Chapter Three

Ricardo

"How could you make such a blind decision?" Harry hisses at me as soon as Sebastian closes the door behind him. 

Daemon growls inside me at my Beta and I frown. What is wrong with him? He's been restless and on edge ever since he heard about the girl. He's not talking to me either, so I don't know what he's thinking. 

"We owe him, remember?" I remind my Beta and drink the last of my whiskey, the liquid burning a welcome path down my throat, warming my stomach. And you know me, I don't like owing anybody anything, so the sooner the three months are over, the better." 

I don't tell him that I'm curious as hell to see what this girl looks like. It's not every day someone asks for protection for a wolf that is almost an adult. Warning bells are going off in my head too, telling me there must be something wrong with this girl, but I've never been known as someone who backs away from a challenge. My instinct is telling me to give this a chance, and it's never failed me before. 

Harry stomps over to the liquor cabinet and helps himself to a glass of the fine stuff, knocking it back in one go. "I had some plans for us tonight, you know." 

Just like me, Harry hasn't found his mate yet, not for a lack of trying on his part. He drags me to every club in our town where young people over the age of eighteen can hang out, in the hopes that he sets his eyes on his mate. His family has been bugging him for grandpups since he turned eighteen. 

I'm much less of a traditionalist though, if it happens it happens. I've seen men find their mates in the most unlikely of places, it will happen if it's supposed to. And if it doesn't, well... Harry's offspring will surely make a good Alpha. 

"And where would we have gone tonight?" I chuckle and shake my head. I do enjoy our outings, I'm not going to lie. A different lady every weekend has surely been entertaining. 

"I wanted to scope out Dean's new place, they say the place is buzzing."  

Dean grew up with us, he's opened three different night clubs in town, places where wolves can just go to have a great time when they're not working. It's been a hub for unmated wolves. Personally, I like Smooth the most, it's classy and not as loud as the other places. 

"Maybe you should try something else," I tease him. "You certainly haven't found any success in a nightclub yet." 

He looks at me as if I've gone crazy. "Like where?" 

I shrug. "I don't know, really." 

We're the same age. We've always been raised to take over as Alpha and Beta, like our fathers before us. His father stepped down when I had to step up and he's been my right-hand man ever since. We've done everything together since we were kids, he knows me like no-one else and I trust him explicitly, but the dude needs to chill with his desperation. 

"When my parents were my age they already had two kids, man." He pours himself another shot of the Hennesey. 

"You're still young, you have time." 

I've always found the pressure of finding your mate at eighteen a bit stifling to be honest. You're barely figuring out who you are at eighteen and then boom, you're stuck with the same person for the rest of your life. I don't have a problem with it, but I'm glad I have had some time on my own before my life drastically changes. 

Daemon wants to get out of my skin and I frown. "What's wrong with you? We had a run this morning." 

We take a two-hour run every morning, my wolf is aggressive and energetic, and I have to loosen him up before we have to sit for the whole day behind a desk. He doesn't answer me, though, he just goes back to pacing. 

"I don't know, I'm just feeling restless." Harry knocks back that glass as well. 

There's a swift knock on the door and I straighten. "Come in!" 

Sebastian opens the door, pulling a big black suitcase behind him. Nobody follows and I raise my brows at him. "Well?" 

He leaves the suitcase next to the door. "She's a bit shy. Please be patient, she hasn't been around strangers before." 

This girl is turning out to be more of an enigma than I thought. Seventeen and hasn't been in contact with strangers? Did she not go to school? 

"She was homeschooled." Sebastian says as if he could read my mind. "She finished high school early, too." 

"Can she fight?" I want to know. If I'm going to protect her, it would be good to know she can be of some help. 

The grimace on his face tells me the answer in itself. How could a brilliant fighter like himself not teach his sister at least some basic moves? 

"She doesn't like violence." 

Oh Moon Godess, please help me. And he thought to bring his sister here? Have mercy on me. 

He peers out the door and I zone my ears into what he could be saying, but I don't hear a thing. Then something straight from a movie enters through the doorway of my office. And when I say straight from a movie, I mean the entrance is grandiose. She's wearing a white fur coat with a hood drawn over her face, so we can't see her at all. 

It's cold on the East Coast right now, but here we don't get harsh winters, so the fur coat is a bit overkill. 

"You don't have to be scared." Sebastian tells her softly as if he's goading a child. "I trust Alpha Ricardo with my life, he will look after you." 

It's one thing when the pack trusts its leader, it's another when a leader trusts a leader. That is a dangerous responsibility. 

The girl slowly lowers her cape and the world as I've known it, changes forever.