The crowd started to stamp their feet and yell, the noise loud and the energy infectious. It was unlike anything August had ever been part of. He turned to Ryker and found him similarly charmed by their new pack’s enthusiasm.
“Then we run!”
Marcus exploded into motion, turning right and disappearing into the trees with the whole crowd rushing to follow.
He found himself running, Ryker and Steve on either side of him, before he’d even made the conscious decision to move.
“You should talk to Marcus after we’ve circled the perimeter,” Ryker said, keeping his voice low and tilting his head toward Steve as they raced through the snowy underbrush. Marcus and the alphas up front were doing the hard work of trampling a path through the snow, leaving a trail everyone else could follow. “It might be a lot more complicated than your mother made it seem, and Marcus is old enough that he should remember what went down.”
It was no surprise that Ryker had listened in on August and Steve’s conversation in the bathroom. By talking to August when Ryker was in the apartment with them, he was in essence talking to both of them.
“I’m scared of what he’ll say,” Steve admitted, his voice barely above a whisper. August rubbed his back, losing contact when a bush appeared in their way and Steve had to jump over it.
“I know,” Ryker said.
48
DYLAN
Dylan hadn’t been planning to jerk off, but once August put the idea in his head and told him he wasn’t allowed, it was all he could think about for the first hour after the three alphas left.
It was infuriating.
He called Annie to distract himself. She picked up on the first ring and immediately demanded to know what was going on.
“That is insane. You realize that, right?” she said, after he’d finished explaining the chain of events that led him to Alaska and to joining Steve’s pack. “Is this Stockholm syndrome? Can it work that quickly?”
Dylan chuckled. “Steve’s dad is the absolute worst, but his brother Marcus is great, and he’s the one who’s going to be pack alpha in the future.”
“But he’s not the alphanow,” Annie countered.
“I know.” Dylan walked over to the window and looked down at the tacky wolf statue in the driveway. “But Ryker, August and Steve all say that this was the best option.”
“Best option for who?”
“For us,” Dylan said, starting to get annoyed. “You know that I’m bonded to them through the mystical mumbo jumbo pheromone thing, and they’ve claimed me as their mate. What’s good for them is good for me.”
Annie’s silence signaled her doubt, but like Dylan, she didn’t know enough werewolves or werewolf politics to know if what he was saying was true.
Dylan had to concede that she had reason to be worried. If their roles were reversed, he would be freaking out about her safety and wellbeing, too.
“I have to trust them,” Dylan said. He walked over to the couch and sat down, leaning his head back and looking up at the ceiling. “I want to trust them.”
He fiddled with the hem of his shirt, rubbing the fabric between his fingers and hoping he wasn’t being a fool trusting Ryker and August to have his best interest at heart.
He didn’t feel like he was being a fool, and his gut was telling him that there was nowhere safer to be than with his alphas.
“You’re coming home tomorrow?” Annie demanded.
“That’s the plan.”
“Good.” Annie took a deep breath. “I’ll feel better once you’re out of that fucking house and back here where you belong.”
Dylan laughed. “Me too.”
They talked for another few minutes, avoiding the topic of werewolves, ending the conversation when Annie had to leave for her afternoon class.
After talking to Annie, Dylan called his thesis advisor and apologized for missing their meeting. Dr. Coldbine said it was fine, and they rescheduled for later that week. She also told him that she’d gotten a call from the company sponsoring his research, letting him know that his budget for lab time and materials had been tripled, and that if he needed anything at all, he should reach out to their head of research and development.
