I sat up, knocking the two wolves off me. “Moved on?”
Kelly and Carter exchanged another one of their looks. “With Robbie,” Carter said slowly.
“There is nothing between me and Robbie. Sure, I mean, he kissed me—oh for fuck’s sake, stop growling. I told him no, okay? And he understands. It’s not like that between us. It won’t ever be. For me.”
“Because of Joe,” Carter said, far too smug.
I said, “Not because of Joe,” and they both grinned when they heard the lie.
“You need to fix this,” Carter said.
“You need to go fuck yourself,” I said.
Kelly squinted at me. “Does being an Alpha automatically make you a douchebag? Because between you and Joe—”
I punched him in the shoulder. Hard.
He laughed at me and pushed me back down so he could lie on me again. I didn’t fight it. I didn’t want to fight it.
Carter moved closer so his head was in the crook of my arm.
It didn’t feel like giving up. It felt green. The both of them.
I didn’t know what to do about Joe.
I said, “It’s not just him.”
They waited.
I tried to find the right words. “Robbie. It’s all of them. It’s the pack. They’re my tether.”
Silence.
Then Carter said, “Like it was for Dad.”
“That’s how it always was for him,” Kelly said. “Always pack.”
I touched their arms. Their shoulders. Their necks. Their faces. They leaned into the touch and all I thought was pack pack pack.
As the sun began to set, I asked, “Do you really think he knew?”
“Who?”
“Your dad. About me.”
“Yeah, Ox. We think he knew. I think maybe we all did.”
THEY DROPPED me back off at the shop.
Gordo was the only one still there.
It was strange seeing him sitting behind his desk again.
He said, “It was their idea.”
I snorted and leaned against the doorframe. “Throwing them under the bus?”
He shrugged. “They’ll survive.”