“You think anyone gives a damn who you bang?” Barton said.
Christian breathed again, filled with a sharp sense of relief. He hadn’t thought beyond not wanting to be accused of hitting on the alpha’s daughter, but once he’d said it, he’d realized it might not be his smartest move. Shifters were rarely homophobic, probably because fated mates made that ridiculous, but there were still some assholes out there. That was one minefield he’d managed to escape.
He looked down at his plate and wondered how many others lay around him.
DAVE
Dave’s mouth was dry, and he was too warm. Licking his lips, he tried to swallow, but grit was in his mouth. Frowning, he struggled to open his eyes, unable to understand why they were so heavy.
When he managed to pry them open, brightness assaulted him, pain searing through his head, and he remembered. He’d fallen, clutching uselessly at the unforgiving rock in a way that hadn’t slowed his fall one bit but had ripped his fingers and burned his muscles.
Raising himself up on arms that trembled with the strain, he found he’d ended up on the plateau outside the cave entrance. Somehow, against all odds, his fall had followed the line of the path instead of plunging hundreds of feet down the cliff face.
He put his head back down on the warm rock. He’d just take a minute, then he’d get up. He was so sleepy, and it was warm here, and it wasn’t like he had any place else to be.
Ravens circled overhead, crying out to each other in the endless sky as sleep dragged him under again.
Chapter Twenty-two
CHRISTIAN
As the scraping of chairs and clang of dishes being piled together filled the yard, Christian stood, letting the noise wash past him. He’d been watching Tony, Barton, and the other higher-ups talk at the far end of the table, trying to memorize the faces of his new pack.
One of them stood out to Christian. He didn’t look like much, lean, with pale eyes that didn’t blink often, but there was something about him, a sense of menace that made Christian’s wolf growl uneasily. He’d sat at Barton’s right, two seats down from Tony. He hadn’t spoken once during the entire meal, but Christian had felt him watching.
When Christian’s gaze snagged on his, the guy didn’t look away. He tipped his chin a fraction, acknowledging him. Or marking him. It was hard to say.
Christian dragged his eyes away from those pale blue ones when Tony approached.
“Practice is at the factory in one hour,” he said. “Stefan will give you a ride.”
He turned on his heel and walked off. Christian was just wondering how to fill the next hour when he became aware of two young kids peering around the end of the table at him. Their eyes were bright and curious, and at about the same height as his hip. He hadn’t been around kids for years, but it came back to him as he crouched down and looked at them. “Hi,” he said.
Emboldened, they snuck around the table and stood in front of him.
“You’re new,” the older one announced, and promptly got an elbow in his side from the shorter one.
“Well,yeah,” he said. “Weren’t you listening to Uncle Tony? He’s here to fight. Are you a good fighter?”
“Yeah,” Christian said, because he was.
“Have you got a girlfriend? Ariannalikesyou.”
“I’ve got a—” And then he remembered. He didn’t have Dave. Not anymore.
His breath caught. He pushed to his feet too fast, like movement could hide his reaction.
“I gotta go. Need to unpack my shi—stuff,” he said, voice too sharp.
“You said shit,” the smaller one said, grinning.
Christian barely noticed his words. His chest was tight, and his eyes burned as everything he’d pushed down inside him rose up, threatening to break open. Dave was—
“Beat it, you two.”
The kids scrambled away, laughing and shoving at each other as they went, and Christian turned around to find Bear there.
“You want to see around the place?”
