Zane follows my line of sight, then hums to himself. “That’s Ben.”
“I know who it is,” I mutter, facing Zane as I give him an incredulous look. “You have wolves from Wraith Peak here?”
“I do,” he says simply. “A handful, at least.”
He says it like that’s normal. Like that doesn’t shift everything I thought I knew about what he’s been doing, or the fact that enough Wraith Peak shifters have left in favor of him.
“They chose to leave,” he adds, as if he knows exactly where my thoughts are going.
I don’t respond since I don’t know what to say to that.
Chose.
The word doesn’t sit right after all I’ve been raised to believe. That wasn’t how things were supposed to work, yet they’re here, standing in his town, following his orders. I don’t know how to feel about it.
Before I can push that thought further, movement pulls my attention again. A few wolves nearby glance at me, then double-take as more recognition starts to spread quickly. With it comes tension and wary caution, and I know exactly why.
I’m a Voss, and that name alone carries enough weight here to seal my fate if I let it. It’s a good thing I don’t plan on staying long.
My jaw tightens slightly. “Your welcome committee could use some work.”
Zane doesn’t look surprised. “They’ll adjust.”
“Will they?”
“They trust me.”
I glance at him, only to find no arrogance in his features to bolster that claim. Instead, he’s just stating a fact, and that shouldn’t be as unsettling as it is.
Before I can respond, someone approaches us both fast and confidently.
“It’s about time you showed up.” That vaguely familiar voice cuts in.
I look up and pause all over again with a hard blink. “Zeke?”
He grins slightly, stopping a few feet in front of us. There’s dust and a bit of debris on his jeans, as if he just came off a worksite somewhere, which seems to track here. “I didn’t think you’d recognize me.”
“You look the same,” I say automatically, easily remembering him from back home. He had disappeared out of the blue some time ago, and I guess now I know why.
“Yeah? You don’t.”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. He was always upfront and somewhat annoying, which didn’t make him the best fit for our pack. “Good.”
Faintly amused for a moment, he wipes it away as his attention shifts to Zane. “You disappeared.”
“I had a lead,” he says casually, though that serious tone of his belies how important the situation is to him.
“You always have a lead,” Zeke mutters, but there’s no real bite behind it. “Are you going to tell me about this one?”
Zane hesitates for half a second and glances at the various people walking around nearby before he murmurs, “Later.”
“I’ll take you up on that,” Zeke returns before looking at me again with a mix of lingering caution and curiosity. “Seeing as you’re here, I imagine this is getting interesting.”
“Not now,” Zane tells him without missing a beat, making the quiet warning in his words obvious.
Zeke raises his hands in defense, unwilling to push the matter further. “Alright, alright. But we’ve had some movement while you were gone.”
That immediately removes whatever amusement was on Zane’s face. “What kind of movement?”
