"This morning did too." Jonah wore a shit-eating grin.
Callum hit him with a gust of icy wind, his eyes narrowed.
Jonah's grin widened, and he gestured to his sweaty self. "I was talking about the running. We ran for like three hours. It felt good."
I reluctantly tapped into the pack link that neither of us liked to use."Be careful. And don't use Liv to try to make Gwen jealous."
Jonah's smile vanished."I took a shower before the run, and we barely touched. I don't smell like sex. She shouldn't smell Liv on me. I'm not getting back with Gwen, so it wouldn't matter if she could anyway. Have a little faith in me."
I inhaled.
He was right, he didn't smell like sex. I could faintly recognize Liv's scent on him, but if I hadn't known they had been together, I didn't think I'd notice it."Sorry. I'm just freaked out about this meeting."
"It'll be fine."
"Are you using the pack link?" Callum asked, his eyes still narrow as he looked between us.
"Yes. We're technically a pack, so that's allowed," I said.
"No."
"Yes, it is." I laced my fingers through Callum's and gestured toward the front of the villa with the other hand. "Ready?"
"I don't like you having a mental conversation with him that I can't hear,"Callum said into my mind."It's too intimate."
It was a little intimate, but only because our pack was so tiny. In larger packs, there was so much noise that it just felt like normal communication. I hated packs like that, though. The constant discussion was distracting, and I had a harder time cutting it out than most werewolves for some reason.
"I'm sorry it makes you uncomfortable, but Jonah and I are friends. I'm not going to agree not to use the link."
"Having your minds sandwiched together like ours are can't possibly be purely friendly."
"The pack link feels completely different than a mate bond. Our minds are nowhere near each other. It's just each other's voices in our heads, and it feels more distant than my conversations with you."
I felt Callum's surprise with the explanation.
Suddenly, he had less of a problem with the connection.
"Let's get this over with." Jonah strode toward the front of the villa.
I felt a little better about the whole thing, knowing he wasn't looking forward to it any more than I was.
Callum and I stood behind Jonah while he knocked on the door. Our hands were still connected, and his thumb stroked my knuckle lightly, as if he was picking up on my stress about the coming conversation and trying to calm me.
Gwen opened the door, wearing her usual jeans and simple, fitted t-shirt.
I noticed werewolf guards on either side of the entrance when Gwen waved us in, and more of them were stationed throughout both floors of the open foyer. Thanks to a large balcony, we could see into the second floor.
Looking at her in person, up close like this, kind of hurt.
Gwen and I had always been inseparable.
It hurt that she hadn't bothered to reach out in five years.
It hurt that she'd asked Jonah for help instead of me.
That we were only sisters by blood, now.
That our parents still weren't interested in a relationship with me because they thought I had betrayed them all when I tried to get her away from Simon.
