“Has there been any word from Dara?” Lily’s hand absent-mindedly stroked her abdomen as she asked the question, her gaze concerned.
“She hasn’t reported in officially yet, but I heard she called Aaron to ask how to stop a she-wolf going rogue. She didn’t explain what was going on but said she would report in soon,” her brother answered, the frown marring his brow a clear indicator he was as concerned as she was.
“It doesn’t feel right, Kal,” Lily sighed, rising from her bed and pacing across to the window. “Kothi and Dara shouldn’t be out there alone in a hostile environment. We should be with them, helping to find Gard and Rayne.” Her tone was laced with an irritation she didn’t even try to hide in front of her brother. It was pointless, as he knew her far too well.
They were in her bedroom at the Praetorian compound. Mac had decided that the recent upheaval of the attack against the pack and Kothari’s disappearance was too much stress for Lily to cope with in her current condition, and had insisted that she take some rest. He was being annoying with his overprotectiveness but she understood his reasons, so she had acquiesced with a minimum of fuss, but she couldn’t hide her frustration from Kallum.
Her words brought a wry chuckle from her brother and she turned to look back at him, a half smile teasing at her lips.
“Good luck with telling Mackenzie that one,” he said when he stopped laughing, uncoiling his large body from the chair he was sitting in, and crossing to stand behind her. “You’re pregnant, Lily. You know there is no way in hell any of us are going to allow you to go haring off to Europe, so put any thoughts of that out of your head.”
“I know it’s not practicable but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish I could help, Kal.” She ran her hand over the growing bump on her abdomen, stroking the child nestled just below her heart with a gentle touch. She would never do anything to endanger the burgeoning life she nurtured within. Mac had been through far too much with the loss of his first family. There was no way in hell she would ever bring such suffering and sorrow into his world once more.
“There is one thing we could be doing that would be helpful and not dangerous enough to incite Mac’s displeasure,” Kallum mused, understanding his sister’s restlessness and knowing it was better to give her something worthwhile to do to counteract it. “Cassia is concerned about something one of the European wolves said to her, so much so that she mentioned it to me as everyone appears to be less interested with the other things happening right now.”
Lily’s interest was immediately piqued. “Cassia is one of the most level-headed of the Varcolac… and newly mated. If she’s leaving Pietro’s side to come look for you then whatever it is must have had worried her, especially with Dara being alone in Europe too.”
Kal nodded. “My thoughts too,” he agreed. “This Fox character said she should be concerned about the wolves she couldn’t see, rather than just the ones she could. I know the Hanlon pack is being extra vigilant in the city and we’re maintaining a strong presence on our boundaries after the attack, but I would prefer to do a little digging around myself. Can’t do any harm, can it?”
Lily moved back to the bed and grabbed her boots. As she pulled them on, she watched her brother staring out the window she’d so recently been standing in front of. “What do you have in mind, Kal?”
“Mac’s not going to let you head into the city, not even with me, and he’s still focused here with the recovering Praetorians, and now patrolling pack lands. I think I can convince both Mac and Rafe that it would be good to get Brandon out and about for a bit. He’s bounced back really well from the trauma he went through, judging from him being his usual cocky self. I think he’s almost as restless as you are, waiting for things to go back to normal and having to wait while the others fully recover.”
She agreed completely with him about Brandon. Her best friend was already displaying signs of being edgy. It didn’t help that once a day Liam or Reasa asked to dreamwalk in his mind just to ensure he was healing properly. That didn’t sit well with him, even though he was eternally grateful to the couple for finding his shattered psyche and helping to heal him. Being an invalid just wasn’t something Brandon was cut out to do. “That would be great, Kal. Bran’s trying to be patient but his restlessness is escalating almost on an hourly basis. Thank you for not only noticing it, but thinking of a way to alleviate the problem.”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “Apparently, it’s what I do, notice when people are about to go stir crazy, which brings me on to you. I think Mac would have a hard time prohibiting a visit to the Hanlon pack, not if you take say Elina and maybe Karn with you? While Brandon and I are snooping around the city, you and Elina can have a quiet word with Jared and maybe poke around their boundaries to see if there have been any unexpected incursions?”
Lily’s shoulders slumped a little. “Mac will never allow that, Kal. Even with Elina, Karn and an entire pack around me, he will still judge that to be too much of a risk.” For a brief moment she had hoped she could so something worthwhile that wouldn’t be considered a risk, but she knew her mate too well. He would never agree to it.
His sister’s disappointment was more than he could stand, and Kallum crossed to sit beside her on the bed, placing an arm around her shoulders. “Mac doesn’t need to know the complete story. Elina can say she wants to visit with her grandparents and you can go along with her to get you out of the compound for a little while. It won’t really be a lie… Elina does like visiting her family, and it will give her something to do as well. With Cassia being newly mated and agreeing to work with the vampire Council to set up an inoculation protocol for the Amort vaccine, Elle is pretty much left to her own devices at the pack.”
“Karn will report back to Mackenzie. You know he will. He’s almost as overprotective as my damned mate is.” Though there was a modicum of frustration in her voice, there was also affection. She adored the Praetorian’s second in command, even if he could be a pain in the ass at times.
“Elina will deal with Karn,” Kallum laughed, devilment in his twinkling eyes. “I’ve already spoken to her and she’s on board. Now we can do a little reconnoitring to see if there is any merit to the European wolf’s warning. If we find anything out, we can let the Alphas and Mac know. If it’s nothing, then no harm, no foul.”
Lily burst out laughing, shaking her head, and wagging a finger at her brother. “I thought I was supposed to be the sneaky one here.”
He gave her a squeeze before standing up and pulling her to her feet. “Overprotectiveness is a very hard thing to let go of. Everyone is doing their very best, and things are improving, but it will take a little more time before they truly let go. There’s no harm in hastening that along a little, without them realising that’s what we’re doing. Come on, let’s go convince Mac that his mate will be fine at the Hanlon pack.”
Heading downstairs, they found Mackenzie in the study, Karn just getting ready to leave the room. It was good that they were both together; it meant they only needed to win one battle rather than two. The Praetorian leader’s face lit up the instant he saw his mate, though Karn’s shrewd gaze went from Lily to Kallum and back again before he rolled his eyes. “What are you two cooking up?”
Mac’s gaze narrowed, and he looked at the two of them for a long moment before he rose from his chair and gathered his mate into his arms. “Whatever it is, the answer is no.”