“Yeah,” Seth said quickly. Then, more honestly, “Just feels a little like I accidentally wandered into a family reunion where everyone can probably smell fear.”
I snorted. “To be fair, they probably can.”
His eyes widened.
I grinned. “Kidding.”
Seth narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Then someone yelled my name across the clearing.
“Dane!”
Mark was already heading toward us with Zack beside him and the world’s most smug expression plastered across his face.
“Oh my God,” I muttered. “Here’s our first hurdle.”
Seth made a choking sound beside me, then subtly straightened next to me, shoulders pulling back slightly like he suddenly remembered exactly why I’d brought him here.
“Is that one of your brothers?” he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
“Unfortunately,” I whispered back. “And now he smells fresh gossip.”
Mark stuck out a hand toward Seth, smiling. “You must be Seth.”
Seth shook it carefully. “Uh. Hi.”
“I’m Mark. Dane’s better-looking brother,” Mark said.
“That’s objectively false,” I said.
“Debatable.”
Zack stepped in smoothly before we could start bickering. “Ignore my mate. He gets worse in groups.”
“Noted,” Seth said, visibly relaxing a little.
That lasted all of thirty seconds, because then Chris appeared, along with Jaime and Pampi. The tiny dog spotted Seth and immediately lost her mind.
“Well,” Jaime said as Pampi squirmed violently in Chris’s arms trying to reach Seth, “congratulations. She’s chosen you.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Seth admitted.
“It means you belong to her now,” Chris said.
“That tracks,” Seth said as Pampi finally got transferred into his arms and immediately started licking his chin.
I watched Seth laugh. It was a real laugh this time, head tipping back slightly. Something warm settled low in my chest. Things only got more chaotic from there.
Levi and Mason soon introduced themselves, as well other curious pack members. An older pack aunt shoved a plate into Seth’s hands before he could protest.
“You’re too skinny,” she informed him.
“I work at a coffee shop,” Seth said helplessly.
“That’s not food, you should eat more. We have plenty,” she said.
“I will,” Seth agreed.
Another wolf demanded Seth settle an argument about whether tomatoes belonged in pasta salad.
