“Is there a difference?” came his ambiguous answer. “Best friends can sometimes keep dangerous secrets.”
Hard eyes went granite. “Alain Babineau is as straight as a razor and just as sharp.” Atcliff regarded him with pointed intensity. “You have some reason for asking?”
“No. Just covering all bases. And MacCreedy?”
A sigh. “MacCreedy is . . . complicated. But he’s a damned fine cop who’d go to the mat for her in a heartbeat. I thought he was one of your own?” Atcliff had gleaned a fairly decent grasp of the District’s Shifter dynamics.
“Just covering bases. Hopefully, I’m more attuned to what goes on in my house than you are in yours.”
Atcliff checked his watch then snapped, “Take care of yours. I’ll take care of mine. Don’t confuse those two directives, Savoie.”
A smirk. “I’d say those lines have already been crossed, and not by me. But I’ll see to her safety. You can count on that. Unlike you, I don’t trust anyone. I learned that from the best.” A lesson punctuated to the back of Jimmy Legere’s head. “Is there anything else we need to discuss?”
“Stay out of the way, Savoie. Watch her. You have one job. Don’t infer with hers. Or mine. That would end badly for you.”
“Understood. I’ll let you get back to your afternoon routine.”
Without a word, Atcliff returned to the steady rhythm of his run, leaving Max to contemplate his warning.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Hi. Can I borrow your mate?”
Clutching her robe together, Cee Cee opened the bedroom door wider to emit Turow Terriot. Something about the usually quiet and low-key brother had her biting back her objection. He exuded serious business. “As long as you bring him back in one piece.”
“That’s the plan.”
Her cynical, “Isn’t it always,” coaxed the flash of his rare smile. As she turned to relay the message, Max was already behind her, fully dressed, red tennis shoes in hand. They’d been enjoying an after-dinner snooze following his phenomenal massage. She hadn’t heard him get up before she answered the soft knock.
“This is a surprise. I didn’t hear anyone come in.”
Then he laughed as Turow’s brow arched a silently mocking Have you met me? “What do you need?”
“I need to borrow you for a quick trip. Have you back tomorrow by mid-morning.”
“A little more specific?”
“Fill you in on the way. Syl’s waiting. She tends to get into trouble if she’s on her own for too long.” A pause. “You coming?”
Max deferred to Cee Cee with an expectant glance. She gave their stoic visitor a disemboweling stare. “Don’t make me regret this.”
His sincere, “Yes, ma’am,” didn’t ease her worry. Terriot business was usually ugly business, and Max didn’t need any more scars to show for it. But the impatient to be gone way her husband stepped into and laced his shoes coaxed a reluctant smile. And his sudden, heart-staggering kiss stole her power to reason.
Max eased back and winked. “Get some sleep.”
Her grumbled, “Play nice,” made him grin before following the Terriot prince out into the hall.
Boys and their secrets. She sighed and shut the door behind them. Whatcha gonna do?
– – –
Turow remained maddeningly close-lipped as he drove his rental down River Road until prompted by Max’s gruff, “Talk, Terriot. Why am I here?”
“Your visit with Kip’s uncle paid off. Made some calls.” The strong jaw worked for a taut second. Finally, Turow growled, “I found our brother, Lee, and I need you there to make sure I don’t kill him before he tells us what we need to know.”
A quick blink then Max nodded. “I see.”
“I couldn’t ask one of my brothers since they kinda suffer from the same lack of restraint. Lee won’t be able to talk his way around things, you being an outsider and all-around scary dude.” A pause. “And I trust you.”
Enough said.
The trip ended at a small private airstrip where the shadow of a sleek helicopter and its pilot gave Max pause.
“That’s our ride?”
“First class all the way,” Sylvia Terriot, clad like a Valkyrie in a skintight flight suit, declared.
“Where are we going?” Max asked with the first rumble of uneasiness.
“Vegas. All aboard.”
– – –
With dawn still hours away, they touched down in a small airport just outside the always glittering silhouette of Sin City. A rental waited.
“He has much to pay for, Turow.” Pain twisted about Sylvia’s quiet reminder.
Before starting the car, he brought his mate’s hand to his lips for a gentle kiss. “I haven’t forgotten.”