Slade pushed her behind him, never taking his eyes off Micah. Micah heard her cursing in French, saw Slade’s lips twitch as his anger and frustration disappeared even as his mate pummeled his shoulders with clenched fists. Micah’s own emotions settled to a low simmer. It constantly amused him how easily Joie pushed her much larger mate around, but he knew he’d have been the same if Olivia had stayed. The two women were about the same height, just as he and Slade were separated only by a few inches.

Thinking of Olivia in that light made him realize that he’d been about to come to blows with a man he’d like to consider his friend. Taking a deep breath, but not taking his eyes off Slade’s, Micah backed up a step. Slade raised his head, nodded once, then stepped back himself, pulling his wife around in front of his body and wrapping his arms around her.

“Shh, it’s okay, baby.” Slade leaned down to kiss her neck and Joie stilled, her tirade against both of them stopping as abruptly as it started.

“You’re not going to fight?” She glanced up at her mate, then at him and Micah smiled briefly.

“No. My apologies to both of you. I’ve never fought with a guest in my home and I don’t intend to start today. I’ll check on your room. I leave for New Orleans in four hours. You are all welcome to stay as long as you like. I’ll let Gareth know you’re here.”

He left the room without looking back, the low murmur of Slade’s voice following him. Micah had no doubt that Slade was explaining things to Joie. He only wished someone would explain to him how he could have let his mate leave. He should have convinced her to stay. But short of tying her down on his bed until she accepted what she was, what else could he have done? Now he’d lost his daughter as well.

Soft footsteps and the light fragrance of lilacs told him Joie had followed him.

“Micah, I’ll be going back to New Orleans with you. Tante Kay can watch the babies. You’re going to need your friends close. Malcolm has some business to take care of and he’ll join us when he’s done.”

The steel under the soft voice reminded him that if Joie Landry Slade could wear a wolf like Malcolm Slade down, it would be best for him to just smile and agree. So he nodded his head as her red curls bounced with her responding head toss. Flipping around on her heel, the petite redhead went back to her family.

Micah began to wonder if the world had tilted on its axis when later that afternoon he sat at the wheel of Slade’s rental with Slade’s wife and children packed in around him. Standing on the porch, Slade cupped his mouth and yelled, “You let any harm come to my family and I will tear your head off. Have a good trip.”

The sincerity and incongruity pulled a chuckle from somewhere deep in Micah. Joie looked at him and patted his arm, “You don’t worry now, cher. We are gonna fix this right up.”

Slade stood on the porch until he couldn’t hear the car anymore. He knew Micah would protect his family and he knew better than most that Joie could take care of herself, but this was the first time he’d ever spent any significant time away from her or their children. He missed them already. Determined to make it as short a time away as possible, he slammed back into the house and grabbed the first phone he came across.

“Yeah, I need a cab and a flight to New York today. Can you make that happen? Good.” Hanging up, he paused to run a hand through his hair. One hurdle down, let’s get on with the next one.

He went to find Gareth who sat at the kitchen table looking shell-shocked. He didn’t know much about Gareth, only what he’d heard when he’d first moved in with the Turn Skins. Gareth had left the Pack a few months before his arrival.

“Gareth, here’s the deal. I’m going to New York to try to straighten Micah’s bitch out. You need to tell me how to find her and then you need to put out a call to Micah’s Pack. He might need some backup in New Orleans, whether he wants it or not. For pretty fucking obvious reasons I won’t be able to set foot on the grounds.”

Gareth didn’t ask questions, he knew Slade was officially dead to the Turn Skins. He just nodded and went to work. Slade wasn’t surprised. In spite of Micah’s claim not to be a Pack Alpha, the loyalty Gareth and the other shifters in the area felt for him marked him as Alpha whether he accepted the title or not. Slade listened in as Gareth made a few phone calls, alerting several people in the area to what was happening.

Armed with a work address and phone number, Slade paced restlessly, his mind on his family and the task he’d given himself until the cab to the airport arrived. Micah had saved his ass more than once. It felt good to be able to pay him back at least a little, even if he didn’t know it was happening.

“Olivia Decatur?”

“Yes? May I help you?” Olivia looked up at the stranger standing in her office door, unsure why he was there. He’d only told her assistant the matter was a private one and that he’d take just a few minutes of her time.

Olivia held her breath as he moved into the room, looking at the pictures on her walls before stopping to look out the window at Manhattan. He wore jeans, a formfitting t-shirt and tennis shoes and had a heavy leather coat over one arm.

The way he moved reminded her so much of Micah she had to catch her breath. The pain in her chest at the thought of Micah faded slightly as the stranger faced her again.

“Somehow I figured you’d be a hell of a lot bigger.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just thought anyone who could break someone like Micah would have to be more,” he smiled, showing his teeth and his flashing eyes, “Amazon sized.”

“You know Micah? Did he send you here?”

“I’m no one’s errand boy.” Olivia watched his eyes flicker, saw them turn almost gold before going back to their normal brown. “Micah and I are…” He hesitated, his lip curling slightly as he seemed to carefully choose his words.

“We’re friends for lack of a better word. I’m Malcolm Slade. Most people call me Slade.”

He picked up a small jade statue from her bookshelf, turning it over in his hands before placing it carefully back in the same spot on the shelf.

“Why are you here, Mr. Slade?”

Grinning, he faced her fully. “You do have spunk, I’ll give you that.”

Olivia took a deep breath as he dropped his jacket and pulled his t-shirt off. “What in the hell are you doing?”

She noted the tattoos on both arms and on his chest. She saw a circular mark on his chest, like the one she’d left on Micah. His brown hair just brushed his shoulders as he bent forward to push his jeans down and toe his shoes off. She couldn’t help but notice that he went commando and that he was built a lot like Micah. Jumping to her feet, she grabbed the phone to call Security.

“Don’t panic, Olivia. I’m only here to show you something. I’m definitely not into blondes. Besides my mate would have my hide, literally, if there was anything else on my mind. That mark on your neck, it’s been aching, hasn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“The bite mark, the one Micah put on your neck, the one I can smell from here. It’s been aching lately, hasn’t it?”

Despite her reluctance to give this stranger any personal information, Olivia nodded. He huffed out a small laugh. “Yeah, that’s what happens when you’ve been away from your mate for too long. We mark one another as mates, it’s expected we stay together. That’s one reason I never marked a shifter bitch. Hell, never wanted to mark anyone until I met Joie. She might be human, but she’s mine and I am most definitely hers.”

With that, the man disappeared and a large gray and black wolf with luminous gold eyes stood in his place. Olivia sat heavily in her chair. She’d known, as soon as he walked into the office, she’d known by his evergreen scent alone. But still, seeing it again caused her breath to catch, her heart to race and a longing to fill her from the souls of her feet to her throat. She wanted to see Micah, not this wolf. She yearned to let her own wolf loose and run through the woods again.