“I vote we strip-search the whole pack and figure out who has a bond mark hiding,” Avery suggested.
While I wasn’t opposed to seeing the pack naked, arriving with life-altering news was more than enough to keep my stomach turning. Hopefully the others handled things as gracefully.
Chapter 29
Hunter
Iarrived home, determined to take at least a modicum of a break. My work wasn’t finished, by any means, but at least I could do a decent chunk of it from home, which made it much easier to slip away for food and illicit naps. The others were always after me to delegate better, but that would require me to be a lot less of a control freak than I was.
Blessedly, the fridge was fully stocked, and I sucked back an energy drink in record time, then stood, waiting for the caffeine to infuse my bloodstream.
Avery came barreling into the house. “Angel arrival!”
I moved near enough to the garage door entrance to see what he was yelling about and froze instantly at Logan princess-carrying Clover into our house.
“What the fuck is happening?” I rushed over. “Are you okay? What’s wrong? When did you get back?”
Logan walked right past me and up the stairs, forcing Avery and I to follow. Clover’s scent lingered in the air and woke me up far better than the caffeine was capable of. Logan disappeared into his room.
“Dude,whatis going on?” I asked Avery as we practically sprinted after them.
Parker peeked out of his office. “I’m on a call. Why are you all being so loud?” His eyes widened, pupils dilating, and he quickly ended his call. “She’s here?”
I didn’t bother responding, diving straight into Logan’s room where Clover was settled on his bed with all of his blankets bundled up around her.
“Issomeonegoing to explain?” Parker demanded as he filtered in behind us.
Now that I had a good look at Clover, it was obvious she was in rough shape. Why was shehere, though? She was supposed to be in Seattle, and if she was sick, shouldn’t she be at home?
“Strip,” Avery ordered.
Parker bristled. “Excuse me?”
“Why are we stripping?” I blinked at Avery, utterly baffled by the command. “She’s not in any condition for an orgy.”
Avery barked a laugh. “Maybe later for that part. We’re looking for a bond mark.”
“What? Why?”
“I’m not taking off a stitch,” Parker groused. “What the hell do you mean, we’re looking for a bond mark?”
“Clover is bonded to someone in the pack, and we don’t know who,” Avery said as casually as if he were announcing the newspaper had arrived.
Too many emotions tumbled through me and crashed into each other until I was internally a hot mess of excitement, anxiety, desire, fear, and panic. If Clover was bonded to one of us, that meant she wouldn’t be able to—and hopefully wouldn’t want to—hide her growing relationship with me from Meadow. She was pack now.
Excitement and desire won out. I eagerly stripped off my shirt, letting Avery examine my exposed skin. I didn’t feel like I had a bond, but maybe her being gone for so long when it would’ve been fresh had tempered things.
“Nothing,” Avery announced. He turned his head to Clover. “Do you think you’d have bitten anywhere near his dick? I’ll check if Ihave to, but I’d rather keep a little mystery.”
Clover only shrugged, unsuccessfully hiding her giggles behind her hand. I stripped off my lower layers while Logan peeled off his shirt. Avery did a quick sweep, avoiding my intimate areas as much as possible.
“Well, unless you bit him on the taint, I’m gonna say Hunter’s probably not the one with the mark.”
Clover laughed, the bright sound of it ringing through me. I double- and triple-checked areas Avery had glossed over in Logan’s mirror before pulling on my underwear.
Avery yanked off his own shirt and angled so I could check his back while he checked Logan.
“This is ridiculous,” Parker snapped. “How does she not know who she’s bonded to?”
