He let out a slow breath. “Yeah. You’re right.” More relief winged its way through him at the thought. He was the obvious choice when casting blame. However, the notion that Christie was in danger made any relief immediately disappear.
For his brothers’ sakes, he was glad the Tigers had nothing against The Nomads, but that meant Christie was in the hot seat, and his bear couldn’t take that fact—not while she was still unclaimed, still fully human.
Once he bit her, once he claimed her properly, she wouldn’t turn into Superwoman or anything, but there would be traits that would be really useful. She would heal quicker, and she’d probably get a little faster. Nothing major, just little things that could be very advantageous in any situation—not only dangerous ones. Plus, there would be one singular adjustment in her that no one would be able to foresee.
Annette had gained the ability to talk to her mate telepathically. That talent was inordinately strong because Mars had had to offer a blood sacrifice to the Goddesses to keep her alive after the Martinez Cartel had attacked their clubhouse and had shot her, almost fatally.
It was a talent no one knew how much they used because they always seemed to use regular means of communication too. Like then, Mars had used his cell to call her rather than speaking to her telepathically. Mundo guessed it was to save the feelings of the brothers in the room. After all, how freaky would it have been for Annette and Christie to have popped up out of the blue when the council was talking about them? Freaky as fuck, right?
Of this generation, Annette was the first mate in the clubhouse, and her and Christie’s reactions to the claiming would never match up. Why? Because of the blood sacrifice so soon after being mated on Annette’s part and the time he and Christie had spent apart after their first meeting. Mars had claimed Annette immediately. Mundo hadn’t had that luxury.
“Don’t worry, Mundo, we’ll protect her,” Kiko murmured, breaking into his ruminations. “No matter what, she’s your mate, and the Goddesses divined she was perfect for you and you were perfect for her.”
Mundo nodded, the discomfort in his gut untangling a little. The Goddesses had chosen him for her and her for him. They wouldn’t have done so if they weren’t meant to be.
And Mundo knew that. He felt that to his core, but he would, wouldn’t he? This was his culture. His lore. Not hers. This was all new to her. Crazily new. She was right not to trust in it, to not have faith in it—even if that meant not having faith in him. It was alien to her, batshit nuts. He had to accept that.
He’d felt her pulling away this evening after she’d woken up. He could understand that too, could even understand why she wouldn’t want him to be a part of The Nomads anymore, but he couldn’t give them up just like he couldn’t give her up.
They were his family. His blood.
A knock sounded at the door, and his heart sped up like he’d just completed a run around the clubhouse. He could feel her behind the door, knew it was Christie, and his bear began to rumble its pleasure at knowing she was close. Even the beast knew she was mad at him, mad at the situation, which told Mundo how bad things truly were.
The bear’s needs were simple and few—a full belly, a warm place to sleep, a Clan in which to feel kinship, and the love of a good run. Until now, the need for its mate had been more of an ache rather than a need. Now that mate had appeared, and Mundo knew the creature was more satisfied than he’d ever been.
“Come in,” Mars shouted out, smirking at Annette when she popped her head through. “You remembered to knock.” Annette had a ridiculously short memory when it came to the ‘knock before entering the council room’ rule. So ridiculously short that the council knew she forgot on purpose.
“I wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize that orgasm you promised me on the phone.”
Mundo snorted and shot a glance at Kiko, who out and out chuckled, while the others just sat looking amused. Mars looked a mixture of proud and aroused, but that was pretty much par for the course where Annette was concerned.
She stepped into the room, immediately rounded the table, and headed for her mate. When he rolled his seat back, she took her rightful place—his lap.
Mundo peered at the door and saw Christie was looking at the floor. He got to his feet and went to her.
“It’s okay,” he told her, holding out his hand. He longed to tug her into his arms, hold her close, take her over to his seat, and have her sit on his lap like Annette was doing, but her body language told him that was as far away from happening as the sun was to the Earth.
“No, it’s not,” she sniped back, lifting her head fast enough to glower at him before going back to staring at her feet once more.
He sighed, dropped his hand, and then grabbed hers and urged her into the room.
“What am I doing here?” she snapped, glaring at him once he closed the door behind her. She stood there, awkwardly folding her arms over her chest, shooting the council angry glares. Her dislike was palpable. Even though it was understandable, it still embarrassed him.
“I would like to apologize on my mate’s behalf,” he said to the room at large and no one in particular. “She doesn’t understand how much she’s insulting you.”
Annette snorted. “Yeah, I think you’ve got that wrong.”
Christie’s head reared back in annoyance. “I’m not insulting anyone. I’m the one who’s been insulted, summoned here like you were the law, but the last I looked, you were all outlaws. You have no ruling over my life—no say in it, whatsoever.”
Mundo thanked Christ, Krishna, his Goddesses, and Thor—any God or Goddess he could think of—that Mars was the current Prez and that Jackson, the old one, was currently rotting underground. He’d have put a gun to her head for speaking out of turn that way.
Instead, Mars just snickered. Annette poked him in the side and said, “Don’t laugh. You’ll just make her madder.”
“I’m laughing because the irony is too wonderful. That’s all.”
That snatched Christie’s attention. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that you’re pissed, rightfully so, at being kidnapped. You’re furious and hurt that your mate was shot at. You think his ties to The Nomads are to blame for that, so like any good mate, you’re sticking up for him, trying to protect him from the people you believe did him harm by association... and yet, The Nomads have no ties with Los Tigres Rojos, and they had no issue with us. Before today, at any rate.
“In our world, gang wars are not started overnight. They’re months in the making, and until today, I’d never even heard of that gang. So, I have to question why a Red Tiger foot soldier would come onto my territory, in front of my own goddamn workshop, shoot one of my councilmen, and kidnap his mate.
“What was the catalyst for all this? We’ve been under the radar since I took over as Prez, Christie. We’re already in enough shit with one cartel without loading more shit onto the heap with other gangs. So, what could that catalyst be? How about the appearance of a mate on the scene? A new mate who works in prisons around this area? How about that mate knows something she isn’t telling her man?”
Christie’s mouth slowly dropped open with each revelation Mars uttered. Mundo kept his eyes trained on her, hating that it had to be this way but knowing it was the only way to go. With each statement Mars made, she flinched like a bullet was piercing her skin. Though he saw hurt, confusion, and pain... he saw no malice, no cunning.
If Christie was involved, she had no idea how.
He shuddered in thanks, grateful to all the Goddesses that Christie was innocent in this. He’d believed in her, had known it to be so, but it was wonderful to see it for himself and even more wonderful to know that his brothers, the Council, as one saw her confusion over this matter.
“So, Christie, do you understand why this irony amuses me? You’re casting blame at us, when really, you’re the one who brought this shit to our door.”
Her mouth worked. “But I...”
Mars s
ighed. “Rather than standing there with a stick up your ass, why don’t you take a seat next to your mate, and we can discuss this. You’re both in danger, apparently. We need to figure out what’s going on if you want to lead a normal life again.”
She gulped, gave Mars a sheepish nod, and then rounded the table and approached him. She was shivering, and his bear wanted to go to her, wrap her up in his arms and get her warm the good old fashioned way, but instead, he stayed where he was. She had to come to him. She had to see that he’d done nothing but try to protect her, and that her blaming him and his brothers wasn’t right or fair.
A couple of spare chairs lined one wall, and she grabbed one, wheeled it over to Mundo’s right, and took a seat. Heavily. Her shoulders were slumped and her back was curved in on itself as though she were trying to shield herself from the others in the room.
He couldn’t stand to see her looking so defensive, not when she was as innocent as the rest of them in this situation. He raised an arm, wary because he knew she could reject him, and slid it over her shoulders. When she stiffened, he started to lift it off, but then she settled under the weight, even turned into him a little. He took it that it was a case of better the devil you know than anything in his favor. Better to be close to him than to the strangers in the room—strangers you knew could turn into bears at will. Strangers who ran in a biker gang.
Yeah, he was definitely the kinder of two evils.
The thought filled him with despair, but that sad emotion was warded off by her scent, by her presence—a presence the bear was thrilled about.
“Right, now we’ve got the bullshit out of the way, I think it’s time we look at what’s really going on here.”
“But that’s just it,” Christie started. “I have no idea what’s going on. No idea whatsoever. You’re saying that it’s my fault Mundo was shot and I was abducted, but I’m just a dentist, for God’s sake.”
“Yeah,” Major ceded, then as he’d done to Mundo, murmured, “you are, but your patients aren’t exactly law abiding citizens, are they?”
She pinkened then sat a little taller. “They might not be, but they still need healthcare. And at least I’m not a hack who can’t get a job in a decent practice. I’m good at what I do. And I do a lot of stuff I don’t have to.” She bit her lip then turned to him with guilty eyes. “I brought filler in for the crack in your tooth, but I had to use it on the patient before you. That’s why I had to remove it. I can only bring so much stuff with me, and the DOJ provides jack shit.”
Touched that she’d at least tried to save his tooth and felt guilty about not being able to have done so, he squeezed her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. My bear will sort it out soon enough.”
A squeak escaped her. “You can regrow teeth?”
Mundo pulled a face. “Yeah. I guess that’s weird.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s weird,” Annette confirmed, looking both repulsed and intrigued as she tugged Mars’ chin down to peer at his gnashers. “How many have you regrown?” she asked her mate.
“Too many to count. I used to get into a lot of fights when I was younger.”
She snorted. “Why does that not surprise me?”
“We’re digressing, people,” Major butted in. “Look, Christie, we’re not passing blame here. We, or in this instance, I’m just saying you don’t work with the best kind of people. And yes, I’m including my brother in that blanket statement.” He shot a wink at Mundo who just snickered.
Christie frowned. “Look, I have nothing to do with my patients.” She turned to him. “Mundo, think about those times I saw you. You came in once for a look-over and then again to have the procedure take place. Each time, the guard stayed with us in the surgery, didn’t he? We weren’t left alone at all, so there was no time for any kind of private conversation, was there?”
He turned to the council. “She’s right. There was plenty I wanted to say but couldn’t because one of the guards was listening.”
“That isn’t to say it’s always like that.”
“What if the guard got called away? What if there was a distraction?”
She bit her lip, thinking about Major’s questions. “The inmates are walked in then handcuffed to the chair. The guard goes over to the wall, then goes off into a daze. If there was an alert, be it a fire or even the alarm for a riot that had just started, yeah, the guy might rush off, but only because I was safe with the prisoner who was chained to the chair.” Her brow crinkled as she thought. “I don’t think that’s ever happened in all the time I’ve been working there though.”
“First time’s the charm. It only takes once that’s it.” Mars rubbed his chin. “So, what you don’t know is the gang that kidnapped you recently lost a lot of numbers thanks to a raid.”
The crinkle in her brow turned into an out-and-out frown. “You mean they abducted me because they wanted me to pass on some information to one of their guys on the inside?”
“You catch on quick,” Mars murmured, “because that’s exactly what I was thinking. You must work in one of the jails where one of the leaders is locked up.”
“You’re just guessing what this is about,” Major complained. “We don’t know for certain that’s what’s going down.”
“No, but it makes sense, doesn’t it? Christie’s an easy target. Get to her, threaten her to make her do what they want, then get another message to someone on the inside to start a riot when a certain gang member has to go to the dentist.”
“There’s a wait line to see me,” Christie inserted.
“I can vouch for that,” Mundo complained, rubbing his jaw in remembered pain.
Mars let out an irritated hiss. “That doesn’t matter. The information might not be urgent, but it still had to go down a quieter channel. Anyone can get a message to the inside, but a delicate message? One that might have far reaching consequences?” He shook his head. “That’s harder than you might think.”
Mundo paused a second, letting Mars’ supposition filter through his mind. After a few minutes, he agreed, “It makes sense.”
Slowly but surely, the rest of the council nodded, with only Major pulling a face. “I still think it’s too facile.”
“We’re talking about gangbangers, Major, not fucking geniuses,” Kiko snarled.
“Fuck you, Kiko,” Major said easily. “How do you know they’re not geniuses? You don’t have to have a degree to be smart.”
“I agree,” Mars murmured. “But it fits, doesn’t it? Think about it. With the information we have, it makes sense.”
With a grumble, Major said, “I guess.”
Mars smiled. “Well, if we’re in agreement, I think we should send some boys over to Tigre territory and bust some balls.”
“Hey! No violence,” Annette warned. “You promised.”
Mars rolled his eyes. “Just enough head smashing to get answers then. We need to know if I’m right or not.”
She grimaced. “I don’t like it.”
Kiko grunted. “Tough. We’re not little boys, Annette. We know when shit’s real. We’re all trying to fly under the radar, so we’ll only do what what’s necessary to get the answers we need.”
“It stinks,” Annette stated with a mulish look on her face.
“It might, but it’s tough.” Mars held up a hand when she made to argue. “I made this decision with you in the room. If you don’t want to know what’s going on in here, then you’re going in the right direction. I only let you in here because the guys don’t mind. If I start putting your opinions over what’s good for the MC and for its members and their mates, then they’re going to start minding.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I understand.”
She didn’t. Mundo knew as soon as the couple was alone, there would be hell to pay.
Kenny (Shifter Football League Book 2) Page 71
