Page 40 of Targeted By Love

“So.” He held my hand. “This is a bad guy, right? Promise? No more revenge killings?”

“Promise.” I’d hired Ezra, and he dealt with the bookings and did in-depth research on each potential target. More than I could by using the normal search engines. I didn’t ask him where he went during these searches, and he refused to tell me. It was better he didn’t.

Lake and Thiago complained that Ezra was my favorite. Gods, I couldn’t do anything in this family without someone moaning about it. But I had an idea for a new business where I could employ these two whiners, along with Riggs. For now it was a concept.

Boaz would never give up his Beta position because he had his sights on being the next Alpha, even if he had to expel his opponents to achieve it.

“Did you eat breakfast?” Rhodes was sipping tea when he usually drank a pot of coffee each morning. And he accompanied his brew with toast or a danish or croissant. But not this morning.

I now had the local bakery deliver every day. The owner brought the goods himself, hoping to see Boaz, and was usually disappointed. But I tipped him well. My brother was sleeping with him, and I was tempted to say it was just sex and he wasn’tBoaz’s mate, but decided why puncture his happiness. Let him enjoy what they had between the sheets for as long as my brother allowed. I suspected the baker would substitute salt for sugar in the danish when they broke up.

“Hmmm, are you the breakfast police? Please tell me you don’t have an app where you record what and when I eat?”

I didn’t. “That’s a great idea.”

My mate tossed one of the many cushions at my head and told me to get going.

I skedaddled because I’d intended to be out of the apartment twenty minutes ago and I had a drive ahead of me. My target lived by the beach and jogged every evening, just before sunset. It never dawned on my targets, being the assholes they were, that someone would try to take them out.

Instead, they were obsessed with running, cycling, parachuting, or piloting, all in remote locations. Fools, but it made my job easier.

We were in a holding pattern regarding Seb. Alpha and the other pack and den leaders had all the information and it was out of our hands, though Germaine had mysteriously been replaced as Alpha and had been banished. Or that was what we’d been told.

My mate’s safety was still a priority. It always would be as long as I lived, and while I didn’t think there’d be another attempt on his life, I couldn’t take a chance. As for me? I’d be fine because me and my wolf were always on alert.

I’d been forced to have the mating conversation with Alpha, one on one. Boaz wasn’t present and neither were the other Betas. He didn’t react as my brothers did, his age giving hima perspective they lacked. He agreed the mating instinct took precedence above all else.

As was my habit, I parked a long distance from the beach, stripped off my clothes in a secluded wooded area, and my wolf carried the pack with my belongings in his mouth. He ran for thirty minutes, before arriving at a remote headland that overlooked a secluded patch of coastline.

Not bothering to get dressed—I hadn’t left the clothes in the car in case of an emergency resulting in a change of plans—I lay on my belly on a plastic sheet, allowing the sun, sliding over the horizon, to drape my body in its gentle glow.

When I was done, I would remove the plastic, and my wolf would scratch the sandy soil and roll in it so law enforcement would discover his DNA. As yet, there was no DNA registry that matched a shifter’s beast with his human. It would happen, but until then, I had my own built-in security.

There was no one on the beach since the rocks and rough waves made it unsuitable for families and swimming. I removed the Glock from the pack and waited. This was when I was most focused and yet my mind stilled. It was similar to how humans described meditation.

Since mating with Rhodes, this was when I sensed his emotions, if his pulse spiked, or when he was sleeping. But today, the sensations were muddled. Rhodes’s body was signaling that… that…

My body tensed because there was someone with him, and I was ready to abandon the hit.

There’s no danger, my wolf insisted.This is good.

How?

It’s not someone separate from Rhodes but part of him.

Huh?Other than a shifter’s beast, my brain couldn’t compute how that was possible.

He’s pregnant!

Forgetting where I was, I opened my mouth, a scream ready to erupt. But remembering I was on a job, I sealed my lips as my body spasmed with joy.

I’m going to be a dad!

There was no time to tell Rhodes because a flicker of movement at the far end of the beach alerted me the target was on the move. He always ran in the shallow water rather than on the wet sand, and I thanked him for it. The tide was coming in, and his body would be washed out to sea. But if not, there would be no evidence I was here.

The target was in deeper water than I’d expected, making the aftermath easier. And as he pumped his arms, he took his last breath before I put a bullet in his brain. He collapsed into the shallow water, and I was done.

I checked again for anyone else on the beach, and once I was satisfied, I placed the gun in the pack and shifted.