Page 53

“Hey. I’m sorry Lennon, I’m gonna have to cancel our plans for this evening.” A silence came from the other end of the phone that lasted way longer than normal. “Lennon, did you hear me?”

“Yes… right, okay. Yes.”

Kodi pushed a hand to his stomach at the churning sensation. “It’s a family thing. Dad has asked us all to come home. If it was anything else, I’d say no,” he explained in a rush, getting the odd sense something was wrong with Lennon but unsure what it was. It wasn’t like this was the first time he’d had to cancel plans. Was that what the problem was?

“It’s fine.”

It didn’t sound like it. “We can switch to tomorrow, if you don’t have any plans?”

“Yes.”

Yes, they can switch or yes, he had plans? Lennon wasn’t usually this vague.

Have I done something wrong?

He wasn’t like this yesterday.

Then what’s changed?

A lot. His wolf had the audacity to laugh at his cryptic answer.

“Sorry I have to go, I’m… I’m meeting with… Hollis.”

“Fine, so I’ll come to yours to cook tomorrow?” Kodi was met with the sound of the dial tone. He put the phone down and stared at it for a full minute before he got up and walked out of his office.

He didn’t use the elevator because his brain was running around like he’d had a hit of ecstasy, making it impossible to stay still and wait. He was sweating buckets. He arrived at Lennon’s office three minutes later to find it empty. He came out and stared down the corridor at Hollis’s closed door. He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets at the urge to barge into Hollis’s office and demand answers.

First all this crap with Laken, now Lennon was acting weird. Was the universe fucking with him?

“Kodi, I was just coming, am I late?” Wilder rushed towards him, clutching several files, tucking a stray curl behind his ear.

“No.” He cursed under his breath, recalling the meeting he had planned with Silas and Wilder. He’d forgotten about it in his haste to see what was up with Lennon. Kodi didn’t need Lennon for this meeting. Now he wished he’d not chosen to tell him to get on with sorting through the information Jupiter needed instead.

Seeing no way out, he walked with Wilder to the elevator and went back to his office. He had to pinch his leg several times throughout the meeting when Silas kept raising a brow when he didn’t answer his questions.

By the end of the meeting, he wasn’t sure how productive they’d been. Silas hung back after Wilder left, and Kodi lounged back in his seat, knowing what was coming.

Silas levelled an assessing stare at him. “Are you worried about why we’ve been summonsed home this evening?”

He lied, flicking a finger over his itchy eyebrow. “Yeah.” He wasn’t sure Laken wanted him saying anything beforehand. Silas would want to seek Laken out, and Kodi knew that might result in someone overhearing what Laken had worked so hard to keep secret from everyone for years.

“Did you notice Laken never commented?”

“I didn’t.” It wasn’t a lie, Kodi hadn’t, but then he’d also never expected him to either. Kodi gave a noncommittal shrug. “Laken’s been distracted, but then haven’t we all with the amount of work we have to contend with.”

“Is that what’s wrong with you?” Silas held his stare in a way Kodi found hard to look away from, but having distracted Silas, Kodi now endured his attention.

The ‘yes’ was on the tip of his tongue, and it burned. “Some, yes,” he hedged instead.

“And what else is up?” Silas persisted. The stubborn set of his jaw suggesting he wasn’t about to leave it alone.

“Lennon, he’s not himself. Have you noticed anything?” He went with vague, holding back the level of concern he had.

“Not sure what you mean?” Silas wore a thoughtful expression. “He seems like he always does to me.” Silas tapped on his lips. “Have you done something to piss him off… again?”

“No.” The strident response got an arched look. “Not this time.” He didn’t think so.

“Have you asked him?”