Chapter Seven

~ Anthony ~

I could tell Emma was nervous by the way her hand trembled in mine. We’d arrived at Bas and Raina’s moments ago, but the main house was already packed with our group. As much as I wanted to protect her, this was inevitable. I knew she’d be fine, that our pack would accept her without reservation. She’d have to learn her way through the teasing and banter, but I had no doubt she’d be able to hold her own with them. She was a beautiful, intelligent woman, but Bas was right that many would tease her for being the mate of both Donovan and me. It would all be good-hearted, though. They’d always suspected we’d mate the same woman. No one was surprised.

“Emma! I’m so glad you’re here.” Raina met us in the entryway, reaching out with no reservations and giving Emma a firm hug before stepping back to scan over her with assessing eyes. “You look better. Bruises are almost completely faded. You shifted?”

“Yes, we went for a run earlier,” Emma answered.

“Good. Are you still having pain anywhere?” Fire burned in Raina’s eyes as she briefly met my gaze.

“I’m fine, but thank you.”

“We take care of our own in this pack,” Raina told my mate before grabbing her hand and tugging her from between Donovan and me. “Let me introduce you to everyone.”

“This should be fun,” Donovan said, but he was grinning as he followed Emma.

“You’ve met my mate.” Raina waved toward her mate but ignored him much to the amusement of everyone there. It made me wonder what our alpha had done to earn his mate’s displeasure this time. Raina had a personality that kept Bas on his toes. They argued as fiercely as they loved. It was fun to watch the two of them together. Never a dull moment.

“This is Ivy, my best friend.”

Ivy stepped forward and hugged Emma. “I’m Cyan’s mate. I… I hope we can be close.”

Emma nodded but didn’t say anything. She wasn’t there yet, and I got that. From what she’d shared with Donovan and me, she hadn’t even known about Cyan until her mother had sent her to the pack. Raina eased the tension by leading Emma away to introduce her to others.

“These are the famous foursome,” Raina joked, pointing to several of our group. “Taylor, Simon, Gabe, and Hannibal.”

“Famous?” Hannibal grumbled with an arched brow.

“Of course, we are,” Simon agreed with a laugh.

“You wish,” Simon’s mate, Cici, teased, making him laugh even harder as he tugged her close and kissed her.

“And their better halves,” Raina continued. “Rebbie, Bee, Cici, and Eliza.”

All the ladies offered Emma hugs while the guys each gave her a warm greeting.

“You’re a brave woman, mating these two,” Cici offered then grinned.

“Anything I should know about?” Emma asked, and I knew she was finally relaxing.

“So much,” Rebbie offered. “We’ll have lunch and spill all the secrets.”

I laughed then, pulling my mate’s gaze back to me. There were few secrets in this pack. Especially among the group of us here. We were all close. Family. Besides, anything my mate wanted to know, she had only to ask me.

“I’m an open book,” I assured her.

“No secrets here,” Donovan agreed.

Emma laughed, and I saw the last of her nerves fade away.

“Hmm, I think I’ll look forward to lunch,” she offered, making everyone chuckle.

“Is Rowan here?” I asked Raina, but she shook her head.

“He and Sasha are at home with Raine,” she answered then turned to Emma. “Rowan is my brother. Sasha is his mate, and Raine is their son, named after his favorite aunt.”

“His only aunt,” Nico Volkov teased as he joined us. I wanted to ask if he’d learned anything, but I’d wait until I could speak with him privately.

“You’re just jealous your sister didn’t name him after you,” Raina said.

Nico snorted then dropped his gaze to Emma.

“Nico Volkov,” he offered with a bow of his head. Something in his gaze when he looked at my mate told me he knew something. “Lovely to meet you. Can’t believe you mated these two. My condolences, but welcome to the James Pack.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Emma said. “To meet all of you. It’s great meeting all the members of the pack.”

“Not me. I’m not part of the James Pack,” Nico offered with a shudder that had Raina smacking him on the shoulder.

“The Rigton wolves?” Emma questioned, but Nico shook his head.

“Not them, either. I’m a lone wolf, now that my sister is settled.”

“A lone wolf with a place in either pack,” Raina reminded him.

“I’m not a pack animal,” Nico denied, though he spent more time here than anywhere else. “I’m heading out shortly. I have some business to attend to. It was lovely to meet you, Emma.”

“You just don’t want to take orders from anyone but yourself,” I teased him.

Nico shrugged. “There is that. Hell, maybe, I’ll form my own and make you share this territory between three packs.”

“Hell, no!” Bas called from where he and Cyan chatted with Michael, who must have come in after us. Piper lingered at her mate’s side. She was the newest member of the inner circle, though she’d been in the pack for a while.

“I need to go.” Nico nodded toward Bas. “They’ll fill you in.”

Which meant he did know something. Part of me wanted to follow him out, but I refused to leave Emma. I’d be patient and speak with Bas and Cyan.

“Come meet Michael and Piper,” I said, taking Emma’s hand and leading her away from Raina and the rest of the group. “Michael and Piper live by us. We hang out together outside of pack gatherings.”

“He’s your closest friend outside of Donovan?” I nodded even as she glanced around. “Where did Donovan go?”

“He slipped into the kitchen to get drinks for us. He’ll be back in a minute.”

Emma nodded, and I slipped my arm around her waist when she tensed as we joined Bas, Cyan, Michael, and Piper. I knew it had more to do with Cyan than anyone else.

“Emma, Michael and Piper,” I introduced them.

Michael smiled at Emma. “It’s good to see you up and around, Emma.”

“Thank you. It’s nice to meet you both.”

“Good to meet you, too. If you’re feeling up to it, maybe we can go shopping tomorrow. Pick up a few things for you. If you want,” Piper offered.

“That would be great, thank you.”

Emma glanced over at her brother. “Have you found out anything?”

Cyan glanced at me then back down to my mate. “Why don’t we talk privately?”

She nodded, clutching my hand then glanced around for Donovan again. He appeared from the hallway with two beer bottles and a glass of wine. He assessed the situation with one look as he walked over. He handed me a beer then offered her the wine.

“Hope red is okay,” he said, wrapping his free arm around Emma and tugging her against his side.

She nodded, but his lips met hers before she could raise the glass and take a sip. It wasn’t a chaste kiss, either. By the time he pulled away, my chest was rumbling. Emma immediately turned to me, putting her free hand on my chest. I leaned down and claimed her mouth in a kiss that didn’t stop until my wolf and I were both satisfied she’d been reminded she was ours, too.

“Should we have a private chat or just give the three of you privacy?” Bas drawled, and I finally let my mate breathe.

“That was hot,” Raina said as she came up beside her mate.

“I’ll show you what’s hot,” Bas promised, and she laughed, grabbing his face and kissing him.

“Later, mate,” Raina growled. “Let’s chat first.”

Bas led the way toward his office with Raina at his side. Cyan, Donovan, Emma, and I followed. Emma’s hand was in Donovan’s while I kept mine at the small of her back. Safe. Protected. That’s the way she’d always be. Eventually, we’d assess her skill level and begin training with her. Every member of the pack trained. When you lived in a wolf pack, you never knew which direction danger would come from. All you could count on was, it would come. Rogue wolves, lone wolves, aggressive humans. For all the respect we’d earned, there was always that one who thought they’d prove we weren’t the alpha pack we were. That was a lesson all of us enjoyed teaching.

“Shut the door,” Bas directed as he pointed us toward the couches at one side of his office.

I pushed it closed then joined Donovan and Emma on one of the sofas, placing myself on the other side from him. Cyan sat on the one across from us while Bas took the chair he normally did, tugging Raina onto his lap.

“I won’t beat around the bush,” Cyan started. “My contact says they’re still sorting through the rubble where the building blew. They’ve accounted for several of your father’s men, but for neither of your parents.”

Emma stilled between Donovan and me.

“I won’t give you false hope, though,” Cyan went on. “The pictures of the damage I’ve seen make me doubt anyone could have survived. I’m sorry.”

All the air seemed to go out of my mate, and I lifted her, placing her across my lap. Donovan moved in closer until we sat hip-to-hip.

“I’m okay,” she whispered, but the tremor in her voice said differently.

“I know you haven’t met any of the Rigton wolves yet, but several of them left earlier today to see what they can find out.”

“That’s my brother’s pack,” Raina took up when Bas paused. “Scott, Cody, and West went. They’ll drive straight through and call as soon as they get there.”

“My father’s pack is…” Emma paused as laughter filtered through the door. “Let’s just say, there was never any easy laughter around him.”

“Clayton Richards was a brutal bastard,” Cyan agreed, and I knew from the tightening of his jaw he cast some blame on himself for what had happened.

“He was…is…whatever.” My mate spoke before I could. “You don’t get to carry any of the blame for his choices and actions. Unless you think I should, as well.”

“Of course, you have no blame in this,” Cyan fired back. “But I—”

“Got away,” Emma interrupted. “I’ll admit I’m jealous of that. I’ll admit I was angry when Mom said she’d sent you away to protect you when she’d made me stay. No matter how many times I begged to leave. I wondered why she loved you more.”

Cyan snorted.

“You might not understand why she did what she did, but I think I’m starting to. I can only imagine the choice she was forced to make in the aftermath of your father’s death. Right or wrong, she felt it was the best option to keep you safe. From where I’m standing, it looks like you were the only one protected out of all of us. Jonathan is dead. My father literally had him ripped apart.”

Emma paused to catch her breath, and Donovan and I both offered comfort through our touch.

“Sam ran, or at least, that’s what I was told. I was taken and tortured in order to find him. On my father’s orders. By his hands as well as those who serve him. She might not be the mother you wanted, but she had a hard choice to make. Hard choices are just that. Hard for everyone involved.”

Cyan blew out a breath. “Speaking of Sam. One of Nico’s contacts got in touch with him a little bit ago. He’s going to meet with them now. It’s about Sam. That’s all I know for now. He’ll reach out as soon as he knows more.”

“Oh, my gods,” Emma said, one hand covering her mouth.

“Let’s not get any hopes up until we have more information,” Bas ordered.

“Agreed.” Cyan glanced at Emma. “Let’s get answers. Once we have those, maybe we can talk more. Get to know one another.”

Emma nodded. “I’d like that.”

Cyan stood. “I need to go find Ivy and Jasmine and head home. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I nodded since he’d directed that toward me and Donovan.

“Don’t leave yet,” Raina said as Emma, Donovan, and I rose from the couch. “You barely had a chance to say hello to everyone.”

“Another time, please?” Emma linked her hands with me and Donovan. “I’m still…recovering.” She paused over the word as if it were distasteful to her.

Raina nodded. “Of course. Maybe, lunch later this week. Just the girls.”

“I’d like that. Thank you.”

I tugged Emma against my side when she turned to me.

“Let’s go home,” she said.

Donovan and I shared a look. We’d both known it from the first moment we saw her, but it was good to finally hear her say it. She was ours. She was home.