“I know, dude. It’s whatever, you know? You’ll figure it out when you’re ready. Just… maybe that could be sooner rather than later? I mean, would it be so bad if you—stop growling at me, you dick! Oh, fuck you, man. Don’t take that tone with me.”
He moved his head, nosing at my arm.
I ignored him.
He pressed harder, more insistent.
I sighed. “You’re spoiled. That’s what’s wrong here. You think you’ve got it good. And you do. Maybe too good.” But I did what he wanted, resting my hand on top of his head, scratching the backs of his ears.
He closed his eyes again as he settled.
We were drifting, just the two of us. The world around us turned hazy, the edges like a dream. Hours passed by, and sometimes we dozed, and sometimes we just… were.
I said, “You can, you know?”
I said, “If you want to.”
I said, “I don’t know what happened to you.”
I said, “I don’t know where you came from or what you had to deal with.”
I said, “But you’re safe here.”
I said, “You’re safe with us. With me. We can help you. Ox… he’s a good Alpha. Joe too. They could be yours, if you wanted.”
I said, “And then maybe I could hear your voice. I mean, totally no homo, but I think it’d be… nice.”
He was shaking.
I looked at him, thinking something was wrong.
It wasn’t.
The motherfucker was laughing at me.
I shoved him off me. “Asshole.”
He rolled over on his back, legs in the air, body wiggling as he scratched himself on the ground. Then he fell to his side, mouth open in a ferocious yawn.
“Would it be so bad?” I whispered. “Shifting back? You can’t stay this way forever. You can’t lose yourself to your wolf. You’ll forget how to find your way home.”
He turned his head away from me.
I’d pushed enough for the day. I could always try again tomorrow. We had time.
I sat up, stretching my arms above my head.
His tail thumped on the ground.
“Okay, so where did we leave off last time? Oh. Right. So, Ox and Joe decided it was time for them to mate. Which, honestly, I try not to think about because that’s my little brother, you know? And if I do think about it, it makes me want to punch Ox in the mouth because that’s my little brother. But what the fuck do I know, right? So, Ox and Joe… well. You know. Bone. And it was weird and oh so gross, because I could feel it. Oh, shut up, I didn’t mean like that. I meant I could feel it when their mate bond formed. We all could. It was like this… this light. Burning in all of us. Mom said she’s never heard of a pack having two Alphas before, but it made sense that it happened with us because of how crazy we already are. Ox is… well. He’s Ox, right? Werewolf Jesus. And then he and Joe came out of the house, and I never want to smell that on my little brother ever again. It was like he’d rolled in spunk, and Kelly and I were gagging because what the fuck? We gave him so much shit for it. That… that was a good day.”
I glanced down at him.
He was watching me with violet eyes.
“And that’s how it ended. At least the first part. There’s still Mark and Gordo to—”
His tail twitched dangerously. His body tensed.