Steve frowned, realizing that Dylan was well and truly out of reach now that August and Ryker had formalized their claim. The only way he’d get in on the action was to join August and Ryker’s pack, and that was impossible.
“So I guess that’s it,” he said, blowing out a breath. “August and Ryker win.”
“You’re not friends with them?” Annie asked.
“Friends with who?” Dylan asked, appearing next to them and putting down three cans of Diet Coke. He sat down, planting a little flag on their table to alert the server where to bring their food.
“I was asking if Steve was friends with August and Ryker,” Annie clarified.
“He is!” Dylan said, looking at Steve and waiting for him to nod in affirmation. Steve did.
“I am,” Steve confirmed. “Though it took a while. When I first met them, I thought they were annoying as fuck.”
“Because…?” Annie prompted.
Dylan lowered his voice, leaning forward and doing a fairly inaccurate impression of Steve’s frequent rant. “They hogged the north part of the preserve, even though the preserve is neutral territory and everyone is allowed to run there!”
“Pretty much,” Steve said, laughing at the mock scowl on Dylan’s face. Rather than look intimidating, he looked adorable. “But now that they’ve invited me to hang out with them, I don’t mind.”
Annie nodded. “Oh, so you’re a hypocrite.”
Steve’s eyebrows drew down in offense, but he was cut off from replying by Dylan’s laugh.
“Oh, he totally is. The minute they invited him to run with them, he forgot all about it being neutral territory.”
Steve scowled, a flush creeping up his neck. It was true. As soon as he’d been invited to the cool kid’s table, he’d stopped minding that they weren’t technically following the rules. If anyone tried to intrude on August and Ryker’s territory now, he’d probably be right there along with them tossing the interloper into the river to teach them a lesson.
“Whatever,” Steve said, deciding that he was allowed to be a hypocrite if he wanted to. It was no one’s business but his own. He looked at Annie. “But enough about me. What about you? Are you in the same master’s program as Dylan?”
Annie narrowed her eyes at him, but she allowed him to change the subject. Steve listened as she explained that she was not taking the same master’s degree as Dylan, but that they had a number of classes together anyway.
Steve liked her. She wasn’t someone he’d be friends with on his own, but he could see why Dylan had gravitated toward her.
Their food arrived, and as they ate, Steve mostly sat back and listened while Dylan and Annie talked about school. They did a good job of trying to include him, but it was very obvious that Steve’s day to day life as a police officer had little in common with their life as students.
“Do you like being a cop?” Annie asked. They were done eating, and Steve’s break was almost over.
“Not really,” Steve said, honestly. “I want to be a detective, and I have to work my way up. What I’m doing right now is mostly boring drudge work.”
Annie looked a little taken aback by his answer. She leaned her elbow on the table and asked, “Does it help your career prospects that you’re a werewolf?”
“Not down here, no, but back in Alaska it would have been a huge help.” At Dylan’s curious look, Steve elaborated, “I would have been a representative for my pack. That’s pretty attractive to most police departments. Now I’m a free agent, which makes me politically pretty useless.”
Steve’s plan of becoming detective would have come to fruition much faster if he’d been on his home turf.
“What about joining August and Ryker’s pack?” Annie asked. “Dylan mentioned something about that. Would that help?”
Steve laughed. Of all the reasons he’d liked to have joined Ryker and August’s pack, his career prospects hadn’t entered the picture.
“No, they’re just two people. It wouldn’t have helped.” He glanced at Dylan. “And even if it would have helped, I’m not in a position where I can join a new pack.”
Annie nodded, looking curious but picking up on his tone that it wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. She smiled at him. “Well, in that case, good luck enduring the drudgery until you get what you want. As a graduate student, I can relate.”
She lifted her Diet Coke in a toast.
Steve laughed, lifting his can to meet hers and clinking them together.
“To enduring drudgery.” Steve checked his watch, realizing that his break had ended five minutes ago. “And speaking about drudgery, I need to get back to work.”
