10
Xander
As we got closerto the grove, I noticed the fox slipping close to me with a shifty expression, like he wanted to say something to me. Sage was bounding up ahead like he was in a hurry to get home, which gave us a moment to talk privately.
“What is it?” I said. In my mountain lion form, a growl always laced my voice even when I wasn’t angry.
“Just makin’ sure I heard properly and that I didn’t hit my head,” Red began, “but you two are mates now. Is that right?”
“Yes. What about it?”
“Nothing.” He shrugged his scrawny shoulders. “I’m just wondering how the pack’s gonna react. Y’know, they took a long time getting used to me. I mean, there was this whole misunderstanding about me trying to eat Len and all—”
“You tried toeatLen?”
“And then this whole debacle about them all thinking I was a shifter-eater—”
“Are you?” I asked.
“No!” Red yelled. “Anyway, my point is, don’t take it personally if they don’t welcome you with big, wolfy arms. Sage’s brothers are just protective over their families. Their mates are, too.” Red’s eyes flicked to my side, where the antler wounds still didn’t have fur growing over them. “Well, I guess you have personal experience with that.”
“Noted.”
It wasn’t long before we saw them. The family approached us in one big mob, with the wolves licking Sage to death in a big slobbery wolf-greeting.
Canines,I thought with a mental sigh.
As soon as the relief had passed, Hugo and Dax shifted to human form, and so did the rest of us. Dax looked the same way my alpha-father did when he was about to scold me for staying out late.
“Sage, do you have any idea how worried we were?” Dax demanded.
“I know, I know, I heard,” Sage said, sympathetic but exasperated.
“The omegas told us you needed time alone, but you never returned,” Hugo said.
“Iknow, I’m sorry,” Sage said.
“You can’t just run off and disappear during your heat!” Remington exclaimed.
Sage faced him. “I didn’t disappear. I went to find Xander after you told him to leave.”
Everyone went quiet. I noticed the fox-man had a knowing smirk on his face, but he kept his secret to himself.
“Maybe we should go take a bath,” Len said cheerfully to the twins in his arms. “Come, Ashe, you too.”
The kids briefly complained but Len was a super-parent, one of those adults that kids always listened to. Morgan gave Len a grateful nod as he ushered the kids away so the pack could talk in peace.
Sage mustered up his courage. “I know you were trying to do a good thing, Remmy. I know you were trying to make things less awkward for Xander, and trying to protect me. But you don’t have to, okay? I’m an adult. I can make my own decisions.”
I watched the shift in expression in everyone, not just Remington. The patronizing concern in their faces was replaced by a flicker of surprise, then newfound respect. The only person whose expression didn’t change was Morgan, who had a calm, knowing smile on his face.
“I… I’m sorry,” Remington mumbled. His pale cheeks were flushed in shame. He seemed taken off-guard by Sage’s speech. “I was still worried that Xander might turn on you again.”
“I know,” Sage said gently. He reached out and took my hand. “But I was never in any danger.”
Almost comedically, the three wolf shifters’ eyes glanced down to our linked hands. A lightbulb seemed to go off in their heads. Once again, Morgan was the exception. He looked amused and sincerely happy, like he already knew things were going to play out this way.
“Well, I’m glad you were safe by Xander’s side last night,” Morgan chimed in. “No harm, no foul.”
