“I’m just sayin’, he couldnae have known—”
“I knew enough,” Rex said quietly. “I made the call anyway.”
Nobody argued with that. Nobody absolved him of it either, which he appreciated. He didn’t need comfort. He needed a plan.
“Aye, then.” Lachlan cracked his knuckles, and magic flared up. “What’s the play?”
Before Rex could answer, Callista materialized from the kitchen with a tray and four mugs, moving with the determination of someone who had heard every single word, had no regrets, but many opinions. She set it down, straightened up, and looked at Rex.“Whatever you decide,” she said, meeting his eyes, “you have to tell her. Clearly. All of it.” Her voice was gentle, but it didn’t waver. “There’s no going back, Rex. She’ll be standing next to you no matter what happens—that’s what this is.”
He saw the flicker of something in her eyes, there and gone, something that didn’t belong to her usual sunshine. The memory of the years she spent fighting for Owen when Owen couldn’t fight for himself. The pain of all the time Owen’s curse had cost them before it was over. Callista picked up her own mug and held it in both hands. “She’ll stay, and she’ll fight for you and with you, regardless. But from what little I know of her, I think she’ll want the heads up.”
The kitchen light caught the steam rising from the coffee. Outside, the wind had picked up, shoving through the pines in short, restless slaps. Somewhere in the distance, thunder was still making up its mind.
“Full moon is in two days. Owen.” Rex looked at him. “I need eyes on the dissidents. Quiet ones. I want to know if anything shifts.”
Owen nodded once. No questions.
“Lach, you have ears everywhere.”
“Aye. And all will be listenin’.”
“I’m taking Zoe into the forest that night.”
The room understood what that meant. An Alpha could hold a great many things by force of will alone. But under a full moon, with a mate unclaimed and close, the bond wouldn’t negotiate. The only one who could stop him would be his Moonbeam.
Lachlan let out a long breath. “So that’s it, then.”
“That’s it.” Rex reached for a mug. “Assuming she doesn’t run.”
“She won’t,” Callista said, with a certainty that had no business being so steady. “Tell her the truth, all of it, and she won’t. Never question if the pull of the bond affects her, or how much.”
Rex said nothing, just reached for his mug and took a long sip as thunder rolled in close and menacing through the walls. It appeared the storm had made up its mind.
And so had he.
Chapter 6
Zoe closed the door and turned on the car.
The sun was just starting to think about going to bed when she pulled out of the Oreads’ trail parking space and pointed her car toward yet another trailhead. The sky still held that solstice gold at nine o’clock, that glow that refused to quit even when the day was technically done and made everything look like it was lit from somewhere generous and happy. The longest day of the year, doing its job until the very last minute.
Had the energy at the Oreads’ party been thrilling? Yes.
Had seeing her friend so satisfied and resolved in her role, despite how she got to it, made her happy? Also yes.
Had she spent one second longer there, risking being late for the rendezvous with Officer Growly? Nope.
Rendezvous.The word sounded a little dangerous. And a little hot. A lot hot.
Saying she didn’t think something—wink wink—could happen tonight would make her a liar, and she was not one. She’d been ready the other day. But at the same time, being so, um, enthusiastic about the whole thing worried her. She liked sex as much as the next girl, and Rex was simply one of the most handsome men she’d ever laid eyes on, so that part tracked. It was justhow muchshe wanted him that didn’t quite add up. It came from a place too deep within herself for someone she’d known for only a handful of days. He was a magik, a big werewolf—the Alpha—and she kind of knew how that worked with them.Not firsthand, but the knowledge was out there. The possibility of fated mates and all that.
It was a possibility she wasn’t entirely entertaining because, well, because it seemed ludicrous.And yet the pull of him was still there, constant and unreasonable, so maybe that’s what she was reacting to. His magic.
Was that all it was? A reaction to what he was?
She didn’t think so. She worked with the pack regularly, had even dated one of them for a minute once upon a time, and it had never been anything like this. So. Not all werewolves.
Just that particular one.
