NathanLeah offered to arrange a family dinner when we arrived back in Grey Ridge to celebrate our mating, but it didn’t feel right. The pack is reeling from discovering Kim and Beth were the traitors that allowed Toby to go free and almost got Leah and the wolf guarding him killed. Beth was always in and out of trouble, and we knew she was hanging out with Leon Lennox’s crew, so she was always a suspect, but Kim was always so good. Model employee, nice to everyone, nothing that would hint she would fall for our prisoner and betray us all.My role in her unhappiness weighs heavily on me.I had always assumed that because Kim said nothing, she was happy with us just being friends with occasional benefits. It’s made me rethink my harmless bachelor lifestyle and wonder about the careless way I conducted myself previously. I have some apologies to make once the dust settles.Everyone’s thoughts are on Carla now. Did she run away because she thought she was going to get the blame for her s
MayaNathan’s been gone for a week on business in the hope he won’t have to travel again for a month. To keep myself distracted, I’ve thrown myself into getting up to speed on the pack businesses. Unofficially, I’ve stepped into Kim’s role, which feels weird and right at the same time. Hayley’s friend Sam, who she used to work with before but is now mated to a local shifter, is going to come and give a dig out too. With Leah dipping in and out where she can and Rex filling in for some of Cooper’s alpha duties, it’s manageable in the short term.Just about.The whispers and gossip about what Kim may or may not have been up to have died down. People are no longer expecting another attack and for the first time since I arrived, the atmosphere feels lighter and the mood better. For everyone, that is except me. I’ve never felt anxiety like it and I know now that we’ll never spend so long apart again. Rex had warned Nathan when he suggested that an entire week was too long to be away when y
Nathan “No. Absolutely no way.” I look to Maya for support but she looks away, hands up in front of herself to distance herself from me. Clearly, I’m on my own. My mate is abandoning me, edging toward the door slowly. She’ll pay for this later. “It’s only for an hour. I’m desperate, Nathan. You have to help me.” Cooper looks it. His hair is a mess, and he has dark bags under his bloodshot eyes. Stepping forward, he holds a bundle in his outstretched arms. I shrink back, terrified to accept it. He’s so tiny. But when Cooper moves near and I get a glimpse of tiny fingers gripping the edge of a soft blue blanket, my heart melts a little and some of my panic ebbs away. “What if I break him?” Cooper gazes adoringly at the newest member of the Jones clan and future alpha, that is if he wants the job, of the Grey Ridge pack. Such responsibility is on such teeny shoulders. “You won’t. You’ll be a natural.” While I stare at him with curiosity, Cooper takes advantage of my moment of weak
Maya “Where did he disappear to?” I scan the garden party sprawled across the lawn of the packhouse for my mate’s broad frame. His messy chestnut curls and booming laugh are usually easy to find even in a crowd. Everyone is here to welcome the new arrivals to the pack, and the atmosphere is jovial. Normally, Nathan would be in the middle of all of this, in his element. Especially since there was a cloud hanging over the pack for so long, but no more. Since then, they celebrate everything. “Do you really need to ask?” Leila laughs as she bounces her beautiful, dark-haired baby boy on her knee. Surely not? Not today. Sighing, I get up from my chair and head toward the back doors into the packhouse. Hayley and Cooper stand chatting to Rex and Leah, wide grins on their faces. Hayley clutches the baby monitor in one hand as she leans back against Cooper’s chest, a content smile on her face. Cooper rubs one hand up her arm, the other resting possessively on her hip as he speaks to his b
NathanThis was a terrible idea. The worst.Whatever is driving my wolf crazy hasn’t been helped at all by the vigorous workout I enjoyed last night with the delightful Faye. A peppy little blonde with an eagerness to please and no expectations. She’s a fun bedtime companion when I want to blow off some steam. Normally.Last night, though, my wolf didn’t want to be anywhere near her. Every time she touched me, he recoiled, refusing to take part because she wasn’t my mate. For years, we’ve had a mutual agreement that finding our mate wasn’t the be all and end all, and that we’d live our life to the fullest.It appears he’s had a change of heart.Try as I might, I couldn’t muster the enthusiasm for doing the deed itself, and so I resorted to doing what any self-respecting alpha wolf would do. I lied and said I wanted to make last night all about her.Except now, that has backfired spectacularly because this little she-wolf that I lavished with attention now seems to think something has
Nathan “What do you mean, she said nothing about me?” Frustration gnaws at my insides as Leila rummages through the open fridge, pulling out leftovers and stacking them up on the counter. My fingers itch to shut the door and shake her until she tells me every word that my mate said from the moment they went into Leila’s old apartment to the second she left. Breathing deeply, I try to stay calm. Leila is with her fated mate, but their relationship didn’t start with a picture-perfect first meeting either, so I have to believe she isn’t tormenting me on purpose. She’s not that mean. Most of the time. But she is annoying me by making me wait. “Also, you don’t live here anymore. Technically, this is stealing.” I shouldn’t comment, and I regret it the instant the petty words pass my lips. Her bump is getting more noticeable, as is her irritability. She is potentially carrying a bear cub, after all. Its natural grumpiness is probably rubbing off on her from the inside out. Leila leans b
NathanCan I help you?I blink down at her, stunned into silence. That wasn’t what I expected. Maybe for her to slam the door in my face. For her to give me a filthy look and a hard time.Not this.“I… I’m Leila’s brother, Nathan. Can I come in?”Through the tiny gap in the door, I can only see half of her face and a curtain of shiny black hair. I need to see her properly. Up close, the urge to reach out and touch her, to cup her face is overwhelming. The door between is making me angry. I want to be closer to her.After dragging her dark pink bottom lip through her teeth as she ponders whether to let me, her mate, into her new apartment in my pack house, she gives me a minuscule nod and steps back. Pressing her back to the wall, she gestures for me to move past her, down the narrow hallway, and into the living room.It takes every bit of willpower I possess to keep moving. Forcing my feet to keep walking before I do something reckless, I take in the few personal items that she’s unpa
Maya“Dean, stop. I’m not coming home.” Raising my eyes to heaven, I’m glad my brother isn’t here right now, or I’d strangle him.“I don’t know how I let you and Hayley talk me into this. There’s too much going on over there. I don’t want you getting caught in the middle of it all.”I can hear his footfalls as he paces the floors of our old packhouse. In my mind, I picture him with his hand on the back of his neck, wearing a track on the hardwood as he gets more and more worked up.“Dean. The alpha’s sister can’t be the first person to leave the pack and then come running home a day later. I’m safe. The boys have arrived and are going to be sleeping in the packhouse, too. Nothing is going to happen.”The first exchange between the packs was only supposed to be one person, but as soon as we decided I was going, Dean suddenly expanded the numbers. Conveniently, some of our elite warriors volunteered to come. My brother has almost certainly bribed or threatened them into it.“Maya, I…”