A Man’s Worth(Brac Pack 31)(39)

“I’ll keep an eye out for him. If he causes any problems, I’ll handle him.” His pa hung up.

Riley felt for Olaf if he caused a fuss back at the house. Malcolm Lakeland was not a man to tussle with.

“We good?” Winter asked.

“Yeah,” Riley answered, wondering if he had seen the last of Olaf Keansburg.



* * * *



Dr. Nicholas Sheehan sat in his office, scanning over the results of Ahm’s blood test. He then picked up Gabby’s and compared the two once again.

He had run the tests twice, but each time the same results were returned.

Ahm was definitely related to Christian. He wasn’t sure how, but the blood work didn’t lie. Somewhere in Ahm’s family tree, a distant relative had mated with one of Christian’s children.

And that thought brought another.

Could Ahm become pregnant? He wasn’t sure what to think, so the only solution was to pay the prince a visit and talk his findings over with the vampire. He wasn’t sure if he should warn the mated pair first, though.

But what if he warned them of the possibility of conception, and it wasn’t true? Nicholas wasn’t sure how Bryce and Ahm felt about children, but if they yearned for any, giving them false hope was not something he cared to do.

“You look tired,” Jason said as he walked into Nicholas’s office, bringing him a cup of tea. “You should take a break.”

Nicholas sighed. If only he could. “I have to talk with Christian. I wish this could wait, but it can’t.” Nicholas stood, tucking the file under his arm as he accepted the tea, giving his mate a quick kiss for his thoughtfulness. “Have I told you lately how much I love and appreciate you?”

“I’ll drive.” Jason blushed as he nodded and then headed out of the office, Nicholas following close behind, tea and file in hand.





Chapter Thirteen




“Make this quick,” Luke said as he glanced around the office. “I hate being here.”

Ahm went straight to his desk, pulling the drawer open that held a key to the bracelet. He damn near cried with joy when he spotted the tiny key still sitting where Ahm always kept it. Reaching in, he grabbed it and unlocked the bracelet from his wrist. “You can go home, Luke. Thank you for bringing us here.”

Bryce cut his eyes to Ahm’s arm, and Ahm knew what the man was thinking. He dropped the bracelet on the desk and walked over to his mate, talking low enough for Bryce’s ears only. “Just because I am rid of the contraption does not mean I’ll leave you.”

Bryce’s light-grey eyes held doubt, but he gave a nod that said he was going to trust Ahm at his word.

“Are you sure?” Luke asked. “I don’t like it here, but if you need me, I’ll stay.”

“Go on home,” Chauncey said. “If anything happens to you, Pa will kill all of us. You’re a fine father, Luke, but I’m not willing to be skinned over you.”

Luke grinned and then shimmered out.

“Where’s this file?” Bryce asked.

Ahm walked to the shelf he had laid it on before he was attacked only to see it wasn’t there. He pointed to the empty spot. “I laid it right here.”

“Looks like it won’t be an easy in-and-out job,” Chance said. “Let’s get to searching.”

Ahm combed through his office, checking anywhere the file might have been placed. As he searched through his desk, he stilled when he found an envelope sitting just under the desk calendar. It had Nara’s name on it. Picking it up, Ahm opened it.

It was the deed to the land and Ahm’s forged signature. The document stated that once Nara had mated Darla’s father, their lands would fall under dual ownership. They would combine bloodlines and put their plan of ruling the throne together.

Over my dead body.

Ahm shoved the papers back into the envelope and stuffed it into his pocket. The conniving elves were not going to get his land. Ahm planned on drawing up the paperwork to leave the land to Rakeym. His second was best suited to rule the marshlands. Blythe could deal with Darla and her father. Ahm didn’t give a rat’s ass about them. It seemed his family was far different from Bryce’s. He couldn’t see one of the bears trying to stab one of their brothers, or even their father, in the back. They were a tight-knit family, and that was something Ahm envied. He just wanted to tightly knit a noose around his family’s neck and hang the traitors.

He had to find a way to stop Nara from her attempts at stealing his land. If anything happened to Ahm, then the land would fall to her father. Ahm was going to do everything in his power to make sure she didn’t succeed in having him killed.