“Right, pack drama.”
“Understatement of the century.”
It seems while we were away things have gotten even more tense at Elite Pack central. Olivia and Mia have disappeared—a fact I learned from Mason via text when my cell finally caught some service on the way out of the desert.
“MIA’S GONE AWOL!!!” he texted me, followed by a slew of other messages, each as hyperbolic as the one before it.
It wasn’t till I got home that I learned Olivia was gone as well. Which explains why Salazar was being a complete asshat. He’s pissed and terrified and hurt because his daughter has literally run away from home. And to top it off, instead of being out looking for her he was ordered to hunt down Jasper. Then when he found us, we were cavorting with the supposed enemy. No wonder he was being such a dick—not that that gives him any right to terrorize innocent rogues.
Their disappearance has caused the fracture between the Elite and Rocky Packs to spread even farther and now it appears Morven is courting favor with the very packs Jasper has spent the better part of this year trying to win over to our side. If he manages to convince them to join him, we’ll be sitting ducks, one pack cornered by a slew of others.
“From what I hear,” Katie says, “things are tense even in the inner circle.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Simon’s mom said that some of the upper-ranked wolves were pissed Jasper had run off right when they needed him to fortify our position with the packs. Some are saying Jericho has lost control of the pack. And now the beta’s daughter has jumped ship. I bet Jasper is going through it at home.”
“Yeah,” I say, wishing I could do more for him, be there for him somehow. It seems our plans of trying to mind-link again are on the back burner until Jasper is able to help calm things down in the packhouse.
Katie eyes me and must spot my furrowed brow because she shrugs and immediately changes the subject.
“Soooooo, I know everything here is a bit of a mess but I’m dying to know…” She puffs out her cheeks and leans across the arm of her chair. “How was youralonetime with Jasper?”
I roll my eyes but can’t help smiling, even in the face of all this turmoil. “It was…pretty amazing. Right up until it wasn’t.”
“And did you…you know?”
“Katie! A gentlewolf doesn’t kiss and tell.”
She squeals and almost jumps to her feet. “You did! Ah! Oh my moon gods. You did it!”
My head lolls about on my shoulders as my cheeks heat up super fast.
“You did it with the alpha’s son!” she continues. “How was it?”
I take a breath and lean back in my chair, my eyes drifting across the treetops on the horizon.
“I—I couldn’t have imagined it any other way. It was—perfect.”
Katie leans even farther, until I’m worried her chair is going to tip over, and tries to give me an awkward hug.
“I’m so happy for you, Max!”
“Thanks,” I say into her hair, which has fallen all across my face, choking me with its strawberry shampoo scent.
“I can’t believe how grown-up we are,” she says as she falls back into her seat.
“Me neither.” I grab my drink and take a long sip.
“And how do you feel now?” she asks, her eyes glinting.
“Well…” It’s such a loaded question. HowdoI feel? Like things with Jasper and me have reached a whole new level? That we’ve never been this close? But that we still haven’t managed to mind-link and I’m scared we never will? And scared of what it means if we don’t? That things were perfect while we were away in the desert by ourselves but now that we’re back things are exactly the same as they were before? That all this pack drama is a big wedge between us and now there’s the Omar situation which I can already tell we’re not on the same page about? That I’m terrified we were living in some escapist fantasy and that things could never be as good in the real world?
“Max?” Katie asks, and I realize I’ve taken about a decade to answer her.
“I think we just need to talk,” I say. “And…”
“Come on, I know you’re holding something back.”
