“What are you, twins?” Raven sneered, getting up from the table and going to look out the window above the sink. She didn’t see them anywhere, but she didn’t want to make it look so obvious. What if her brother and Caz got into a fight because of her? Leo fought dirty like her and he would hurt Caz. She couldn’t let that happen.
Quietly, she went to the front of the house and slipped out the front door. She crept around the house, but Leo and Caz were nowhere to be found.
“Huh…” Raven lifted her nose into the air and inhaled but still nothing. If they were fighting, she would hear it and smell the adrenaline, but still nothing was in the air.
Leo pulled Caz farther down past the pond. “Stop, Leo,” Caz said, pulling his arm out of his grip. “What’s wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with me? I think you have that backward. What’s going on between you and my sister?” Leo narrowed his eyes at him.
“Nothing.”
“Hoss, that didn’t look like anything to me. You were about to tear Angelo apart for teasing Raven. Now she dishes it out as much as she gets it. So, I’ll ask again, what’s going on between you and my sister?”
Caz swallowed hard. His tiger was pushing him hard. Tell the brother, Raven is ours. Tell him.
Growling to himself, Caz turned, trying to get control of the beast inside him. Every time he was with Raven, he wanted to protect her, but Raven was a hunter and she would be in just as much danger as he was. He didn't realize that he was acting like that. Right now, he wanted to rake his claws down Angelo’s face for even thinking about her in a dress.
“Man, you got it bad. Does she know how you feel about her?” Leo asked.
Shaking his head, Caz lied. “No, I don’t like your sister like that. She’s a girl and tigers are very protective of women in our pride. It’s just hard to adjust to Raven being a hunter too. That’s all it is, man.”
Leo busted out laughing. So much so, he had to hold onto the tree limb before he fell to the ground. “Caz, give me a break. We all see it. We all know it. The only ones who are acting like it’s not true are you and my sister.”
Caz knew it and his tiger knew it. His tiger already considered Raven as his mate. But how could he do this? She was a hunter and he wouldn’t be able to think without trying to protect her all the time. It would get him or both of them killed if he didn’t get this under control.
Turning toward Leo, he let out a deep breath. “All I want to do is protect her from everyone. That includes you. I don’t know how this is going to work with us together working on this case. Do you think she knows?”
He could see the sympathy in his Leo’s face. There admitted it; she was his mate.
“She’s fighting it. Just like you, but don’t worry. It’s going to hit her like a ton of bricks, and when it does, you, sir, better watch out. Look, I love my sister, but she’s a lot to handle. I’m going to tell you about her and help you out because I really think you care for her already.
“First, my sister lacks self-esteem when it comes to friends. Growing up, she had none. Not one ever...ever. Are you hearing me? She beat the crap out of the ones that picked on her, and once she had that reputation, nobody went near her. Not even the guys.
“I couldn’t leave her alone for a second because I was afraid she would rip the throats out of any of those humans that made fun of her or just plain looked at her wrong. Jade told me that she loosened up the day she bought all the clothes. I’m so glad too. I worry about her.”
Leo sat on the side of the tree trunk. “She saved my life one day. Did anyone tell you about that?” Leo stood and turned his head to the side. “Raven is coming, just act like nothing's wrong.”
Caz nodded. His eyes locked in on her as she came into the clearing. Her eyes feverishly looked him up and down. She probably thought they were fighting.
“Everything okay?” she asked her brother.
Shaking his head, Leo smiled back at her. “Nothing’s wrong, little sis. Just man talk. That’s all.”
Looking away from her before he threw her over his shoulder and ran away with her, Caz took his phone out. “Riley wants to know if we can help set up for the ball. The workers are finishing up the outside walkway. They need help moving tables and chairs around. If you want to go help.”
Raven nodded. “Of course. I’m ready if you are.”
Caz glanced back at Leo. “You want to help?”
“Sure, sounds like a plan. Plus, your sister makes great snacks,” Leo said.
Chapter Ten
Raven sat in the back seat of Leo’s truck. They all rode together which she didn’t mind, but nobody was talking. Not even Leo which was unusual. When she got her brother alone, she would find out what was really going on.
He was keeping secrets from her and that was unacceptable. They didn’t keep secrets from each other. It was a promise they made a long time ago, and before Caz Milton showed up, everything was going great.
“Goodness,” Raven mumbled as they got out of the truck and walked to the back of Calum and Riley’s house. There it was, a beautiful building off to the left. It looked like an extension of the home. Dark log beams highlighted the front of the ballroom, but the spectacular part was when walking into the room.
“How on earth did they do this?” Leo asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
They watched as Riley spotted them from across the room and smiled. She ran over and started hugging everyone. Once she got to her, instead of hugging, she patted her on the shoulder. “Thank you for coming. We are definitely going to need some help.” She spread her arms out wide. “Tell me the truth, what do you think so far?”
“It’s beautiful, sis.”
Riley gave a dismissive wave of her hand, “Ahh...thank you. It’s going to be a masquerade ball. I thought it should have twinkling lights everywhere since it's supposed to be mysterious. I may have gone a little overboard. What do you think, Raven?”
Slowly turning to face her, the hunter said, “I think you have achieved your goal. This place is spectacular, and like my brother, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I’m so happy now. Some are saying it’s too much, but I think it’s magnificent and according to my mate, nothing is too much.” Riley glanced at her. “I tend to agree with him on this. The way it is built, we can decorate and have different events here. I can’t wait to have a mating ceremony. The back end opens to the backyard where we have all kinds of different fruit trees. Oh, I wanted to tell you that Wyatt Benjamin accepted Calum’s invitation and Boris did, of course.”
Raven and Caz looked at each other, but this time it was different. Caz looked like he was worried. What was going on? One minute everything was cool. They even had a plan, but now he was acting like someone was going to die and he was the only one in on it.
“Leo, I need someone as tall as you over here hanging lights on these trees.” Riley walked with Raven’s brother to the other side of the ballroom. As soon as they were away from anyone, she grabbed Caz’s arm and dragged him out of the room.