mind me.”
“No, I can’t blame him,” Victor replied, “which is the only reason he’s still breathing.”
Nick coughed, drawing Victor’s attention.
“He threatened my mate and my son, Nick. He’s very lucky he’s still alive to talk about it.”
Riggs grabbed Victor’s hand and wrapped his own around it. “I know I made things worse,” Riggs said softly.
“No,” Victor said. “You protected our son. We will deal with anything that happens because of it, but you didn’t do anything I wouldn’t have done in the same situation.”
Riggs huffed, clearly not believing a word of it. They were such a study in opposites that Toby sometimes wondered how they fit together, but then at moments like these, he got it.
If someone made assumptions based on looks alone, they would probably decide Riggs was the tough guy. But Toby had learned a lot about people by being an outcast, and one look at Victor let him know that he wasn’t a man to be messed with. If he hadn’t met Nick first, Toby might have questioned whether Nick or Victor was the alpha of the pack.
Riggs made a complicated face. Toby couldn’t quite translate it, but he got the basics. No way would Victor have lost control, shifted, and attacked an alpha. At least that’s what Toby had been told happened.
“Bottom line, can we fix it?” Nick asked. “Because I really want to rip some throats out, but Toby has a point.”
“And it’s not what is best for the children,” Sam offered. The alpha-mate of the Jerrick pack had been very quiet so far, and Toby wondered what Ollie’s dad thought of the mess they currently found themselves in.
“Right,” Nick said, with a complicated face of his own.
“Our world is small and closed enough without alienating the other alphas. We are a community.”
Toby squirmed in his seat a little. He felt like he’d been sent to the principal’s office, even though Sam wasn’t looking at him.
“I know,” Nick said.
“But if they try to take the kids, I will help you rip their throats out.”
Toby blinked, then coughed. Then choked a little. Riggs thumped him on the back, which made him see stars. “I’m good. I’m fine.”
Riggs patted him more gently before settling back against his mate. Toby listened as they made plans, as Victor explained to Nick that he’d have to be on his best behavior, and how much work it was going to take to make the alphas accept their role in the children’s lives.
And when Nick scanned the room, his eyes paused on each of them. Assessing. Reading. Understanding. And he stopped on Toby too. Same as the others. Not outcast, not weird. Not even all that special. Just one of them. Which was the strangest thing of all.
Chapter Eight
“The problem,” Ollie said as he munched from a bag of trail mix while sitting on the kitchen counter of his fathers’ house, “is that he doesn’t know what it’s like to be pack.”
“Uh-huh,” Brooks said.
He continued focusing his attention on the garbage disposal he needed to replace. Again.
Certain individuals who lived in the house—namely Sam and Vaughn—seemed to think that anything and everything could go through said disposal. He’d have to sic Nana on them for yet another lecture.
“Pack is the best thing ever, right? But how would Toby know? He doesn’t really have any family; did you know that?”
Brooks hesitated with the wrench in his hand. “I know he lost his parents a few years ago.”
“Goddess, I can’t even think about it,” Ollie said. He sucked in a breath and frowned. “Like, without Papa and Dad and my brothers and sisters? I can’t. But see, that’s the thing. He’s not used to having people to count on. I mean, if it was me, and I’m facing this big thing like meeting my mate or getting a new job or punching a dragon in the face, I’m calling Dad. Okay, maybe I’m calling Uncle Solomon, because if I punched a dragon, I’m gonna need some hellhound assistance, but you get my point.”
“I do.” Brooks paused his repair work and scooted out from under the sink. “What do we do, though?”
Ollie grinned and shoved another handful of trail mix into his mouth. “I like this we business.”
Brooks groaned and stood up, stealing the bag from Ollie’s hand and leaning back against the counter. “I have a funny feeling I’m going to regret this.”
He picked out a few nuts from the bag, careful to avoid the M&M’s.
“Nah, I’m good at plans. Remember when we took