My jaw dropped. “Why would my mate, mypregnantmate, be having sex with the druid?”
Axel started laughing, and then I heard Killian and Cody join in. I turned to look at them and back at Axel, and all three of them were cracking up.
“Oh, Luna.” Axel wiped his eyes. “I drew the short straw and was sure you’d kill me, but she was right, that was fucking funny.”
I felt her behind me, and I turned to look at my wife, who was grinning mischievously. She reached up and kissed me. “I’m going to the druid’s to learn more about what I am.” She kissed me again. “You lightened the mood of the pack, my love,” she whispered. “Don’t be so serious.”
“That was your idea of ajoke?” I asked incredulously.
Killian started to laugh again. “Best ever. Good one, Rowen.”
The three laughing idiots went back to work as I shot my wife a glower, but I couldn’t hide the twitch of my lips. “Not funny,” I mumbled, bending down and kissing her.
“I think they liked it,” she said smugly. “Oh, and Wolfe, I love you, but you say anything to Adair, Axel, or Diesel about their arrangement, and you will only make it awkward.” She reached up and kissed me again. “Be a good alpha and keep your nose out of their business.”
“I…”
She was already walking away.
“Always knew you were more than a shifter,”I growled after her. “Did they check to see if you were a witch?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Wolfe,”she scolded.“We all know witches are just fairy tales.”
I sucked my teeth, watching the sway of her hips as she sashayed away. There was definitely something bewitching about her.
“Wolfe! Are you drooling or training, Alpha?” Diesel asked loudly. “You’re rusty, let’s go!”
I’d show him who was fucking rusty. Pulling off my shirt, I was grinning as I stepped into the ring across from Diesel.
“Give me your best shot.”
Hours later,I sat at her father’s old desk in his old office, reading every journal he had ever written in, while eating my soup. Everyone from his old circle was either dead or gone. I had no one to ask if Lewis’s claims were true. Had Malric been using the rogues to fight the Pack Council or as tools for them to exploit?
If the Pack Council had wanted the Hollow when he was alpha here and only needed a pack leader going forward, they would have made him go along with it instead of allowing him the leeway of playing an ace card and naming me his heir.
Or had he seized a strategic advantage, not expecting my mate to be his daughter?
The door was tapped, and Killian entered the room. He hesitated when he saw all the paperwork in front of me,then closed the door with the heel of his boot and let out a sigh. He carried his own bowl of broth, but he also had a nice healthy chunk of bread in his hand.
“There’s bread?” I asked.
He sat carefully, the bowl balanced on his knee, and with his mouth and one hand, tore the bread in two. He handed me the second half.
“No spit,” he assured me when I took it.
“Thanks.” The bread was warm and delicious. I gestured toward the journals in front of me. “I can’t tell if he was a traitor to his pack or a cunning strategist who played both sides.”
Killian ate his soup and stayed silent for a long moment. “I hope…I hope for her sake it’s neither.”
I huffed out a sigh. “Me too, friend, me too.”
We ate silently. I flipped through the journals, nothing catching my eye. “This is a pointless task.”
“I agree.” Killian leaned back in his seat. “I think you need to send me, Brand, and even Cody to other packs.”
I looked at him in surprise. “They’re collecting alphas,” he said, his gaze earnest. “Not everyone will be aligned with them. Let’s find out who we can bring to our side.”
“It’s not their fight,” I said, dismissing his suggestion. “I won’t bring them into this.”
