“See you soon, little brother,” Marcus said, pulling him into a hug. “Take care of yourself.”
“You too,” Steve said. He hugged William next.
“I look forward to meeting your girlfriend.”
“You’ll like her,” William promised. He pulled away.
Steve nodded and took a step back, giving the two of them a little wave before heading back into the crowd to find Ryker.
Judging by the way everyone looked at him, sympathy and sorrow written across their features, Steve was doing a good job of appearing appropriately affected by his father’s funeral. As he scanned the crowd, he wondered how many people were secretly relieved that his father was dead and that Marcus was their new alpha. It had to be more than a few people, but like Steve, they were doing a good job of hiding it.
Ryker was still talking to Odin and the other district alphas.
“Hey,” Ryker said, apologetically interrupting David mid-sentence and taking a step toward him. “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay,” Steve said, nodding at the district alphas. They all nodded back, their expressions sympathetic. Odin offered his condolences, after which Blaine, Zack, Henry and David did the same.
Steve couldn’t help but notice that none of them looked particularly sad, considering the fact that they were attending their alphas funeral. Their attitude was almost businesslike.
If his father hadn’t died the way he had – hurting Dylan and revealing himself to be a monster – Steve was pretty sure he would be offended.
Now he just understood.
Ryker wrapped his arm around his waist, noticing the sudden dimming of his mood and holding him against his body.
“Do you want to leave?” Ryker asked.
Steve nodded. “I already said goodbye to Marcus and William.”
“All right.” Ryker turned toward Odin and the other district alphas. “I’m sorry, I think we’re going to get going. It was good talking to you guys. I look forward to meeting under happier circumstances.”
“Me too,” Odin said. “We’ll see you on the full moon, right? We’ll show you how us civilized wolves do things.”
Steve furrowed his brow before he understood. Ryker and the other alphas must have been comparing how they did full moons.
“Roughing it isn’t so bad,” Steve said, defending his mate. Then he frowned. “Though I don’t think the animal population here can sustain the kind of hunting Ryker and August do back at the preserve in Fort Plainslac.”
“It’s okay,” Ryker said, amused. “August and I do it that way because we’re too lazy to plan and make a bigger deal out of it. Your way of doing it will be fun.”
Ryker reached out his hand, saying goodbye to his fellow district alphas before leading Steve away.
The main house where they’d parked the car was just a short walk away from the clearing. When they walked toward the path, Steve spotted his mom. She started walking toward him and Steve sped up so that they wouldn’t cross paths.
He would talk to her at the full moon, when he’d had some time to process everything that had happened.
“Are you okay?” Ryker asked, his voice quiet.
“I’m fine,” Steve said. He glanced at his mom, who had stopped walking and was giving him a sad look. “I’ll talk to her later. Right now, I just want to go home.”
Ryker nodded. “Of course.”
53
DYLAN
Dylan stepped off the stairs and into the cabin, feeling wildly out of place as he walked down the narrow aisle and sat down in one of the sleek leather chairs. There were twelve seats in total, six on each side of the aisle, arranged in an alternating rear and front facing configuration that created three distinct seating areas within the cabin.
August and Ryker took the seats next to him, leaving the seat across from him for Steve.
