Ravensong (Green Creek 2)

A large brown wolf was weaving through the cars. His shoulders were as tall as the hood of Ox’s truck, ears twitching on top of his massive head. His paws left prints in the dirt that were bigger than my hand. His gaze darted around the pack gathered before him before it landed on me. It stuttered and stuck before it fell away.

I turned back toward the woods.

There came the shift of bone and muscle behind me.

“You think I’d be used to seeing werewolves who turn into naked people by now,” Rico said. “But that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“You can be one of those naked people,” Robbie said. “Just let Ox or Joe turn you and you can show your junk outside like everyone else.”

“Please don’t give him any ideas,” Chris said, sounding horrified. “There are certain things that no one should see.”

“Don’t be racist. And besides, we grew up together. You’ve seen me naked hundreds of times. We all jerked off together when we were twelve!”

Joe and Ox turned slowly to look at me.

I glared back at them. “I had nothing to do with that. If anything, it’s Ox’s fault for bringing them into the fold to begin with.”

“Why did you have to tell everyone?” Chris demanded.

“Oh, please,” Rico said. “We’re in a pack of werewolves who we can sometimes hear in our heads. We don’t have boundaries anymore.”

“Why does he still think we’re mind readers?” Kelly whispered.

“I don’t know,” Carter said. “But don’t remind him we’re not. I like learning things that will scar me for life.”

“I’ve never jerked off with them,” Tanner said.

“You were sick that day,” Rico told him. “Otherwise we would have asked you too.”

Ox and Joe had offered to turn the humans in the pack. Jessie had refused outright, saying she didn’t want it. Chris had followed her shortly after, and whether or not it had to do with his sister, I didn’t know. Tanner was more reticent, and out of all the humans, I thought he’d be the one most likely to agree to be turned. But he never did anything without knowing everything he could about it, and I thought it was only a matter of time before he asked Ox to bite him.

Rico, on the other hand, didn’t seem to give two shits one way or another. He’d made Ox and Joe promise to turn him if it was a life-or-death situation, but he seemed to be okay being who he was.

I was relieved. The idea of any of them being able to pop claws gave me anxiety.

“Got here as quick as I could,” a low voice said. “We know what it is yet?”

“Appears to be an Omega,” Elizabeth said.

“Another one? That’s the third this month.”

“Curious, isn’t it? I left you a pair of pants just inside. Kelly, could you grab them?”

I heard the screen door open, and I tried desperately to focus on the approaching Omega. There was no need for me to glance over my shoulder to get an eyeful of—

Joe bumped my shoulder again.

I turned to look at him.

He grinned.

“Shut up,” I muttered.

Before he could respond, Mark Bennett came to stand beside me.

His hair was shaved close to the scalp, the barest hint of stubble. His beard was as full as it’d ever been, finely trimmed and lighter than the deep, dark brown of his wolf. His eyes were that ice blue they’d always been, cold and searching. He wore a pair of loose jeans hanging dangerously off his hips but thankfully zipped up and buttoned. He was shirtless, hair covering his bulky chest and flat stomach. His skin was hot as his arm brushed against mine—an aftereffect of a recent shift.

“Gordo,” he said, sounding faintly amused as he always did when he said my name.