Standing, Brendon walked to the small fridge in the corner. He grabbed himself a beer and offered his brother one. Mitch waved it away.

“Busy doing what?” Brendon asked, popping the top on his Heineken. “Dealing? Breaking someone’s kneecaps? Pimping?”

Mitch shrugged. “Something I don’t think you should know about. It’s for your own protection, big bruh.”

“I see.” Tempted to use the beer bottle, Brendon used his elbow instead, slamming Mitch to the ground. With his foot firmly planted against the back of the little shit’s neck, he said calmly, “Let’s try this again, Detective Shaw. What were you busy doing?”

“Fuck,” Mitch growled while trying to dislodge his brother’s foot.

“No, I’m sure you haven’t been fucking. You’d be much more relaxed.”

“Get off me, you asshole!”

“I’m an asshole? Do you know how long you had me believing you were some scumbag I had to reform?”

“Yeah. Now you can brag about me to your yacht club friends.”

“First, you idiot, I don’t belong to any yacht clubs. Second, what did I ever do to you to make you so goddamn pissed at me? I tried, Mitch. I really tried. But no matter how hard I try, you continue to be an asshole.”

Abruptly, the fight went out of Mitch. He sort of laid there. “I didn’t want anything from you,” he said softly. “I didn’t want your help. I didn’t want your handouts. I wanted to prove I didn’t need you.”

“Proven.” Brendon lifted his foot off Mitch’s neck and stepped back, turning away. “You don’t need me. You don’t need Marissa. You’re an army of one. Good for you.”

“At first.”

Brendon turned and looked back at his baby brother, who’d pushed himself off the floor. Some days it was like looking into a mirror, but Mitch didn’t have as much brown hair in his mane yet. He would soon when he got a little older. “At first?”

“At first I was going to show you all. Show up for Thanksgiving dinner with my gold shield and enough attitude to choke a walrus.”

“And?”

“I went undercover. I became part of this crew. Irish mobsters. Old school. Christ, Bren, I did things…saw things.” Mitch shook his head and turned away. “In the end it was safer they didn’t know you or Marissa existed. I didn’t want them to have any leverage over me. I didn’t worry about Mom. Her Pride is twenty strong with four Breeding Males. But Marissa doesn’t have a Pride…I couldn’t risk her. Either of you. So I let you believe I was a scumbag. It was easier because you both stayed away from me.”

Brendon swallowed past the lump in his throat. “Two cops were looking for you the other night.”

“Nah.They weren’t looking for me. They were watching out for you.” Mitch laughed. “Poor guys. First you beat them up at the hospital, then your girlfriend and her Pack of She-wolves scare the shit out of them. They were doing me a favor, but I’m pretty sure their wives won’t invite me back to dinner anytime soon. They’re jackals and not real friendly as it is.”

“So they weren’t trying to arrest you?”

“No. I’d heard about you being in the hospital before Marissa ever called me.” Mitch took a deep breath. “The truth is, Bren, I’m supposed to be in protective custody right now. I’ll be giving testimony on the crew in a few months, and the city put me in this shitty little hotel with three other cops. Humans. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t leave, the room was tiny, the scent of those humans on some days…” He shook his head at the memory. “Too much. A few more days and they would have known exactly what I was. I took off. Been hanging in New York since. I asked Monahan and Abbott to watch out for you and Rissa as soon as I went into protective custody.”

“Why?”

“The people I brought down…I was afraid they’d find out about you. Afraid they’d use you to get to me.”

“What about the trial?”

“The prosecutor is one of us. A leopard. She knows where I am and how to get in touch with me. She said she knew I wouldn’t last five minutes in that hotel. But cases like this take months if not years to come to trial. They can’t expect me to stay trapped for that long. I’m better off taking care of myself.”

Mitch ran his hands through his hair. “I’m really sorry, Bren. I never meant to—”

“Forget it.” And Brendon meant it. “It’s over. Now we know and we can figure out what we’re going to do from here.”

“I don’t want you involved, Brendon.”

“Shut up, Mitch.” Brendon sat down on the couch. “Just…shut up. It’s too late for you to protect me. It’s too late for you to protect Rissa. You’ll stay here. We’ll amp up security. Mace Llewellyn and Smitty can get us people. Our own kind. Until this is all over, until you’re done with the trial, we have no choice.” Brendon stared at him. “I won’t lose you, little brother.”

The suite door opened and Marissa walked in, carrying a duffel bag with a change of clothes.

“Well, I’m here as ordered.” She frowned, her eyes darting between the two of them. “What? What’s wrong?”

Brendon sighed. “I’m in love with a She-wolf and Mitch is an undercover cop mobsters are actively trying to find and kill. They’ll probably try to kill us too since we’re family.”