The Challenge (The Pack 2)

“Okay, then, why am I in bed and not at school?”

“Your Dad thought it might be a good day to play hooky since you were up so late last night,” Dom answered, cutting his eyes toward me as he literally hogged almost every square inch of my bed.

“Dad? My Dad? Decided it was okay for me to play hooky after losing Monster.”

“You didn’t lose him,” Dom chided and I tensed. “You didn’t. Your Dad said so. I say so. Trent said so.” I crinkled my nose, not quite ready to let the guilt go. “Anyway, don’t you have a party to get ready for?” His question was an obvious bid to change the subject and it worked.

I groaned, staring up at the ceiling and wondering if I could pretend to be sick. “That’s tonight,” I said flatly.

“Yup.”

“Frick.”

He chuckled, shifting so he faced me and using a finger to turn my head to look at him. “It’s a good thing you’re doing.”

I chuckled mirthlessly. “If no one kills each other or calls the cops.”

“I think the odds are in our favor,” he said, his enigmatic smile making eyes narrow.

“What do you know that I don’t know?”

“That my dad may have been sworn in as the acting Sherriff this morning while you were being a lazy bones.”

“Okay, I object to being called a lazy bones and what the hell?” My question ended on a shriek and at Dom’s hasty glance at the door, I realized his visit was completely unauthorized. “Also, are you trying to get on my Dad’s bad side?” I dropped my voice to an almost intelligible hiss but he heard me. He placed a fast kiss against my lips before rolling off the bed right as the door swung open.

Dad stood there, glaring suspiciously around the room. “Who were you talking to?”

“No one,” I managed, fighting not to look at the side of the bed where Dom laid.

“I heard you shout, Bunny,” Dad informed me.

“Yes,” I agreed to his surprise. “You did because I saw what time it is and how late I am.”

“Oh,” he replied, relaxing slightly at my explanation and I ignored the twinge of guilt at how easily I lied to him. “I turned your alarm off.” I barely repressed saying, “I know,” and giving myself away as I nodded and tried to look surprised. “I figured you deserved a break. You’ve been a trooper through all of this, especially with your brother.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I said, swallowing back choking amounts of guilt as I ignored the presence of my boyfriend…mate?…hiding next to my bed. “I appreciate it.”

“I’m making pancakes with chocolate chips,” he offered, hovering next to the door as he made to leave.

“Because they look like cookies?” I added, smiling and he nodded sheepishly.

“It seemed healthier than feeding him cookies for breakfast.”

“Pro parenting tip right there, Dad,” I teased him. “I’ll join you in a minute.”

I waited until the door shut before rolling to the side of the bed and looking over the edge. Dom was squashed half under the bed, his legs drawn up comically as he attempted to fit in a space two sizes too small for him. I pressed my lips together, fighting a smile and he sighed.

“Go ahead and laugh.”

I did, pressing my face into the pillow to muffle the sound of my laughter and swiping away tears as he straightened to his full height.

“I should go. You have pancakes to eat.”

“You could always go around and knock,” I offered and he considered it for a moment before shaking his head.

“Too suspicious.” He gestured to the window. “I wanted to take a walk in the woods anyway.” The way he said it made me think it was more than an early morning stroll.

“Why?” I asked curiously as I sat cross legged on the bed.

“Your brother’s scent was all over the woods last night.” My forehead wrinkled as I tried to figure out what he meant. “More than if he’d just wandered off,” Dom clarified meaningfully.

“He’s been in the woods before?”

“Yeah, multiple times.”

“But why? How?”

“His scent was mingled with another.”

“Someone was walking around the woods with him?”

“Yeah, female.”

“Wren?” I cried in disbelief and he gestured for me to keep my voice down. “Sorry. Wren?” I whispered more quietly but no less disbelief. “You think she’s been taking him walking in the woods?”

“I can’t be sure without checking her scent, but if she’s the one taking care of him….I don’t know who else it might be.”

“But why would she take him out there?”

“I don’t know, but the trails we found,” Dom paused, squatting until he was eye level with me. “Not a single one crossed a path created by the patrols.”

My lips parted as his meaning sank in. “She’s avoiding them.”

He nodded, his expression serious. “We would have found him a lot sooner if his scent hadn’t been everywhere. It could explain why he was comfortable wandering into the woods at night by himself.”