I couldn’t resist smiling even wider as the alpha lightly traced one finger down my bare arm. I hadn’t noticed until this morning that the slowly fading packless ache was completely gone, along with the bone-deep gnawing of my wolf, and the realization had left me feeling even lighter on my feet. And why should any pain linger when I was surrounded by two nurturing packs every day? Each evening, Keith and I headed home to eat dinner with Dale, who was his usual caring self, if completely oblivious to the werewolfery going on around him. Then we’d get up the next morning and spend the day with Wolfie’s pack, helping around the kitchen and garden, or just hanging out with wolves who were starting to feel like old friends. With the easy familiarity of youth, Keith had already become bosom buddies with Blaze, the youngest of the yahoos, and Galena and I were taking the slightly slower, adult path to the same place. Even Quetzalli and I had reached a sort of truce—I ignored her and she didn’t yank my chain … too often.
No reason to tell Wolfie all that, though, because his wolf could sense exactly how I felt. “You alphas always think it’s all about you,” I teased him, but couldn’t help adding, “I’m just happy because of your pack. It feels so good to be around werewolves again without having to put up with my father’s old-fashioned bullshit.”
“It can be your pack too,” Wolfie offered, his rampant wolf making the alpha up-front about his intentions, as usual. “There’s an empty suite next door to my room … .”
Despite my good mood, Wolfie’s overt suggestion took a bit of the bounce out of my steps. I wasn’t ready to go there yet. Yes, Wolfie’s pack seemed perfect on the outside, but I’d seen too much pack awfulness to jump right back onto that horse. Plus: “We have to figure out what we’re going to do about Keith and my father first,” I responded, the smile suddenly absent from my face. I’d been putting off thinking about that thorny issue, content to live in the moment for the last week, but I wouldn’t be surprised if my father had scouts with telephoto lenses keeping an eye on me from the surrounding hills. If I didn’t make progress soon, I might be in for another visit from cousin Milo.
“That seems simple,” Wolfie said comfortably. And to a wolf-dominated alpha, the issue of another wolf trying to take what he considered his property probably did appear simple. I could even guess at Wolfie’s solution before the words came out of his mouth. “I’ll confront the old man and he’ll leave you alone.”
“Wolfie, you don’t understand how a pack like Haven works,” I countered. “You can’t just walk in the door and challenge my father to some kind of wolf fight to the death. The Chief would send out a half dozen goons like Milo and you’d never make it off the main road.” Plus, as much as I wasn’t willing to say it out loud, the Chief was my father, and I no more wanted him to get hurt than I ever wanted to see him again. This was one of the reasons I had refrained from thinking about the metaphorical sword hanging over my head—Wolfie and I didn’t see eye to eye on the issue at all.
“Okay,” Wolfie agreed easily. “How about I mate with you and offer to merge packs? Keith can be the heir for both of us.”
That idea startled a humorless laugh out of me. My father wouldn’t dream of allying his century-old pack with Wolfie’s upstart band of misfits, never mind the fact that mating with Wolfie was twice as big of a commitment as moving in with his pack would have been. “Seriously, Wolfie? Do you know anything about my father?” I asked him, just as Keith draped himself across the archway and interrupted our conversation.
“The guys and I were thinking of heading home to check out my gaming system,” my nephew said, a wheedle in his voice. “Is that okay?”
I was glad to have the troublesome topic tabled, and I couldn’t resist wondering whether an afternoon alone with Wolfie might tempt the alpha to relax his standards and allow hands below the waist. And, personal feelings aside, Keith’s charm made the request hard to turn down, especially since I knew the yahoos would keep an eye on the kid. “Sure,” I agreed, tossing the youngster my car keys without further thought. “Just call if you need anything. And Wade drives.”
“And you practice partial shifts every time a game ends,” Wolfie added, a slight growl entering his voice to ensure that his orders, at least, would be obeyed.
“Sure thing, Uncle Wolfie,” Keith said jokingly and shot out the door before the alpha could belt him with a dish towel.
***
Chase had joined us in the kitchen to hunt down a midmorning snack when intruders came pounding on the compound door. Wolfie smelled trouble a moment before the racket began and I noticed his shoulders tensing, so I was prepared for the way his wolf took command behind the alpha’s eyes.
“Go out the back way and over the mountain to Keith,” he ordered Chase, then the alpha hit a red button on the wall that set off barely audible alarms ringing throughout the compound. In response, adult werewolves converged on the common area nearly as quickly as Wolfie and I made it out of the kitchen.