“Yes,” he said in that calm voice that was driving me up the fucking wall. “Almost more than anyone.”
“Then you need to trust me when I say to back off. That’s not open for discussion.”
He watched me.
I struggled not to fidget.
Eventually he nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
He shrugged. “Okay. Mark thinks Michelle knows more than what she’s saying.”
I struggled to keep up with the conversational whiplash. “I don’t—I thought that much was obvious. She’s playing games. It’s political. She still doesn’t know what to make of you. She doesn’t like what she doesn’t understand.”
“Does anybody?”
“I don’t understand you, but I like you just fine.”
“She wants Joe.”
And that didn’t sit right. “What did she say after you kicked us out of here?”
“Same old, same old. That she’s supposed to be temporary. That Joe needs to assume his rightful place. That the wolves are getting restless. They need him, she says. Everyone needs him to be who he’s supposed to be.”
“And Joe?”
Ox grinned, and I was reminded of the first time I’d met him when his daddy had brought him to the garage and I’d bent down to eye level, asking him if he’d wanted a pop from the machine. The smile he gave then was almost the same as the one now. He was pleased. “Appealed to her ego. Told her he thought she was doing a fine job and that he’d step in when he thought it was time.”
“And that worked?”
“Alphas need constant validation, apparently. Though she didn’t need much convincing.”
“Yeah. I can see that. You’re all a bunch of needy bitches.”
“Fuck off, Gordo.”
“You’re doing a good job, though.”
“Thank you. It’s nice of you to—oh, you asshole.”
I laughed at him. It felt good. It usually did when he was near. Joe might have been the Alpha I turned to, but Ox was the tether that kept me whole.
“She’s sending him again,” Ox said finally.
“Pappas.”
“For the girl.”
“It’s the right thing to do.”
He was looking at me, but he wasn’t seeing me. “Is it? Because I wonder.”
“Ask him, then. When he gets here.”
“He’ll tell me what he thinks I want to hear. What Michelle will tell him to say.”
I smiled. “Then find a way to make him break.”