“You killed them?”
“To protect my people? Yes.”
He sucks in a breath but doesn’t say anything more; instead, he leans back on his palm and brushes a hand through his curls. I’m drawn to the action and the way his pink lips part. My stomach tightens as sensations wash through my body.
The sun is shining through the trees and hits him directly in the face. Those blue eyes are nearly ghostly in the light as his fair lashes brush his cheek when he blinks. A sprinkle of freckles litters his nose and cheeks. They’re almost unnoticeable, but in this close proximity, I can see each and every one.
My chest quakes from the pull of our bond, and how it makes me feel when I look at him and his stupidly handsome face.
“Please stop looking at me like that,” Evan grumbles.
It’s then I realise I’ve been admiring him like nobody's business, and it’s dangerous.
I clear my throat and frown. “Like what?”
He turns to face me with vacant eyes. “Like you want to murder me.”
I’m taken aback because that’s the last thing I thought I looked like. But when I find my hands clenched, maybe I did. Unintentionally. Although not for the reason he probably thinks. He’s not the one I want to murder; he’s the one I want to protect.
“If you don’t want me helping with your pack, tell Jaxon. I don’t need him on my case.”
I open my mouth to respond, but instead I hear, “Caleb, I need to talk to you.”
My head twists, and I find Felix standing on the patio. I nod and push myself up from the ground without looking back at Evan.
“Thanks for the crown, Caleb.” Izzie flashes me her daisy crown. “I’m going to wear itallday.”
“Alpha, Izzie. He’s?—”
“Caleb is fine,” I reassure Louisa. “And it was my pleasure, Izzie. Have a good afternoon, guys.”
Louisa’s mouth parts. “Thank you.”
When I make it inside with Felix, he’s watching me.
“Daisy chains?”
“Don’t start.”
Felix chuckles. “Now that’s one way to win them over.”
12
EVAN
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been keeping up with pack duties and going over to Caleb’s pack to help out where necessary, but now that they’re more settled, and Cole’s old pack is beginning to warm to Caleb, my duties there are becoming less and less by the day.
To my surprise, I barely saw Caleb when I visited again after the daisy chain incident. He was always busy, which was a bonus, but he showed his face where he could. That doesn’t stop my wolf from crying out for him at night when I sleep alone, and in the day when I see everyone in their happy couples.
Later that afternoon, Jaxon gathers his closest members around his private kitchen. “We’re heading over to Caleb’s pack tonight,” he declares.
I blow out a breath. I can’t catch a break.
“Zara and Felix decided to get us all together and thank us for our hospitality for welcoming them into the district,” he says clearly.
My hand runs down my face. There’s no getting out of this one.
When we head over to Caleb’s pack house, a part of me wants to know what really happened regarding Cole, but at the same time, that means knowing more about him, and I don’t wish to know anything about the man.
