“Dad,” shemuttered.
He gave her a wolfish grin before heading out of the dining hall, patting backs and leaning in to wish his shifters a good morning. From the laughter and smiles, I took it that Zack was a well-liked leader. Nostalgia for something I’d never had, a pack where everyone belonged, hit me square in thechest.
Liam touched my forearm. “Let’sgo.”
Flanked by Zack’s kids, we left thecompound.
Liam sat up front with Sam, and I sat in the back with the sisters. While the men talked about setting up a lab to create a new type of Sillin, I zonedout.
“Did he answer you?” Jane asked her sister at some point. Her voice was hushed, but the urgency made it carry tome.
“Hedid.”
“And?”
Were they talking about August?Hecould really be anyone. I was just beingparanoid.
“I didn’t talk to him aboutthat,” Ingrid murmured. “I just asked how he was doing and told him we might have a new project forhim.”
Jane giggled and chirped, “Projectmarry-Ingrid,” but then she blurted out, “Ouch. What was thatfor?”
Ingrid must’ve made her reason clear with a look, because there was a long stretch ofsilence.
“I bet Ness would love not being the only she-wolf in her pack,” Jane said. “Right,Ness?”
I untaped my gaze from the landscape and turned to look at the two Burley sisters. I almost told them that August wasn’t on the market for a wife but bit my tongue. When their expectant gazes turned to frowns, I said, “It would be nice to have otherfemales.”
But notIngrid.
At least, not as August’smate.
There were about ten other eligible guys to pick from within the Boulder pack. “You should meet the other Boulder bachelors before yousettle.”
The back of Liam’s neck clenched. Of course he waslistening.
“I did meet the others at the pack summit,” Ingrid said. “They were . . .nice. But I can’t picture myself with any of them. August, though”—her dreamy expression made me want to stab her eyeballs with toothpicks—“I can totally picture myself withhim.”
Well, stop doing it.I jerked my gaze to the road before she could pick up on my rampantjealousy.
If I wasn’t able to let him go when the mating link was absent, how was I supposed to let him go once the link clicked back intoplace?
16
The plane rideback was nerve-wracking. I spent most of it gouging new scratches into the poor leather armrest. Liam didn’t make me feel bad about the damage. He barely seemed to notice, contemplative as he was. He alternated between staring out the hatch window and studying his phonescreen.
I’d looked at mine and found a message from August that dated to the previous night:I wish you were sleeping next to me. The words created a resonating pang inside my chest that echoed in myheart.
“What did you take away from our trip?” Liam asked, dragging me out of myreveries.
“That I should start taking micro-doses ofSillin.”
“What?” Clearly not what he wasexpecting.
“Greg can figure out a dose that doesn’t affect me more than a couple hours at a time,right?”
Liam’s lips thinned in disapproval. “Not you. I’ll get Matt or someoneelse—”
“You’re paying me to help you, Liam. Let me be worth what you’repaying.”
