“On a Sunday?”
“An emergency, yeah, he’d go.”
Ember’s nephew loped up to them, his face lit with a grin. “Ezra, come on, you’ve got to play a round.”
Ezra’s chest rumbled low with laughter. “All right, pup. Had some things that needed saying first.”
Quinn froze in place, gaze darting from Ezra to Kelsey. “Oh, sorry, I barged in.”
“We’re good,” Kelsey said. “Play a round of what?”
“Kettlebell Pass!” The pup rocked from heels to toes, and if his grin could grow any bigger it did. “Best game ever. Rhett came up with it.”
“Did he?” Ezra rolled his eyes. “Better watch yourself then.”
“He isn’t trustworthy?” That didn’t seem to fit the forthright vibe of their host.
“Oh, you can trust Rhett,” Quinn said.
“You can trust him to throw a hundred-pound kettlebell at your head,” Ezra said.
Kelsey turned to the loose circle of wolves standing a deliberate distance from the women and kids. At that moment Aaron hefted the kettlebell to chest level and pitched it, two-handed, at Jeremy. Jeremy turned to the side, caught it by the handle with both hands, and stopped its momentum mid-air. The move would have wrenched any human’s shoulders out of joint.
“See, Kelsey?” Quinn pointed, and Jeremy hurled the kettlebell at Rhett, who caught it the same way. “You’ve got to catch it just right or you’ll drop it. It’s a test of wolf reflexes. And wolf speed. And wolf strength.”
“And wolf superiority.” Ezra gave him a gentle bop on top of his head. “Go on, pup, I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Okay, Ezra.” Quinn galloped back to the group.
“They let him play?” Kelsey said.
“At thirteen? Not a chance, but he’s glued to the spectacle every time, especially when Aaron’s involved.”
Beside Quinn, little Zane also gaped from the sidelines. Kelsey shook her head. Boys. At the heart of each wolf was a remnant of the pup he used to be, showing off for the younger generation the promise of what they’d become. She couldn’t begrudge any of them for it as long as nobody’s teeth got knocked out.
“Watch this,” Ezra said with a note of pride, as Rhett threw the kettlebell at Malachi.
The alpha caught it the same way everyone else had done, mid-air, absorbing the momentum of one hundred pounds without a sign of the weight or the force. But he did it with one hand. The pups cheered.
“Is he really that much stronger than the rest of you?” Kelsey said.
“Yes,” Ezra said, and the simplicity of his answer filled Kelsey with pride too. Their alpha and friend, a good and strong wolf.
“Come on, Ezra!” beckoned a wolf so young he must have been calledpupwithin the last year, but he was in the circle for a turn to pitch and catch. His carrot-orange hair would have brightened the day on its own, but paired with his smile, he seemed lit from both inside and out.
“I didn’t meet him last weekend,” Kelsey said.
“You don’t recognize baby Nathan, Patrick and Nicole’s pup?”
“Oh my gosh. Of course I do now. He was just little last time I saw him.”
“Yep. Okay, Nathan.” Ezra didn’t raise his voice, didn’t need to. “Like I said, I’ll be just a minute.”
Kelsey gave him a little push that, of course, didn’t budge him. “Oh, go on. Let’s see you demonstrate wolf superiority.”
Ezra rumbled a laugh, then lifted his chin toward the house. “Your mate’s here.”
He trotted off, which was kind of him, because as Trevor rounded the house and approached her, Kelsey’s entire body flushed. Beautiful beyond her teenage dreams, this sweet wolf, her mate. When he reached her, Kelsey curled both hands into his shirt and angled her parted lips up to him.
