Guess I cried for longer than I thought.
It’s not long before a chorus of male voices spill through the speaker, all of them talking at once.
“When are you coming back?”
“What’s Pine Falls like?”
“Why don’t you call more?”
I let them shout out their questions, waiting for them to give me a moment to answer.When they finally quiet down, I take my turn at the conversation.
We spend the next few minutes catching up.Them telling me about all the shenanigans each other has gotten into.Me talking about some of my projects and assuring them that I’m not staying in Pine Falls forever.
Aware that I interrupted their game, I let them go even though all four of them try to insist I stay on the line.
When the phone call ends, I find myself so exhausted that I struggle to sit up.The combination of crying and wrangling my brothers over the phone drained every bit of energy from me.
So, I stay on the floor of the tree house, staring up at the patchy shingled roof.
Despite their exhausting chatter, there was one underlying message I couldn’t help but pick up through that call.
They love me.
I’m not forgotten out here in this cabin.
At least not yet.
36
WARNER
Other than some briefs,I’m bare to the chill autumn night.Not that the cold bothers me much.I run hot.We all do.Still, I’d rather be almost all the way naked in Zoey’s cabin than out here behind The Rabbit Hole.
But she won’t be safe until this is over.
Plus, I plan on heading to her place after this.I just need to make sure not to get too bloody or bruised.My goal is to keep this challenge in the pack.No reason for Zoey to know.
I think I can pull it off, especially because for this challenge, we’re remaining in human form.
Fights in wolf form are usually fights to the death.Those are for serious crimes and would mainly be Roderick’s responsibility.
But Ross’s decision to fuck with Zoey is a different kind of crime.
And that’s where wolves differ from humans.
If a human man approached Zoey the way Ross did, with the same outcome of no one being physically hurt, then the police wouldn’t do shit about it.Human law doesn’t seem to understand how minds work.How intimidation can take away someone’s sense of safety.How insults can fester and turn into violence.
I won’t let Ross retaliate against Zoey.If he wants violence, then I’ll be the one to give it to him.
I bounce on the balls of my feet and shake out my arms, warming up my muscles.All the while, I watch Ross across the clearing.
He’s laughing with a couple of the other young pack members.
He still isn’t taking this seriously.
The challenge might have surprised him—they don’t happen too often—but I can tell he thinks this is going to be like a normal weekend brawl between two wolves that’ve had too much to drink.A situation he finds himself in almost every other night.
Ross thinks because I like to smile and laugh that I’ll be easy enough to beat.
