What was supposed to be a check-in visit had turned into an unexpected afternoon. The work Jase was planning on doing before the meeting was forgotten as he spent the time in bed with Becky. They cuddled and discussed their future. More than that, he let her adjust to the new bond between them. She had questions about the shifter culture, the tribe, and the plan to take down The Saviors. He was able to answer most of them, but in regards to what they were going to do to take down The Saviors once and for all was still something he didn’t know.

“Maybe the others have discovered something that will help.” She rubbed her hand along the contours of his abs.

“Maybe.” He wanted to give her some hope but he knew, if they’d found something, they’d have called. “We should get dressed. They’ll be here soon and I want Doctor Graham to examine you.”

“Why?” Pushing the blanket aside, she sat up and looked down at the gash on her thigh that she’d taken the bandage off of an hour earlier. “Look at this, it’s almost healed. My knee feels fine, and even my arm isn’t throbbing like it was. My ribs are tender but the pain is nearly gone. I’m good. This mating has done wonders for healing my body.”

“I don’t want you to overdo it. Your knee might not be ready to handle your weight yet.” He ran his hand down her back.

“There’s only one way to find out.” She hopped out of bed before he could stop her. “It feels fine.”

He rolled over to look at her standing naked next to the bed. “Baby, you need to take it easy.”

“It’s a little stiff but there’s no pain.” She paced back and forth.

“You’re stubborn.” He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Silently, he watched her for a moment, taking in her beauty. “Trust me on one thing: your arm might feel better but it’s not healed. Don’t take your air cast off.”

“The throbbing pain might be gone, but I know it’s not healed.” She came to stand in front of him and touched his shoulder. “Now stop worrying. I’m not going to do anything stupid.”

“I’ll never stop worrying about you.” He placed his hand over hers. “Tonight, after the meeting, if you’re up to it, we’ll go to Sin’s for dinner. Billy’s there with Zoe.”

“I owe Zoe for watching him.”

“Nonsense. She loves watching over the kids around here. She sees it as her part of the leadership team, though she keeps begging to do more.” He shook his head.

At fourteen, Zoe already wanted a bigger role within the tribe. By the time, she reached eighteen, there was little doubt she’d earn one, not because she happened to be Sin’s ward but because of her ambition. Those thoughts led him back to Billy, who also had ambition, but at only eight he had a longer road to travel before his time came.

“Tomorrow we’ll bring Billy home.” He grabbed his shirt off the foot of the mattress and slipped it over his head. “I’ve already sent Liam and a couple of guys to pick up some things for his room. Ginger went with them and picked out some other stuff he needs, such as clothes and toys. Ginger, Camellia, and Swift set up his room while the rest of us were busy with other things. We can welcome him home to his own room.”

“Thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me. He’s our son and I want him to feel at home here.”

The front door opened and Liam’s scent drifted toward Jase, followed by some of the other trusted members of the team. “Jase?”

“I’ll be there in a minute.” He grabbed his jeans and boxers from the floor and slid them on. “In the closet, you’ll find some clothes for you. Ginger forced the guys to stop so she could get some things for you as well. Once you’re feeling better, we’ll go get anything else you and Billy need. If there’s anything missing that you need now let me know and I’ll have someone get it for you.”

“You think of everything.” With a nod, she disappeared into the walk-in closet.

“I can’t take credit for that—it was all Ginger. I’d have kept you naked if I had a choice.” He tugged on his boots and laced them up, smiling to himself.

“There’s too much to be done. We can’t be spending all of our time naked in bed together.” She came back into the bedroom wearing a pair of jeans that hugged her curves and a sweater in hand. “But I’m pretty sure we can make time for it.”

“Trust me, baby, we’ll make time for it. I can be a grumpy bear if my needs aren’t met.” He went to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her tight against his body.

“What about my needs?”

“Those are first on my priority list. You’re going to be a very happy and satisfied mate.” He pressed his lips to hers in a quick kiss before stepping back. “This meeting shouldn’t take long but if you’re not up for it, I understand.”

“I’m fine.” She slipped the deep forest green sweater over her head and ran her hand through her hair, fluffing it the best she could. “I’m your mate and it’s time I help where I can. Plus, I want to know if they’ve found anything new. The Saviors need to be stopped.”

“Let’s do this.” He slipped his hand into hers and headed down the steps to where everyone was waiting for them. They had barely reached the bottom of the stairs when they were met with commotion from the dining room, which also acted as their meeting space.

“Have you lost your mind?” Noah snapped.

“Hear me out…” Karri begged.

“Lovers’ quarrels need to be handled before you come here.” Jase and Becky entered the room to find Noah and Karri squared off, while Liam, Sin, Garret, and Roger were already seated at the table. “We’re about to have a meeting here so Noah if you need to deal with this now, take it outside. We’ve got bigger problems to worry about than your mating struggles.”

“Jase,” Becky hissed, squeezing his hand.

With a glance in her direction, he realized she thought he was being insensitive. Maybe he was but his team knew this wasn’t the place for things like couples’ disagreements. If there was an issue he could help with, then his door was always open but most times, newly mated couples had quarrels over minor issues that could be worked out between themselves. Right now, they had a bigger problem to deal with—The Saviors.

“Sir…” Karri stumbled over her words as Jase eyed her. Everyone knew he didn’t like to be called sir. It might have been out of respect but it only served as a reminder that every single member of the tribe was relying on him.

“Karri,” Noah growled in warning.

She didn’t even look at him; instead, she kept her attention on Jase. “I’m sorry and while Noah disagrees, I need to speak up. I need to make this right. Please—”

“Why doesn’t everyone sit down and we can bring Jase and Becky up to speed?” Sin suggested before glancing at Karri. “Once he knows what we’ve found, you can tell him your suggestion.”

“Our suggestion.” Arlene stepped into the room from the living area. “I apologize for intruding but I knew Karri would go against Noah’s wishes and speak with Jase. My sister is hardheaded but this won’t work without me.”

Jase’s gaze narrowed in on Noah as he wondered just how much the Captain of Sin’s guards had told her. Arlene was human with no connection to the tribe except through her sister Karri. Jase had opened the tribe to her after she’d brought them information concerning The Saviors but he wasn’t about to trust her with the same information the team had. She was barely eighteen and without being mated to one of his members, there was no way to ensure her loyalty.

“Nothing, Jase, I swear,” Noah told him as if reading his thoughts.

“It’s my fault.” Karri took a step to the side, so that she was in front of her mate. “You approved me to assist him in whatever way I could. He had me following up on leads. That’s when I found out that Pat Guttenburg was responsible. I was arguing with Noah when Arlene came down and overheard us. In my anger, confidential information was leaked and for that, I apologize. I accept responsibility and whatever punishment you feel is necessary, but leave Noah out of this. He worked too hard to gain his position here; don’t take it away because of my negligence.”

“Karri.” Noah stepped up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“This topic isn’t closed but we’ll deal with this later. Now tell me who Pat Gutternburg is and what you’ve found.” Jase led Becky over to the head of the table and pulled out the chair for her. After she sat down, he grabbed another one, pulled it alongside hers, and sat.

“What about her?” Sin nodded toward Arlene who was standing in the entryway leading from the living room.

“Seems that she already knows about this part so I guess let her stay.” He turned to face the young girl. “Anything you learned in Noah’s house or here needs to be kept in the strictest confidence. You cannot discuss any of it with anyone outside of this room and even if brought up in conversation with one of us, it needs to be done in private, where no one can overhear you. If you don’t take this seriously, it will put all our lives in jeopardy. Do you understand?”

“I’m not stupid. I know what’s at risk.” Arlene crossed her arms over her chest.

“Arlene,” Karri snapped at her sister’s rude tone.

Jase let go of his mate’s hand and rose from the table to stand in front of the young girl. “Listen to me, Arlene. I might not be your Chief, but I still demand your respect. My tribe put themselves on the line by bringing you into our home. We protect you—”

“Because I brought information to you,” she snapped. “Evidence that kept Karri alive when people put a bounty on her head.”

“Those people…you mean your parents.” He paused briefly to let that sink in. “Yes, you brought us information that your parents and other members of your hometown were aiding The Saviors. Those same people demand for Karri to be killed because she was friends with Kat and her shifter boyfriend. The people you considered family and friends would have done the same to you as soon as they learned you were passing information to shifters about their activities. That’s why some of The Saviors’ planned attacks were unsuccessful. Do you not think that after the attack in the woods, that you claim you didn’t know about beforehand, they would have become suspicious? Other attacks you did know about turned out to be a failure but this one was successful. Seems to me it wouldn’t have taken long for them to figure out you were leaking information. So how long before you had a bounty on your head?”

“I…” She shook her head, unsure what to say.

“Fine, I’ll tell you then. The Saviors had a bounty on your head the minute the attack in the woods was over. Kaden found your name on the discussion board. They wanted you dead because they suspected you were betraying them. How long could you have survived out there on your own?”

“Enough.” Karri stepped away from Noah and came to Arlene’s side. “I thought you weren’t going to tell her.”

“You knew about this and didn’t tell me!” With tears in her eyes, Arlene pulled away from her sister. “How could you?”

“I was trying to protect you.” Karri took a step toward her sister but stopped before going any further. “I know what it’s like to realize your family turned their backs on you. That hatred toward shifters overtook the love that was supposed to be there. I didn’t want you to have to deal with that.”

“You still never said anything when I said I would go back there. I would have gone there and told them I made a mistake by going to you and trusting shifters, that they were right. You knew they would kill me and you never said a word. Talk about betrayal.” Arlene moved toward the door but Karri caught her arm.

“I’d have never let you go.”

“Screw you, Karri!” Arlene stormed out of the house, leaving an eerie silence in her wake.

Noah went to his mate and wrapped his arms around her. “She’ll come around.”

“I’ll go talk to her.” Roger rose from the table, only to have Jase raise a hand and stop him.

“Stay. Liam asked you here for a reason and I’d like to get down to business. You can talk to her after the meeting.” Jase came back over to the table.

The silence stretched on for a moment before Becky slipped her hand into his and looked over at Noah. “I guess Jase and I are the only ones who don’t know who Pat Gutternburg is, so maybe we could start there.”

“He owns a tactical supply store in the town I grew up in.” Karri took a seat at the table but wouldn’t look at Jase. “The store always seemed out of place to me. What did our small town need with something like that? Some of the men would hunt in the winter but that wasn’t enough to keep the shop afloat. It wasn’t until a few days before I left for college that I learned what he did in that backroom.”

“Pat Gutternburg created the bombs that blew up Becky’s house.” Noah nodded to Roger who placed an e-table in front of Jase from his seat across the table. “He started supplying The Saviors with their weapons months ago and is now providing them with bombs.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Jase stared down at the information displayed on the screen. “How did we miss this?”

“Garret and I went through every aspect of that town and found nothing about it.” Sin leaned forward, placing her forearms on the table, and watched Jase. “We only found it now thanks to our team. Kaden showed Roger how to access The Saviors’ discussion board online without them knowing we were watching them and he’s been monitoring it.”

“There was an increase in the information on the online board so Noah asked me to help Roger,” Karri explained. “While we were digging through all of it, we found the post that mentioned the bombs for Becky’s house were ready. It didn’t say her name, just BL and the location, but it was obvious.”

The knowledge of who’d supplied the bombs comprised a big part of bringing down the bastards who had hurt his mate. Jase wanted to jump in his truck and go after Pat Gutternburg but he couldn’t. They needed a plan. It would be easy to turn this information over to the police and allow them to handle things, but it wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying. My mate, my responsibility.