Mr. Rothe - Lynn Hagen Page 0,18

is dead. You must’ve mistaken someone for him. There’s no way he’s still alive.”

Max, Reese, Lucas, and even Derek, Max’s boyfriend, walked inside. I closed the door and went back to the wet bar, wishing to god I’d been mistaken. Now I knew why the east side had erupted into chaos. It was all a smoke screen to hide the fact that Antonio was still among the living.

Either that or no one in his pack knew he was still living and breathing, so they continued to fight for his position.

“I know about their plans.” I poured a drink and swallowed it down. “I meant to talk to you guys about it, but I got distracted.” I looked at Fitch, who stared at my friends as if they’d attack him at any second.

I’d been plenty distracted, especially after last night. That had been the hottest thing I’d done in a long time. Even now, knowing Antonio was still alive, all I wanted to do was take the male to my bedroom and fuck his brains out.

“What plans?” Reese helped himself to a drink.

Fitch looked my way and blushed, as if he knew my thoughts.

“The night that car tried to kill me, I’d just found out that the Malkovich pack planned on a mass killing to get rid of the wolves from—” I shot a look at Fitch. I hadn’t meant to say wolves in front of him. The human visibly paled as he white-knuckled his glass.

“Wolves?” Fitch swallowed. “Did you just say wolves? Is that why Deon had those canines?”

“Looks like you have some explaining to do,” Reese said with a smirk. “Just don’t break the human.”

“Will you guy stop?” Derek argued. “You’re scaring the crap out of him.”

Without thought I put my hand on the small of Fitch’s back, subconsciously lending him some strength to lean on if he needed it. I didn’t want Fitch to be frightened. Not of me, at least. Sooner or later I would tell him I was a wolf shifter, but for now, I needed to put my head together with my friends and figure out what we were going to do.

“You were saying?” Max arched a brow, looking between me and Fitch. “About the plans?”

“He said wolves,” Fitch muttered. “Fuck.”

I caressed my hand up and down his back in gentle strokes, and to my delight, Fitch leaned in closer. Now I wished that I’d waited to call a meeting. I wanted to soothe Fitch’s worries and give him something else to concentrate on.

“They want to wipe out the Romano pack.” I held up the hand that wasn’t caressing Fitch’s back. “I know, that was Antonio’s agenda before, but the Romanos have an event this weekend. Some bike rally to raise money for the local children’s hospital.”

The Romanos weren’t known for their kindness and generosity when it came to handling business, but they did do a lot of charity events to help raise money for local causes.

“Antonio already threatened to take over Ridgeview and kill all of us,” Lucas said with a shrug. “I, for one, would like to see him try. We killed him once. We just have to do it again, and this time we make sure he’s truly dead.”

“But he’s not out in the open,” I reminded them. “He’s playing some sort of cat-and-mouse game with Fitch. He’s stalking him but not making any moves.”

“Do you think he’s the one who tried to run you over?” Reese asked. “He might want revenge against Fitch for interfering.”

“This meeting isn’t making me feel any better,” Fitch said. “I just saw a car careening toward Gabe and did what any decent human being would do.”

“And for that, we owe you a debt,” Max said. “You saved our friend’s life.”

Fitch blushed again, looking toward the floor. “It’s no big deal.”

It was a big deal to me. I’d grown up with these men, had forged a friendship from tragedy and hardship with them, and considered them my brothers. Fitch had no clue that if Antonio had succeeded in killing me, Ridgeview would’ve turned into a warzone.

We sat on the council, presided over the different packs, but the Russo pack was the strongest, in numbers and loyalty. Our pack would’ve decimated Ridgeview.

Fitch had averted that by simply being in the right place and the right time and having the decency of doing the right thing. And now I was falling for him. It wasn’t just the fact that he’d saved my life but because of who he was