18. Ranger

EIGHTEEN

RANGER

"What?" everyone shouted around the table, except me and my mate.

"Let me back up a little," Matt replied.

I didn't want him reversing. He had to expand on how he wasn't a danger to us. I tried to catch his eye, but he ignored me.

"In my defense… I was just concentrating on The Obsidian Circle. The bad guys." He fiddled with his fork. Even if he lost control and pitched it into the air, we'd catch it.

But Matt wouldn't hurt us for no reason. He was a good guy. I'd learned that in the short time we'd known one another.

Are you sure? my beast chimed in.

Absolutely. Aren't you?

Of course. I can see into his heart .

He couldn't literally and neither could I, but Matt had shown by his actions he was kind, generous, and loving.

Matt stood up, clutching the fork. It wasn't a good look, and I couldn't beg him to drop it. He had to come to that conclusion on his own.

My mate loosened his grip and the fork thunked onto the table. Inwardly, I thanked him, and when he glanced at me, our eyes locked on one another. I hoped what he witnessed in my gaze was love and pride.

"Are y-you b-b-bad guys?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"Depends on who you ask?" Dad sighed. "But no. Our companies are legit."

"Really?" Matt sank onto the chair.

"Yes, really," I assured him. "The more, ummm, murky side of our dealings is our retrieval business. We're known for fixing problems."

"Not murky," Flint stated.

"To a human it might be," I added.

"So you're talking about killing someone?" Matt had his face in his hands. These disclosures might end any chance of us being together, but I wasn't going to lie.

"Not that. At least not the way you mean."

"What other way is there? Murder is murder."

"In wolf form. We only eliminate people who take something that doesn't belong to them or who threaten our pack and our family. Bad people. Family is everything."

"Family." The corner of Matt's mouth turned up. "In a weird way, I sorta understand that part. My brother always has my back, and I'd defend him with my dying breath." He exhaled. "But yeah, Dane's account, photos, videos, and email threads I copied will give you everything you need."

I already had enough to bring Dane down, but with Matt's in-depth info, we could make sure Dane never did business again. Or anything else, including breathing.

"I knew I liked you." Uncle Arnie grinned.

Matt fiddled with his napkin. "Don't speak too soon. There's a lot you don't know about me." Matt scrunched up his face.

"What?" my family repeated, and they leaned forward.

"Ummm, yeah… ahhh… mmmm… right… I sometimes wear my socks twice because I can't be assed to do laundry."

There was silence around the table until Dad spoke. "Sorry. That's the tipping point of whether we allow you to be part of the Durand family." He folded his arms, and his serious expression would have worried me if I'd been Matt.

"And the verdict?" my mate asked.

"It's gross." Dad crinkled his nose.

"Excuse me." Matt leaned back in the chair. "You were just discussing your pooping schedule."

"True." Dad rubbed his chin. "Okay. You can join the family."

Flint's mouth twitched, and he slapped his hand on the table. His belly laugh echoed around the huge room, and we joined in.

"That's kind of you, but can I take a raincheck on joining the family?" Matt hugged himself. "I need to think about it. Sorry."

"Of course," I assured him.

Matt flashed me a glance, and I placed my hand on the table, palm up, and waited. He studied it and put his marked palm on top. His mating hand.

"But there's the additional issue of my damaged table." Dad rubbed his fingers over the splintered wood.

"He started it." Matt jerked his head at Flint, and we all laughed.

My mate intertwined his fingers in mine. "One more thing. I really want Dane arrested, not killed. He deserves to rot in a small cell."

There was another silence until Flint pushed his chair back. "Ranger, it would be best if we all agreed on how to deal with Dane." That was code for Matt to understand we had our own rules.

He grabbed his dishes and strode into the kitchen. Uncle Arnie and Dad did the same, with my dad insisting he and my brother clean up as Uncle did the cooking.

"Come into the den, Matt." I extended my hand. He took it, and as we strolled toward the room, the lights flickered.

"Hope the power's not going off again," Dad yelled.

"It's still on. I'll make more coffee." From the corner of my eye, I noted Uncle pouring water into the coffee machine.

"I'm so confused, Ranger." Matt flopped onto the couch and curled into a ball, his hands between his legs as he shivered and his teeth chattered.

It was a big mistake coming in here because it was so cold. It was taking a while for the room to warm up after the power outage. I raced into the storeroom and got a portable heater and more bedding while also bringing in my phone to charge.

"Your family are readers." Snuggled up with the blankets around him, Matt was studying the shelves, containing hundreds of books, lining two walls.

"Don't sound so surprised. We can read."

A knock at the door interrupted our discussion, and my uncle brought in coffee and cookies. He mentioned not going into the kitchen as he used a drain cleaner to unclog the kitchen sink and the smell was potent.

Matt made a face. If he thought rotten eggs were stinky, he should get a whiff of them as a shifter. Maybe Uncle should use the eucalyptus oil.

"Thanks, Uncle Arnie." Matt gave my uncle a big grin.

"You're welcome, great-nephew-in-law. Flint might have reservations about you, but I see the Matt that Ranger loves. The funny, honest, and loyal Matt." He mouthed to me, "I really like him."

"Me too," I whispered in return.

"Did I just say that?" Matt sat up.

"Ummm, you've said a lot of things. Many of them insults."

"I called Arnie Uncle." He giggled. I loved his laugh, loved everything about him, but we were no closer to being true mates. We'd been circling one another for two days, similar to wrestlers, or perhaps boxers, keeping a distance between us, before one swung at the other's head. That was usually Matt.

"Yeah, let me count the ways." He took a bite of a cookie and crumbs tumbled onto his purple jacket. "Like accusing you of being a murderer and breaking the law, being an asshat, and a stalker. Though they were all kinda true, so is that a real insult?" He pointed to the bookshelves. "But just now I insinuated you were uneducated and couldn't read. Sorry."

"Don't forget a shitter."

He caught my eye, and we burst out laughing.

"I have to remember that so when you piss me off, I'll call you a shitter." He cackled, an adorable sound that had my heart swelling with love.

When Matt spoke of the future, he'd mentioned Dane threatening his life. He'd never spoken of me being part of it, so that was different.

"And I made fun of your wolf." His hand froze halfway to his mouth. "But that's a lot to take in. Meeting a man who had an animal inside him feels like a fairy tale."

There were so many upheavals in Matt's life. But whether I liked it or not, he didn't have to make a decision about us immediately. I could wait. Forever if I had to.

My wolf groaned in frustration. But I had to consider Matt's safety, and the focus was what to do about Dane, which reminded me of a game show title. But the situation was anything but amusing or lighthearted.

Matt sat up and flung part of the blanket off. He patted the couch, and I sat beside him. He covered us both and rubbed his shoulder against mine.

"I'm part confused, part terrified, and part excited about what's ahead."

"Can you give me the deets on the excited bit?" I figured the terror was the idea of Dane hanging over his head, the confused bit about shifters and the mafia.

"It's all you, Ranger. You confuse me. One side good guy, the other… well, I've never seen that person. The terror is associated with the fear of the unknown. You come from a line of shifters who originated in ancient times, and me? I'm an ordinary human in my mid-twenties. How does my life compare to your lineage?"

"Still waiting for the excitement." I was halfway there, my cock rock hard, and I longed to place my hand on Matt's thigh and ease it over his body to his dick.

A light pink flush graced his cheeks, and his tongue poked out between his lips. It would have been so easy to lean over and capture the tip with my mouth or teeth.

Matt swallowed, and I brushed his unruly hair off his brow. "Thinking of the future, with you… ummm, in the picture somewhere?" It came out as a question.

I had to control the urge to grab my mate, plant kisses over his face, strip off his clothes, and plow into him. For the first time, we weren't on opposite sides but inching closer together. One of us fell for the other at first sight, while the other had given an inkling that he liked me.

But he had to spell it out. This wasn't a guessing game. "What are you saying?"

Matt rested his head on my shoulder and both me and my wolf inwardly cheered, but before I could wallow in my happiness, he jerked away and sat upright. We were so close, I could almost taste it, but I also sensed his inner struggle.

"I'm saying… what I'm trying to say… is…" He took a deep breath. "You annoy me, piss me off, scare me, and make me crazy, but there's another emotion that is stronger than all of those combined."

"Matt, do you always drag every important decision out until the listener is about to scream?"

"Not sure. With you I do. It's a big deal. I've never had, you know… whatever for a mafia shifter. It's a huge hurdle to admit that."

My beast was as frustrated as I was, saying he'd growl at Matt if he didn't stop talking and start doing.

"Just spill. Once it's out in the open, we can move forward, no matter how many bumps and detours there are."

"Easy for you to say."

"Matt, I mated a human, and even though my brother did the same, that's not as simple as it sounds. My life will change and will never be the same as if I mated another shifter."

Maybe you shouldn't have said that. Might make our mate feel bad .

My wolf was right, but it was too late to take it back.

Matt's eyes were awash with tears, and he sniffed. Shit, I had upset him. I slid onto the floor and kneeled at his feet.

"But what I didn't say was the joy you bring, the humor, the uncertainty, the quirkiness will make my life a hundred times better than it would be if I never met you."

"Nice save there." Matt pulled my head onto his lap. "You expect me to admit the L-word after just meeting you like yesterday?—"

"Day before."

"Fine. I'll give you two whole days." He ran his fingers through my hair.

"And didn't you give me the loser sign? Is that the L-word you're referring to?"

He sniggered and his lap jiggled, my head along with it.

"I'm not sure if what I feel is love. It's as though you reached into my heart and claimed it."

"And you're fighting for control."

"Yeah, it's a tussle." He snapped his teeth which amused my wolf.

I wouldn't help him with that. I mated him, and I'd held back from taking him to bed or demanding he change his lifestyle. That was another issue. Yet one more.

"Maybe love can't be defined because it's not about pretty words, flowers, or chocolates."

"You might be onto something," he agreed. "It's what's in our heart."