“God, don’t give them ideas about cloning themselves,” Bryce said. “No, sadly, they’re the same ones. Teleportation’s just one of their demonic powers.”
Tom shot him a sideways look. “Your disapproval might carry more weight if I hadn’t seen you petting them,” he said.
Bryce grinned. “Stay here long enough, you’ll realize it’s the safest way, keeping on their good side. Have a seat, I’ll get the beer.”
The sun had dipped lower while they were in the barn, lighting the gathering clouds a deep red. Evening settled gently over the land, soft and still.
“Best view in the world,” Bryce said, sitting beside Tom and handing him a bottle. “You ever drink beer before with goats staring at you like you owe them something?”
Tom’s mouth curved. “Can’t say I have.”
Bryce settled deeper in his chair, aware of Tom so close to him. He felt at peace, and he shouldn’t have, not with a Council rep beside him.
Except Tom wasn’t just a Council rep. He was tall, dark and principled, and that was a hell of a dangerous combination. He watched the way Tom’s lips sealed around the top of the bottle as he drank, and he had to remind himself that thiswasn’t anything, no matter how much he’d like it to be.National Council.Safest thing was to keep his distance.
“What you did, choosing not to press Colby. That was good of you,” Bryce said. Partly because he wanted to find out why. He thought—hehoped—it was because Tom was respectful. But maybe Tom had been softening up Colby and intended to go back when Bryce wasn’t around to run interference.
“I have to be able to live with myself,” Tom said.
The knowledge that he’d been right about Tom flickered warmly inside him.
“You might be the only one in Washington with that attitude,” Bryce said. “Most people either wouldn’t have noticed he was uncomfortable or would have pretended they had to ask anyway, for the sake of their job.”
They sat in silence for a moment, sipping their beers.
Then Tom took his eyes off the horizon and turned to Bryce. “There’s obviously something you don’t want me to know. Tell me, is it anything that threatens the safety of any member of the Council?”
Bryce was still for a moment. He should have seen this coming. He already knew Tom was perceptive and smart. That he’d be this straight-talking was in line with all he knew of his character, but it had taken him by surprise.
He thought about Tom’s question, about the fact that Cale’s pack had been brutally murdered to cover a corrupt politician’s tracks. But he could see no way that politician would be a threat to any member of the Council, so he shook his head. “I don’t believe so.” He paused, and held Tom’s eyes. “On my wolf.”
Tom held his gaze a long moment, then reached out and clinked their bottles together. “In which case, I don’t need to know.”
The sun slid down the sky as they sat quietly, faint sounds of pots and pans from the kitchen window behind them.
“How did it work packwise, moving to Washington for work?” Bryce asked at last. Tom had mentioned earlier he was from Maine. “Did you join one in DC?”
Tom shook his head. “We’re not allowed to join a local pack. They’re too worried about groupthink, if all advisers, aides and interns were to be part of the same pack. Just means we spend our vacation time traveling back to our home packs.” He drained his bottle and set it down on the porch beside him, where Mayhem eyed it consideringly. “It wasn’t so bad when Zack—when I had a partner. It’s not the same as a pack, but it’s another wolf, someone to run with, you know?”
Bryce nodded slowly, turning his bottle in his hands.
“Yeah, must be tough,” he said, and the words felt weak. Not because they weren’t true, but because they didn’t say nearly enough. He tried to imagine it—working long hours in some underground office, no natural light, no pack. Existing alone, with every connection strategic and every move under scrutiny. It sounded like slow starvation, and Bryce didn’t know how anyone lived like that.
Tom was staring out into the distance again, his expression unreadable.
Bryce almost saidrun with us, but that wasn’t his decision to make. It was Matt’s. And wanting that, offering that? That was dangerously close to mixing things that shouldn’t be mixed. He trusted Tom, mostly, but he didn’t know what other calls Tom might have on his loyalty that were older and deeper. If Tom found out that they knew about Cale’s pack being killed, he might feel he had to tell someone. No, safer to keep that bit of distance.
He took another sip of his beer. “You know,” he said, aiming for something lighter, “I’m not sure if that goat’s goingto steal your bottle or your soul, but she’s definitely planning something.”
Tom huffed a laugh, but didn’t look away from the horizon. “At least she’s honest about it.”
They sat in silence after that, side by side but not touching, the tension between them coiled tight and quiet. Somewhere behind them, the screen door creaked open and then shut again, a reminder of the house, the people inside, the lives Bryce had to protect.
But for just a few minutes longer, he let himself stay in this moment.
And he wanted more moments like this. So many more.
Chapter Ten
