August’s gazenarrowed.
“Might’ve heard of him. Jeb Clark?” I winked at him, and his eyes went wide. Then I added, “No dating for me in the near future. I’m taking some time off men. Like a year, or a decade.” I slid past August. “Anyway, I promised Jeb I’d eat with him tonight since I stood him up yesterday.” I stopped halfway through the warehouse and spun around. “Want tocome?”
He studied the lid of the mug. “No. I’ll get some more workdone.”
I was a little surprised he preferred staying in the office over a warm meal with family friends. But then I realized something. “You don’t have to worry about me, August. I’m not depressed oranything.”
He glanced up from the mug, brow knitted as though I’d misconstrued his concern. He opened his mouth to speak just as a shrill howl pierced the night, and then another and another. My chest tightened, and my skin bristled, the fine hairs thickening. I’d never heard it before yet knew it was my Alpha’s call. The insistence of it had me gaping atAugust.
“You’re going to have to postpone that dinner of yours,” he said, setting the travel mug down and yanking off hisshirt.
The urgency of the moment was momentarily supplanted by the sight of August’s bare chest which gave new meaning to the term washboard abs—you could most probably do laundry against hisabdomen.
“Ness? Three howls means something serious hashappened.”
I snapped out of my daze. Had the Sillin been stolen again? Or maybe they were dummy tablets? I lowered my gaze to the swirls of sawdust beneath my feet and swallowed, my throat feeling as dry as those corn husks Evelyn filled with masadough.
August strode over to me and cranked my chin up. “You’ll be okay. I’ll bethere.”
I nodded, fumbling to remove my bag. When the strap caught in my hair, August assisted me in hoisting it up and off. Flustered by his proximity and nakedness, I backed away. My hands trembled as I dragged off my necklace and then my T-shirt, and then my navel pulsed chaotically when August’s eyes, which were on me, began to gleambrighter.
He turned away, Adam’s apple working in histhroat.
A howl tore through the night, seemingly nearer. Was the pack headed here? I ducked behind one of the work desks, and, keeping my back to August, I unclipped my bra and pushed down myjeans.
Claws clicked nearby, and it made my own claws jolt out of my cuticles. Making sure I wasn’t in August’s line of sight, I scraped off my underwear before my tail could shred it. My bones shifted and my muscles swelled, and I fell onto my knees, back arched as the rest of the change rippled throughme.
When it was done, August bumped his wet muzzle into myshoulder.
Ready?heasked.
I dipped my head in assent. At least I’d face Liam in fur tonight. I felt less vulnerable in fur than I felt in skin, as though my thick white pelt could somehow shield me better than my palehide.
Another howl stirred theair.
We trotted to the door. With his mouth, August jerked the handle, then shoved the door open with his shoulder. For a moment, I wondered how we would find the pack, but then I felt the tug of something in my chest. Like the tether that bound me to August, there was another tether insideme.
One that tied me toLiam.
One that led me straight tohim.
38
In a partof the forest where the trees grew as dense as the underbrush, the pack had assembled. Most were in wolf form, but a few had stayed in skin—the few being the elders. The moon wouldn’t be full for another week, so I imagined they hadn’t been able to shift. And yet they’d still come. They wouldn’t understand what was being said, unless Liam spoke to them through the mindlink.
Could he, in wolfform?
I saw Jeb, or rather I recognized the gray-blond fur, the light-blue eyes, and the lemony scent of his body. I walked over to him, squeezing my scrawny self between him and Frank’s grandson, who was as big as me in fur. Not in skin, though. I wondered why that was. But then I pressed that contemplationaway.
I felt Liam’s glowing amber eyes on me, but I kept mine trained on the squashed pine needles beneath his giant paws. His lupine body had grown in bulk and breadth since he’d becomeAlpha.
A nose pressed against my haunches, shifting me a little more toward Jeb, and then another large body sidled in next to me, lining up between Little J and me.August.
Liam’s gaze moved to my neighbor’s. For a moment, they just observed each other. Then August took another step forward, and his pelt bristled, ostensibly making him seem bigger. It was an illusion. He hadn’t actually grown, but he was sending Liam a message not to look atme.
I nudged my friend’s flank to tell him I was okay. That he didn’t have to make such an aggressive show. God only knew how the others would interpretit.
He didn’t back down, but his fur smoothed, and Liam pivoted to face another part of thecircle.
