When the driver pulled up to the curb, I yanked the rear door open and jumped inside. “Thanks,” I murmured, rubbing my arms in an attempt to warm up more quickly.
“No worries.” After a quick glance in the rearview mirror, he turned up the heat, and said, “It’s cold out there.”
“Yup.” I nodded as I buckled my seat belt. “I’m lucky you were available. Walking back to campus in this would’ve been awful.”
“Yeah, I think you’re going to be my last trip tonight since it’s starting to really come down, and the plows haven’t done a pass yet.”
2
Zeke
Kicking back in my leather recliner, I grabbed the remote to turn on the football game. With a plate full of chicken wings, a bag of chips, and a cold bottle of beer waiting for me on the table at my side, I was looking forward to a night all to myself without any responsibilities. My week had been jam-packed, and my plans for a chill weekend had been blown out of the water yesterday morning when my mom had called to ask me to come over and help move her living room furniture. It’d turned into a full day of rearranging almost every room in her house, followed by the feast she’d made to thank me for all my help. While we were eating, she’d mentioned that she wanted to go to the farmers’ market one town over this morning, so I offered to take her and ended up spending almost five hours running errands.
Now that I was finally back home and nobody needed me for anything, I was ready for some alone time. I normally preferred to spend most of my time surrounded by family and friends, but every once in a while, I needed to recharge on my own. Unfortunately, my solitude only lasted for about five minutes before Kace flung open my front door, stomped through my living room, and dropped down on my couch.
“I need you to head over to Stewart and talk to the owner of the liquor distributor we use for Howler’s.” He tossed a sheet of paper in my direction, and I reached out to snag it from the air. Glancing down, I wrinkled my brow when I scanned the list of alcohol bottles with check marks next to way too few of the items.
“They fucked up almost half of our order yesterday, and I’m tired of this shit. A phone call isn’t going to cut it this time. They need to understand there are repercussions beyond losing our business for pulling this kind of shit.”
“Fuck,” I groaned, running my fingers through my hair. What Kace was asking should’ve been an easy yes for me. Stewart was only two towns over, and I was always up for knocking some heads together when warranted—plus, there was the fact that I was a wolf shifter, and he was my alpha. But I’d been looking forward to my low-key night, and I had the worst luck whenever I had to run an errand there. “Can’t Tane do it instead?”
“You got a problem with the shit I tell you to do?” he rumbled, his dark eyes flashing with more than a hint of his power.
“Dude. You know me better than that.” I tilted my head to the side, just enough to show him my throat as a gesture of submission. “I’m a part of your pack not just because I was born into it. You’re my alpha because I respect you and can’t see myself willingly following anyone else’s lead.”
He sighed and dropped his head to stare at his lap for a minute. After he took a few deep breaths, he met my gaze again as the tension between us disappeared. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I do know you better than that, which is why you’re my second in command.”
Many alphas didn’t bother to apologize, and Kace’s choice to admit when he was wrong was one of the reasons he had my respect. But I’d noticed he’d been doing it more often than usual over the past few months. “Is there a reason you’ve been so damn grouchy lately?”
“I’m not sure what’s causing it, but my wolf has been on a shorter leash. I noticed it in September, but I think it started before then,” he admitted, shaking his head. “I haven’t been able to figure out why he’s so damn edgy.”
“Maybe you should go for a run,” I suggested. Sometimes the wolf side of our nature needed to work off his excess energy just as much as the human did, especially for those of us who hadn’t found our mates. The female fate intended for us was the only thing that could truly soothe the beast inside our skin, but neither of us had found ours yet.
Kace considered my advice before he nodded. “That’s a good idea. Things have been crazy around here lately, and I haven’t had the chance to go on a run since the last full moon.”