“There’s nothing I don’t know about my pack.”Tanner tries to duck around me to see what I’m hiding, but I do a cool spin move to keep the duffle bag out of his line of sight. Who says curlers aren’t athletic? Tanner isn’t deterred, the fact that I’m trying to keep it from him only amps him up more.
Facing off with our pack leader, I rock from left to right on the balls of my feet.
Light on your feet, Vann. Light. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.Wait, but what if I don’t want to sting like a bee? Unless stinger is a euphemism for my dick, then I could be down.
While my thoughts run rampant once again, Tanner gets the jump on me and snags the bag, yanking it from my hands. He holds it over his head.
“Hey!” I protest.
Tanner’s grin is victorious. Bastard. “Now, where are you really going?”
Rhodes watches us carefully from the couch with a curious look on his face. If anyone can figure out what I’m up to, it’s him. Goddamnit, I really wish he wasn’t in here right now.
“Fine,” I snap, “I wanted to go skiing, okay? The bag’s got a snowsuit in it.” I should feel bad about lying to my pack, but I don’t. This is for their own good. If I can just talk to Raven?—
“What the fuck?” Tanner tosses the bag to Rhodes, clearly more focused on my new lie now. Admittedly, it’s way less believable than the first one. “You know you can’t do that. What if you get injured?”
“I won’t.”
“How can you be so confident of that? Have you even been skiing other than that one trip we took junior year?”Tanner narrows his eyes, but they widen a second later. “You’re not going on the slopes, you’re going to Milan.”
Busted.
Tanner looks at Rhodes, who confirms with a nod. He’s already unzipped my bag. There’s no snowsuit, just a book to read on the shuttle and a change of clothes in case things go better than expected.
“Gah, okay!” I huff. “You’re right. Raven’s first competition is today, and I’m not missing it. We have a game at the same time as her second run—show? Performance? What do they call it?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Tanner snaps. “You told me you wouldn’t try to contact her until after the Olympics. We need you focused.Ineed you focused. You know what’s at stake.”
“I’m not gonna talk to her.” I put my hands behind my back as casually as I can, then cross my fingers. All this lying isn’t good for me, I’m gonna get an ulcer. Or karma is gonna slap me big time. But for Raven? It’s worth it. “I just want to watch. Show my support, you know? So I can someday tell her I was there.”
He stares, still shooting suspicion laser beams at me from his squinted eyes. Does he believe me? Maybe I should cross my toes, just in case. Wait, can I cross my toes? I don’t think I’ve ever tried. I don’t wanna look stupid, standing here wiggling my toes for no reason.
“Fuck.” Tanner blows a breath at the ceiling. “Fine. But we’re all going.”
My mouth falls open, head spinning a little from this sudden turn. Didn’t see that coming.
“Really?” Rhodes asks, joining us by the door.
“Yeah, what he said.” I hook a thumb toward our beta.
Tanner looks at his watch. “When does the next shuttle leave?”
“Uh, in like twenty minutes.”
“Alright.” Tanner crosses his arms over his chest. He probably thinks it’s an intimidating stance, but does he know how big and tight his biceps look right now? Damn, he’s good looking. Not that he needs me to stroke his ego. Or anything else. He’s got Orion for that. He’s never seemed to want anything more.
“We go, we watch the show, and then we leave. Immediately.” Tanner’s voice snaps me back to the situation at hand. “I want to be back here by tonight. Understand?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course.” Holy shit. Holy shit, it’s happening. IT’S HAPPENING! We’re gonna go see our girl and watch her kick ass on the ice—together as a pack. This is a step in the right direction… right? Once the others see her again, maybe even get close enough to scent her, they’ll be all in.Project: Win Raven Back After We Acted Like Assholes So We Can Bond Her and Breed Heris underway. Okay, yeah. I need to workshop the name a little.
Tanner pinches his eyes closed and takes one more deep inhale. Under his breath, I swear I hear him murmur, “This is a terrible idea.”
16
TANNER
“This was a great idea!” Vann yelps in excitement, far happier than he should be after our journey here.
