanted no part of.

  Aubrey composed himself almost immediately. Even his scent didn’t betray him. It was quite impressive. His recovery was so swift one might have completely missed his little cough and the strangled breath. He shrugged nonchalantly.

  Howard came to the rescue. “Joanna, leave the boy alone. Don’t rush him.”

  Her eyes widened and she cocked a brow at her husband, but she didn’t appear upset, only surprised. After a few seconds, Howard winked and she let it drop and went back to eating.

  The rest of the dinner passed mostly uneventfully.

  As they were getting up from the table, Howard caught Aubrey’s gaze. “Aubrey, go get the pack settled and come back. I want to talk to you in my office before we hunt tonight.”

  Nodding, Aubrey turned back toward the door.

  Matt pushed his chair in, ready to follow. A hand landed on his arm, stopping him. He turned, looking into Howard’s serious brown eyes, and a knot formed in his stomach. He hadn’t known Howard long, but he didn’t need to to read the expression. Matt swallowed hard and tried not to give his nervousness away with his scent.

  “I’d like to have a word with you, Matt.” Howard crooked his finger at Matt and turned to leave the room.

  Oh shoot, he knows. Matt’s stomach rolled. Okay, don’t be a dork, he can’t know. It’s something else. Matt forced himself to move. He followed Howard out of the dining room into another room. This wasn’t something he could avoid no matter how badly he wanted to. More than likely, it was his overactive imagination anyway. Howard probably wanted to welcome him to the pack officially and lay down some ground rules.

  When he stepped inside he recognized it as a study. It was masculine, dark woods and leather furniture. There was a bar, a big desk, a fireplace and French doors leading out onto the veranda. Even with the real threat of being banished or worse, he thought the room fit Aubrey to a T. It was an intimidating and comforting room all at once, depending on which side of the desk you were on.

  Taking up the place of importance, Howard slid behind the desk and motioned for Matt to have a seat. “Would you like a drink, Matt? I suppose given who you are I can offer you one. I seriously doubt my son will have a problem with it.”

  Shaking his head, Matt swallowed the lump in his throat and sat in one of the high-back leather chairs in front of the desk. “How did you know?” Had Matt done something to give them away?

  Howard shrugged. “I just do.”

  “This is where you warn me off and tell me to leave, isn’t it?”

  Howard’s brow furrowed. “No.” The corner of his mouth lifted just a bit then lowered, like he hadn’t smiled at all. “This is where I tell you that I’m sorry, and I’m here if you need me.”

  What? Matt’s pulse sped up. “Sorry?” Oh God, why was he sorry? Was he going to kill Matt or something? Matt’s breath hitched and shuddered. Survival instinct had him checking his nearest exit, wondering how quickly he could get out those French doors.

  Jumping to his feet, Howard came around the desk. “Relax, Matt. You’re okay.” He knelt by Matt’s chair and caught his hand. Matt wanted to jerk it back, but he didn’t. He focused all his attention on the man before him. He didn’t sense any malice, but Howard was powerful enough Matt didn’t know if he would be able to sense it if Howard didn’t want him to. Keaton was this strong, and he was able to hide things because of it. Was his father the same way?

  Howard brushed a strand of hair from his forehead. “Good Lord, you really are young.” He patted Matt’s hand. “I’m sorry this is so hard for you. Give him time. He’ll come around, I promise, but if I know Aubrey like I think I do, it’s not going to be easy. Giving in gracefully has never been one of his strong points.”

  Matt tried to slow his breathing, but he didn’t let his guard down. “I— You— We—” He shook his head, wanting to smack himself to make his darned mouth work. It was difficult to concentrate.

  Letting go of his hand, Howard stood and crossed the room.

  Glass clinked against glass followed by the sound of liquid being poured.

  Howard returned and pressed a tumbler into his hand. “Take a drink.”

  Matt stared at the glass, wrinkling his nose at the strong alcoholic smell. “You are trying to kill me. Just like Aubrey. This stuff doesn’t agree with me.”

  Chuckling, Howard went back to his chair behind the desk. “I just want you to take a sip, not down the whole thing.”

  Matt took a sip. He couldn’t afford to offend. This time he barely even sputtered.

  “Talk to me, son.”

  The knot in his stomach eased some, and Matt blinked back tears. Was it possible that Howard wasn’t mad at all, bu
t on his side? “Why?”

  “I love my boys, and I want them happy. I want them to have what I have with their mother.” He shrugged. “I admit I was a little upset when Keaton first told us he was gay. But after I found out about Chay it all made sense. And frankly, I’m glad. I don’t think there’s anyone who can handle Keaton as well as Chay does. God knows I’ve wanted to strangle him most of his life.” He leaned forward, putting his elbows on the desk. “It only took me a few minutes after meeting you to realize you’re perfect for Aubrey, and shortly after that I figured out why. You’re what he needs whether he knows it or not.”

  Wow. Okay, this was weird. Matt had the urge to pinch himself to make sure he was hearing things right. He set the tumbler on the edge of the desk and ran his hands through his hair. This was a lot to digest. “You could talk to him. Surely your reaction is part of his worry. With the reaction over Keaton—”

  “No,” Howard said firmly. “He has to figure it out on his own. I’ve watched the two of you together. I can tell you know him well enough to know that. Mine and his mother’s blessing isn’t going to help. He knows we love and support him. He’d still beat himself up over it. He has to realize his happiness is more important than his sense of duty, or he’ll feel like a failure and make you both miserable. My son is a very proud and responsible man. He places more accountability on himself than his mother or I ever could.”

  Matt nodded. That was true, Aubrey took it upon himself to look after other people. Reynolds Hall defined Aubrey. It made him who he was. Everyone’s background influenced them to some degree, but with Aubrey nearly every motivation could be traced back to his proud heritage. He seemed to feel it was his purpose, but Matt wondered if Howard underestimated his influence.

  Howard smiled. “I’m not letting him, or you, off the hook by the way. I expect an heir, whether you adopt or use a surrogate.”

  “I—uh—” His mouth went dry and he had to take another sip from his glass.

  “Relax, Matt. You’ve plenty of time for that. Right now, I need you to do something else for me.”

  Something else besides have kids? Matt grew lightheaded. “Wh-what?”

  “I need you to be strong. I know you’re young, but I need you to stand up to him. Do not let him walk all over you. If you do, you’ll regret it, and it will take him even longer to come around. I’m not telling you to demand he come out and tell everyone. I think we both know what he’d do with an ultimatum, but you can’t let him push you around. You know that saying, give a man enough rope?” When Matt nodded, Howard continued. “I can assure you the person who came up with it didn’t know Aubrey. You give him enough rope and he’ll tie you to a chair with it.”

  Matt chuckled. That was true. Aubrey liked to do things his way, and he was conniving enough to take whatever advantage he had.

  “If you let him dictate everything, he’ll do it all your lives. Trust me on this. I don’t want you to lose yourself in trying to please him.”

  That never occurred to Matt, but now that he thought about it, it would be easy to do.

  Footsteps clicked on the wood deck of the veranda outside the office. Matt tensed and stared at the French doors. It didn’t smell like Aubrey, and Howard didn’t seem concerned.

  He stood and came around the desk again. Stopping beside Matt’s chair, he squeezed his shoulder. “Welcome to our family, son. I’m going to tell Joanna tomorrow, but let’s keep it between the three of us for now. Let Aubrey figure it all out on his own, okay? Trust me when I tell you if we rush him, he’ll resist, and it will get messy. I’m not trying to be mean. I don’t like hurting you, but I promise you that my advice will work.”

  “I won’t tell. And thank you.”

  A shadow passed by outside, and the fear of getting caught niggled at Matt. Would Aubrey think he was plotting?

  Howard patted his shoulder before going to the French doors and opening them.

  A tall man with jet-black hair stepped in. Werewolf power oozed from him. “Good evening, Howard.”

  “Jarred, good to see you.” Howard slapped the man on the arm. “Come in. Meet Matthew.”

  When Jarred stepped into the room, Matt dismissed his worry over his mate, at least for the time being. He was pretty sure his mouth was even hanging open.

  Jarred, whoever he was, was breathtakingly gorgeous. The piercing eyes all by themselves were enough to captivate. But this man had way more than just amazing eyes. He had an angular, classically handsome face. He sort of resembled Rock Hudson when he was young. He even had the cleft in his chin. The man was easily as big as Matt’s former boss, Rhys, and the button-up shirt and jeans emphasized his build. There was also something familiar about him and not because he looked like the famous movie star. He came forward and offered his hand to Matt. “Nice to meet you, Matthew. Jarred Brandt.”

  Realizing he’d been staring, Matt jumped to his feet and shook the man’s hand. He automatically exposed his neck out of respect, but Jarred wasn’t any more powerful than he was. “Matt, please.” Brandt? “You’re Tara’s dad?”

  Howard was at the bar pouring another drink. “He’s also my Beta.”

  “I am, yes. For the moment anyway.” Jarred laughed. “I’m considering killing her and hiding the body.”

  “Uh-oh, what’s she done now?” Howard came forward, handing Jarred the glass he just poured.

  Oh no, did Jarred think Aubrey was his daughter’s mate? Nausea climbed its way up Matt’s throat, forcing him to take a deep breath.

  Jarred regarded Matt, then turned to Howard. “What hasn’t she done? She’s still refusing to go get her MBA. Yesterday she helped Megan rearrange my damned living room without my permission. And today before I left she and Ashley were intent on fixing my Mustang.” After knocking back all of his drink, he handed the glass to Howard. “I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do with her. She’s making me crazy.”

  Matt chuckled despite his worry. Jarred sounded exactly like his dad when he talked about Logan.

  Turning back to Matt, Jarred smiled. “You laugh, but just wait until you have kids. All three of my girls are—” He waved his hand absently.

  “Problem children?” Matt offered.

  “Yes. I love them, but…yes. I’ve decided their charm is a self-defense mechanism.”

  Howard slapped Jarred on the back. “Isn’t being a parent fun?”

  “No,” Jarred answered without hesitation.

  The door from the study into the house opened. Matt’s cock tried to perk up, and if he hadn’t blinked, his eyes would have shifted.

  “Aubrey. Come have a seat. We have business to go over.” Howard returned to his desk and met Matt’s gaze. “Matt, why don’t you let Jarred introduce you to the rest of the pack?” He smiled a conspiratorial sort of grin and dipped his head.

  “Okay.” He turned to leave with Jarred, but Aubrey stopped him.

  Clutching Matt’s shoulder for a few seconds, Aubrey said nothing. He turned Matt toward him and stared. “I’ll meet you outside, okay? Stay by Jarred.” Slowly the corner of his mouth raised, and he winked at Matt.

  Just like that the tension eased. Everything might work out after all. “Okay.”

  Chapter Ten

  “I’m not kidding, son, watch your back with Boskie.”

  Aubrey paced toward the bar, swirling what was left of his cognac. Why couldn’t his dad keep whisky in the decanter? Hell, he wasn’t picky, even cheap whisky. He preferred it to brandy.

  Lord, he was on edge. He needed to get out and run, play with Matt. He wanted to show Matt the grounds as a wolf.

  “I made some calls before dinner and he’s trying to get the other board members to vote down your proposed renovations. So far he’s not having much luck, but it’s not something you should ignore.”

  “Goddammit.” After tossing back the rest of his brandy, Aubrey slammed the empty tumbler down on the bar and poured some more. “I knew he was going to be trouble.”

  “Why do I
have a feeling this isn’t really about the renovations?” His dad’s chair creaked a little, and there was a soft thud. When Aubrey turned, his dad had leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the desk.

  “Because it’s not, it’s personal…or maybe it isn’t, I don’t know. He was hesitant about the plans I have for the hotels at the last board meeting. He wants to build another hotel. Which is just stupid in this economy.” Aubrey sat in the chair in front of the desk and took a sip of cognac. If he ran into Boskie hunting tonight, he might just bite the fucker.

  “I agree. I like the ideas you have. We need to get the chain into this decade. I can’t imagine why anyone would have a problem with updating the Wi-Fi and making it faster or whatever. Enlarging the gyms and renovating the bars is also smart. Why would Boskie oppose it? And why do you think it may be personal?”

  Aubrey set his glass on the desk and slouched back in his chair, letting his butt slide forward on the leather. “For one, he thinks I’m too young to run Reynolds Inc. He’s been very vocal about that.” Aubrey snorted.

  “Well, that’s ridiculous.” Dad’s voice became stuffy, almost snooty, as if he were offended. “It isn’t his decision, now is it? The company bylaws state the president picks his predecessor and when. How dare he pass judgment on you. Boskie can blow it out his ass.”

  Aubrey chuckled. “I’ll make sure I tell him that at our next board meeting. Mind if I quote you?”

  The corner of Dad’s lip twitched. “You cannot tell the man to blow it out his ass, Aubrey.” Dropping his feet, Dad leaned forward. “What else?”

  “He’s having, or rather was having, an affair with someone at the Macon branch.”

  “Ah.” Dad picked up Aubrey’s cognac and contemplated it before putting it back on a coaster. “A pretty young woman no doubt. He’s always had a roaming eye. I still don’t see the connection. You didn’t threaten to tell Marina, did you?”