Page 12 of Targeted By Love
Forget that. Your brothers and their beasts are going to tear the guy apart.
Shit. The message was from my cousin saying Rhodes was at my place. Damn! I strode toward the door but was intercepted by a wall of my five siblings.
“Please tell me that’s not who I think it is.” Thiago lifted his head and sniffed. “Definitely human.”
“And he may have heard our discussion,” Riggs added.
The word mafia to a human would send warning bells, though he wouldn’t have figured out the shifter reference.
Boaz flung open the door. Rhodes was on the other side, his fist raised, ready to knock. He squeaked at the five enraged faces before him.
I lowered my voice. “Don’t hurt him.” Rhodes wouldn’t have picked up what I’d said, though his eyes were on me, as I stood behind my siblings.
“Do you make it a habit of listening in at people’s doors?” Boaz demanded.
“I… I…” Poor Rhodes couldn’t form a sentence. “Fur… teeth…”
Shoot. Had he seen one of my cousins in his fur? Boaz was so damned aggressive. Rhodes was my mate, and I’d give my life forhis. My wolf was furious and threatened to shift if my brothers didn’t show Rhodes some respect. I attempted to push past my siblings, but four of them shoved me back while Boaz confronted Rhodes.
“Rhodes, I—” Riggs slapped a hand over my mouth, and my wolf glared at him through my eyes. I was in a quandary, wanting to lash out at my brothers and rescue Rhodes. But that would result in fur flying, fangs and claws, and whatever my mate had heard was nothing compared to him witnessing our shift.
“You’d better come with me.” Boaz led my mate down the hall.
“If you touch a hair on his head, you’ll regret it,” I shouted, but my brother didn’t respond.
“It’s okay, Maynard. Don’t worry. I got this.” Tears glistened in his eyes. “They shaved you and colored your hair. It’ll be okay.” My mate was in protective mode, thinking I was what? Being held prisoner. I should be looking after him. What sort of alpha and mate was I that I allowed him to be manhandled?
A door slammed and Boaz returned, swinging a key in his hand. He’d put my mate in a bedroom, one where the key was in a dresser drawer. Shame I’d told my brothers the bedrooms and the office were lockable.
“What the fuck, Bro?” No one in our family or pack would treat a mate like that. Boaz would answer not only to me but to our Alpha. And though Alpha may be old-fashioned when it came to mating, he wouldn’t tolerate the disrespect my siblings had shown to my mate.
“He overheard what we were saying. You know the rule if outsiders stumble upon our business.” Boaz wasn’t backing down.
“He’s human. He probably didn’t hear a word.”
Fur rippled over my arms, and it took all my strength to have my beast pull back. Five beasts growled at mine, telling him to stand down. I could choose to fight, my wolf was the strongest, but I couldn’t win against five opponents, especially when they were aware of my wolf’s tactics and his weaknesses.
I’d be no use to Rhodes bleeding out on the living room floor.
“Let me go to him.”
Boaz dangled the key. “Unless you plan on your wolf breaking down the door, he’s staying where he is.”
It was against our law to show our wolves to humans. But Rhodes was my mate, and he’d have to meet the one nestled inside me eventually.
“It’s a stop-gap measure. We need to figure this out. I promise, we’re not doing this to hurt either of you.” Boaz had the decency to sound like he meant it. “I understand he’s your fate, but we have rules.”
My wolf still wasn’t impressed, but he also sensed that our mate was safe. Recognizing my mate after all these years wasn’t supposed to go like this. Why couldn’t we have met again while standing in line at a café or something equally boring?
“I’m going to sit outside the door,” I snarled over my shoulder. What I wanted to do was fight my brothers and escape with Rhodes far away from all this bullshit. But Boaz was right, as much as I hated it. “If that’s okay with you all.”
Rhodes had access to a bathroom, and there were bottles of water in the room. But with no food, they’d have to let him out soonish or I’d smash it down and to heck with the consequences.
I placed my ear to the door and picked up his rapid breathing. Boaz had taken Rhodes’s phone, so he must be terrified. Sliding down onto the thick carpet, I placed my hand against the thick wooden door and whispered, “Please forgive me.”
8
RHODES