Page 64 of Brazen

I picked JT up and held him close. His eyes were wide and frightened because he could tell I was mad. His little hand grabbed hold of my shirt.

“The seduction’s over,” I spat at Sam. “Deal’s off. We’re through.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” All the color had leached from Sam’s face as his eyes widened. “What happened? What’s going on?” He looked around like someone else might tell him what was going on.

As it turned out, someone did: his sister. “Chuck spilled the beans.”

It sure as hell wasn’t baked beans.

26

SAM

* * *

I stared at my sister Genevieve’s pinched face. Her husband, Chuck, stood behind her looking sheepish.

“What beans?” My voice raised enough to attract the attention of the wolves around us.

Chuck spread his hands. “It was a poor choice of words. I just said you were on seduction duty to find out the scoop with the new pup.”

Oh, fuck. Fuck!

“Oh, shit,” someone nearby murmured. I thought it was Joy. Great. So it was as bad as I thought.

“He’s not on seduction duty. She’s his mate!” Genevieve cried, slapping Chuck in the arm.

“Well, how was I supposed to know?” he countered. “She’s not marked.”

I wanted to punch my brother-in-law in the teeth, but Clio was already moving away.

Fuck. This was so fucked.

“Clio! Hold up!” I jogged to catch up. I could’ve easily gotten ahead of her, but she was freaked enough as it was. “Clio.”

She kept walking, straight toward the field where I’d parked the truck.

I matched pace with her. I wanted to loop an arm around her waist and hold her until she believed me, but I knew she wouldn’t allow it. I couldn’t, anyway, with JT in her arms.

JT was staring at me with those huge blue eyes. He looked freaked out.

“It’s okay, bud,” I told him softly. “It’s a misunderstanding, but we’re going to work through it.”

That pissed Clio off enough that she stopped and whirled around making JT’s little legs swing around and hit her in the butt.

“How is this a misunderstanding?” she demanded. “You had a job to do, and you did it. Really well.”

“You’re my mate,” I said firmly. “This is real. What’s between the two of us is real.” I pointed back and forth. “There was no seduction duty. I told you I’m the butt of all jokes like that. Chuck is an idiot.”

“Mommy, what’s ‘duction?”

Clio patted him on the back. “It’s like when someone gives you a hug at a picnic, but they only did it to steal a cookie off your plate.”

“That’s not nice,” he murmured.

I gave Sam a pointed glare. “So your alpha didn’t tell you to find out what was up with my kid?”

Fuck.