Mark narrowed his eyes. “Even if you’re right, what point are you trying to make?”
“Someone piqued your interest this morning, enough to give you that sappy expression—”
“It wasn’tsappy—”
“—and make you smell like you want to bang someone.” Will waited for him to offer an objection, laughing when Mark kept quiet. It wasn’t as though he could deny that part. “Since I know no one over here floats your boat, and four of those aforementioned shifters are all happily bonded, that leaves Harley’s betas.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “Daryl. Hot, but scary as fuck, and I don’t think he’s your type.” True on all counts. “Mike. Wasn’t he dating that red-head? The one from the R-pack delivery warehouse.”
Mark’s eyebrows rose in disbelief. “How the fuck do you know these things?”
“I helped out there when we were doing our ‘joint thing’ during all that rogue pack crap. I’m observant and I listen. Anyway, where were we?”
“Yes, please get to the point already.” Mark knew very well where Will was going with this.
“Gareth. Also not your type, and I think he’s got a secret thing for Harley.”
“His own alpha?”
“Yep.” At Mark’s eye roll, Will said, “It’s not exactly unheard of, and Cam Harley is hot. Don’t tell me you’ve not noticed. I call bollocks.”
Mark shrugged. “I guess, but still. It’s his alpha.”
“Whatever.” He grinned, and Mark barely suppressed a groan at the gleam in his eye. “That just leaves Alec Knight—big, strong, brave, and fiercely loyal. Also scary as fuck, butexactlyyour type. With his deep brown eyes, his dark, silver-flecked hair, and that jawline.” He pretended to fan himself and swoon.
Accepting defeat, Mark grinned back at him. “And stubble. Don’t forget that.”
Laughing, Will punched him in the arm, making Mark collapse back on the bed beside him. “I fucking knew it. The shit is probably about to hit the fan, and there’s you fantasising over an enemy pack member. How very Romeo and Juliet.”
“They’re not an enemy pack.”
But they’re about to become one.
“Oh, come on. Everyone knows Newell never forgave Harley for giving him less territory when the packs split. And that business with Kohl and the rogue pack made it ten times worse. They might not want to take it as far as a pack war, but there’s certainly no love lost between those two.”
Mark thought about the alpha council and couldn’t help but add. “And things are probably going to get a whole lot worse.”
“Fuck, really?”
“Yep.”
Will sighed, and the pair of them lay staring up at the ceiling. “That settles it.”
“What?”
“You’re coming to the club tonight.”
“I really don’t feel up to—”
Rolling onto his side, Will clapped a hand over Mark’s mouth. “Don’t want to hear it. If it’s all about to go tits up, we should make the most of things while we can. I’m tending bar, so you can just sit and chat to me while I serve the masses. If nothing else, it’ll get you out of here and stop you dwelling on whatever it is you can’t tell me.”
Mark considered it, but…. “I’m not supposed to leave my flat.”
“Says who?”
“Newell told Jason to see me back to my flat, as he was sure I needed a rest.”
Will’s smile turned sly. “And you’ve had a rest. Did either of them specifically tell you to stay inside your flat all night?”
“Well, no, but I got that impression.”
