Syl’s fingers are already flying over his phone. “If she normally reacts to an alpha’s bark.” A final tap, then he looks up.
“Did you...” Luc swallows. “Did you just text Revea?”
He nods, eyes glancing between Luc and his screen.
“Sylvan, when did you get her number?” I ask, keeping my voice calm and level.
“The morning after I upset her. It was payment for the scanner.”
“What exactly did you say?” Kaiden’s tone is just like mine, calmness wrapped in a slowly building panic.
Syl frowns, gaze flicking down as he reads aloud, “Do alpha barks usually work on you?”
Kaiden scrubs a hand over his face, I close my eyes, and Luc falls back down with a pained sound.
“What?” Syl asks, picking up on our body language.
“Some questions aren’t appropriate to ask, Syl—” Kaiden starts, but then there’s a vibration.
Sylvan’s phone lights up. We all tense.
“No,” he reads aloud.
“She... she answered?” Luc snaps up, looking between us. “Just like that?”
It lights up again.
“Why? Do you think your bark will work on me, Sylvan?” He frowns. “Why is she asking that? She knows I don’t know.”
Luc stretches out, grabbing Sylvan’s phone. “Sylvan, listen to me, you lucky son of a bitch. She’sflirtingwith you.”
Sylvan’s brows furrow. “How is asking me that flirting?”
The muscles in Luc’s jaw twitch. “Just, tell us what you’re typing before you press send again, okay?”
I nod, so does Kaiden, but Syl stares at us like we’re the ones making strange requests.
“Okay...” He looks down, typing as he says, “I don’t know. I’d have to try.”
He casts a brief glance at each of us, checking our expressions, then taps send.
“My god, Sylvan. You’re flirting, and you don’t even realise it.” Luc pats him on the back encouragingly.
“Revea called him master of seduction yesterday,” I murmur, lips twitching.
“She did?” Syl sounds genuinely... delighted.
“And sweet today,” Kaiden adds, also hiding a smile.
“Wow, sweet, seductive Sylvan,” Luc beams, shaking his shoulder a little. “If I didn’t love you, I’d be jealous as fuck right now.”
Sylvan smiles, a real, genuine smile. I hadn’t seen him smile like that since, fuck, I can’t even remember.
But when his phone lights up again, he reads the message, and it falls.
I lean closer. “What’s wrong, Syl?”
He turns the screen to us.
