     The ringing of Gio&quot;s cell phone had everyone in the kitchen stiffening, particularly Danica who was sitting on the counter with her legs wrapped around his waist. Without releasing her gaze, he dug it out of his pocket and answered. &quot;Hello.&quot;
  &quot;They&quot;re here,&quot; Hudson informed him.
  Gio wasn&quot;t surprised that they had arrived at 11 A.M. The only reason he had told the pack last night that he was expecting Kevin around noon was because Gio didn&quot;t want the informant telling Kevin he&quot;d be ready for the bastard. &quot;How many?&quot;
  &quot;Ray says there&quot;s something like one hundred and seventy out there, but it&quot;s likely that some of them are just there to stand at his side.&quot;
  &quot;What about the three packs that offered to come and stand at our side, are they here?&quot;
  &quot;Arrived an hour ago just before Carrick and Mi

    Gathered on the fringe of the woods were Mike and a number of males from his pack, including his Beta, Ashley, and bodyguard, Asher &ndash; both of
  whom Gio recognized from their visit to his home. Not far from them was Carrick with several from his pack, including his bodyguard, Hales, and two of his enforcers, Ben and Matt. They all gave him a brief respectful nod before resuming scowling at Kevin and his followers. The wolf shifters &ndash; there were approximately sixty five &ndash; that had come to stand at Gio&quot;s side and serve as back up were all grouped together near the security shack. They didn&quot;t look so eager to be there. Gio guessed it was because they hadn&quot;t expected him to be so outnumbered, placing them in a position where they would in fact have to provide back-up.
  He stalked toward the closed gate with Duda and Chris flanking him, blanking his expre

     Finally they arrived at the diner and, much like last time, Gio received many wary looks. To her surprise, so did Danica. Clearly the Elsa incident
  was still fresh in everybody&quot;s minds. She picked up Carrick&quot;s scent almost immediately. Sitting at a long table surrounded by ten of his powerful alliances, he looked exactly like the big man he wanted to look. Scattered around the diner were enforcers and bodyguards ready to protect their
  Alpha&quot;s at the slightest hint of danger. Gio subtly directed his own enforcers to do the same, other than Chris who came along with him, Danica and Duda to the table. All the Alpha&quot;s stood, and all looked pretty insulted that Gio was keeping his Beta and Head Enforcer so close &ndash; it was considered a sign that he distrusted them. But then their eyes went to Danica and she guessed that they had scented her condition and, thus

The ringing of Gio&quot;s cell phone had everyone in the kitchen stiffening, particularly Danica who was sitting on the counter with her legs wrapped around his waist. Without releasing her gaze, he dug it out of his pocket and answered. &quot;Hello.&quot;
  &quot;They&quot;re here,&quot; Hudson informed him.
  Gio wasn&quot;t surprised that they had arrived at 11 A.M. The only reason he had told the pack last night that he was expecting Kevin around noon was because Gio didn&quot;t want the informant telling Kevin he&quot;d be ready for the bastard. &quot;How many?&quot;
  &quot;Ray says there&quot;s something like one hundred and seventy out there, but it&quot;s likely that some of them are just there to stand at his side.&quot;
  &quot;What about the three packs that offered to come and stand at our side, are they here?&quot;
  &quot;Arrived an hour ago just before Carrick and Mike. Everyone&quot;s waiting just inside the gate.&quot; They had arranged for their allies to arrive

CHAPTER 70