Morning wake up call

Ryder strengthened his gaze and straightened his spine. His voice didn’t waver, “The vampires—they have the strength required to protect her.”

Brinley gasped.

Langdon turned three shades of red. ”They killed three of your pack members, for fuck sake! How could you even suggest she would be safe with them? No! There has to be another way.”

Shit. How was I going to explain? I began again carefully, “We have intel to suggest the facts—as they were presented to us—may not have been accurate.”

Langdon’s head swiveled to me, his eyes narrowed. He knew there was more I wasn’t telling them. His fist came down on the table next to him, the wood creaking in response, but it didn’t break. “Stop the bullshit! If you know something, now isn’t the time to keep it a secret.”

The problem was it wasn’t my secret to tell. I hadn’t told anyone, including Brinley, what happened between Ryder and Aatos.

Ryder’s expression pulled tight. He understood I was protecting him. At the same time, he also recognized the need for our small group of confidants to have the truth if we were going to defend Brinley as a unit.

Still, I wouldn’t take his choice away. I wouldn’t strip him of the protection anonymity provided. I sent him my thoughts through the mindlink. If it helps, I think you can trust them...but the call is yours.

Ryder remained quiet.

I decided to explain what I could without involving him and replied, “We met with the vampires.”

“You did what?!” Brinley gaped at me, her fingers digging into my arm. Much more and she was going to pierce the skin with her claws.

Jax’s mouth dropped open as he stared. Langdon was on his feet and growled, “And you didn’t think to start off with that information?! What the fuck are you hiding?”

“Langdon,” Amber chastised softly, standing to meet him in the middle of the room. She pulled on his arm, tugging him back to his chair. “I’m sure he’s not hiding anything. Let’s just give him a minute to explain. Hell, he just woke up. There hasn’t been time to have this conversation until right now.”

But Langdon was more right than he knew. I was hiding something. However, explaining the events that occurred between us and the vampires came too close to exposing Aatos’ interest in Ryder, and possibly Ryder’s interest in him.

Langdon returned to his chair reluctantly, but it was clear his suspicions hadn’t lessened in the least. I held his gaze and began again, “They want me to facilitate a meeting between them and Alpha. They’re looking for information, but he wouldn’t say what nor would he say who he worked for. I got the distinct impression that Alpha Mason knows, but part of his agreement was his silence on that matter.”

Langdon looked from me to Brinley and back again. He exhaled and demanded, “And what makes you believe they are trustworthy to protect her life?”

“This is not our first interaction with Aatos,” I explained.

Ryder’s heartbeat increased when I said Aatos’ name. Jax turned to look at him, his head tilting to the side as he studied Ryder intently.

Shit, Jax was intuitive and clever. I wondered how close he was to guessing what happened, although I didn’t know if any of them could suspect this truth. It was so far out of the realm of what we considered normal. It was absolutely unheard of for a wolf/vampire pairing to exist, not to mention two males, at least in our part of the world. Aatos hadn’t seemed fazed by it at all.

I continued, “He said they were attacked away from the pack borders and defended themselves. His story rang with truth. It was exactly something my father would do. And so far, Aatos hasn’t seemed intent on hurting us. Instead, he just wanted to talk, and when we were done, we walked away.”

"Still...” Jax muttered. “There has to be more. You wouldn’t even entertain this risk unless there was more.” His gaze flitted between Ryder and me. His voice softened, “What is it?”

I was out of information I could provide and remained silent. Brinley tugged on my arm. I looked down at her. Her eyes were wide with anxiety. “You can’t really be considering the vampires as protection for me?”

“It’s the last thing I want.” My face twisted in agony because the only reality that would force her to need them would be if I failed to protect her and died in the process. I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “But it might be the most viable option to keep you safe.”

I looked back at Langdon and tried to make him understand the reality. “It isn’t ideal, but if everything went south, you would be one of the ones trying to kill her. You would stop at nothing to slit her throat. How much worse could the vampires be?”

A muscle in Langdon’s jaw twitched.

Jax refocused on Ryder. His words were soft and soothing, ”You suggested the vampires, not your brother. Why?”

Damn, I hadn’t realized Jax was that intuitive. Ryder looked up and met his gaze. I could see his resolve faltering. No one spoke while they stared at each other. Whatever Jax saw in Ryder’s eyes, confirmed his suspicions. Voice even calmer and supportive, he murmured, “No judgment, man...”

It was a promise that Ryder could say whatever he needed to without repercussion. I held my breath. After a long moment, Ryder still didn’t speak. Instead, he reached for the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head. Jax’s his eyes zeroed in on the mark at the base of his neck, and then his gaze snapped back to Ryder, trying to understand. “You have a mate?”

I had no idea how Ryder would answer that question. I didn’t know if he even considered Aatos as a potential mate. I didn’t think so. But as Ryder stared hard at Jax, it was obvious the mark meant something to him.

“Aatos?” Jax breathed.

Ryder nodded, his jaw clenched shut, still refusing to speak.

Brinley inhaled sharply next to me.

My heart went out to him to see the struggle in his eyes. But I didn’t interfere. This was the first time he was willing to open up to someone other than me. It felt like an important step for him to take, one I didn’t want to interrupt.

There was none of Jax’s usual tease to his voice, only unfiltered sincerity as he asked quietly, “Are you okay?”

Ryder nodded slowly, the tension in his mouth relaxing as he replied wryly, “It’s complicated.”

“I can imagine,” Jax smiled and in true Jax style, rambled on, “Well not exactly, I haven’t met my significant other yet. But I definitely want that morning wake-up call thing that Brinley does. See if you can swing that with your man.”

Brinley muttered under her breath, “No, he did not.”

There was a faint blush on Ryder’s cheeks, but I was floored when his expression turned smug, and he replied, “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

“Fuck!” Jax muttered with wide eyes. “You’ve definitely been holding out on us. When we’re done with all of this Alpha bullshit nonsense, I say we get a drink, and you can share details.”

“Jax!” Amber interrupted, chastising him, “You’re worse than any girl I know. Stop hounding that boy for details on his sex life.”

Ryder’s cheeks flushed even redder.

Jax pouted like someone just kicked his puppy.

“Okay, this changes things.” Langdon turned back to me. “But I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about it.” He hesitated, his gaze flickering back to Ryder. “Not the mate part, but the vampire part. You really feel like you can trust him for something like this?”

Ryder’s features shifted back to complete seriousness. He contemplated a moment before answering, “I don’t know...I can’t say completely. I don’t want it to come to that, but I’m afraid if she has to run, they might be her most viable option.”

“Have you already discussed it with them?” Langdon asked.

“No,” I answered. ”Brinley never came up in our conversation.” I still wasn’t sold on the idea either, but I had to admit we had scarce few options. A plan had been forming in my mind while I listened to their interaction. “I think we can hide the mating and my accelerated healing at least for a day or two until we can secure Brinley’s exit strategy. Ryder and I will reach out to Aatos. Somehow, I’m going to have to negotiate his meeting with Alpha, but if I can manage it, maybe he will be open to helping us in return.”

Langdon tilted his head. “How exactly are you going to explain that without telling him your intention of killing the Alpha?”

I gritted my teeth, “I don’t think I can explain without the truth. I guess we’ll see what Aatos’ true intentions are when I broach the subject with him.”