Everyone in the limo notes the change and focuses on Aubrey.
“I’m so sorry I got you involved in this-” the person on the other line is babbling.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Aubrey soothes.
“I’ll be careful and will make sure Jan is too.
We’ll be okay.
Let me know when you’re somewhere safe.”
“What is it?”
Madi asks.
Aubrey hesitates then shakes her head and forces a smile, clearly not wanting to ruin the festive atmosphere.
“It’s nothing-just, um, someone I know had their house broken into.”
It’s clearly not nothing, but I let it go until I help her out of the limo, and we can talk in private.
She doesn’t want to disturb Madi’s weekend, and I respect that.
We’re at a group of luxury shops located in an outdoor courtyard with fountains and gardens.
The group scatters, agreeing to meet back up in a couple of hours.
“What happened?”
I escort Aubrey away from the others.
“That had to do with the Sentience espionage, right?”
She swallows.
I hate the edge of fear I see behind her normally confident expression.
“The Sentience whistle-blower had her place tossed.
She told me before she thought someone was following her.
That’s why I freaked out that night you were trailing me in your car.”
“Fuck.
I’m sorry I scared you.”
She gives her head a quick shake.
“No, don’t be.
I just…”
“I’ll have someone check on your place and keep an eye on it while we’re gone.
Who’s Jan?”
She gives me a surprised look, and I realize I revealed too much.
I shouldn’t have heard her conversation over the music playing in the limo.
I play it off with a shrug.
“I overheard.
You were right next to me.”
“Jan is my lawyer friend.
She and her partner own La R?sistance, where I work.
She might take the case if we get enough evidence.”
“Do you want me to put security on her as well?”
Aubrey’s eyes go round, but her body relaxes.
I’ve given her relief.
“You would do that?”
“Absolutely.”
I dial Grayson, our front door guy.
He’s one of Sully’s security team members, but he’ll answer to me as pack beta.
“Call Jan and let her know,” I say to Aubrey.
We both have brief conversations, and I text Aubrey and Jan’s addresses to Grayson.
“Thank you.”
She looks up at me with her warm brown eyes.
“You really are a fixer, aren’t you?”
Something shifts in my chest.
I refuse to work to earn anyone but my alpha’s approval.
But hearing the admiration and appreciation in Aubrey’s voice affects me.
I want to earn her gratitude again.
Want her to look up at me this way, like I’m strong and powerful.
Like I’m the male who will hold her steady when things get rough.
“Who said that, Madi?”
She nods.
I lean over and kiss her forehead.
It’s a decidedly affectionate gesture-completely unlike me-but I like the way it makes me feel.
Like for a moment, I’m not an island in the middle of the fucking ocean.
It’s not me against the world.
I could choose between keeping the world under meticulous control to ensure survival, or I could become this guy.
Someone who has a lovely female to care for and protect.
It’s a role I never thought I wanted.
It involves vulnerability.
Not just between me and the female but because there’s a female in my life.
She becomes a vulnerability.
A liability.
Another place danger could strike.
Brick chose this life.
Allowing someone in to weaken everything he built.
He’s not the razor-sharp shark I met in college.
The one looking to take back everything the Adalwulfs took from him anymore.
But Madi has strengthened him, too.
As a couple-as alpha and luna-they are more than the sum of two parts.
Their strength is exponential.
And he smiles now.
He’s found a satisfaction that seemed out of reach to me.
But maybe it’s not.
“Feel better?”
I ask.
“Yes.”
“Good.
Come on, let’s shop.”
I take her elbow and steer her toward a jewelry store.
“Really?”
She peers up at me through thick lashes, a sensual curve to her lips.
“You don’t strike me as the shopping type.”
“I’m not.”
“I’m more of a thrifter.
I love to haunt the sales racks or flea markets.
I can’t afford anything here.”
“You have the hundred grand you charged me.”
She throws me an impish smile.
“True.
But that money doesn’t even feel real.
I was just pushing you to see where you’d push back.
I never expected you to actually pay me that much.”
“You negotiated what it was worth to you.
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