I frowned. “Did I say that out loud?”
“No.”
I sighed. “Of course not. Fucking werewolves.”
He grinned. “I know these things.”
“I know you do. At what cost, though, Mark? I’ll tell you the cost. My sanity. And my fucking privacy.”
“Should have thought of that before you became an Alpha.”
“Like I had a choice in the matter.”
His smile softened. “You had a choice, Ox. You know that as well as I do.”
“Yeah,” I said.
The waitress came over and took our orders. She smiled flirtatiously at Mark, but he just ordered a tuna melt and didn’t react.
“I’m also your second,” he said as she walked away. “The enforcer. That’s how I know these things.”
That… gave me pause. Because we’d never discussed that.
He waited.
And, really, it made sense. “Okay, then.”
“You really didn’t know that.”
“I never really thought about it.”
“You still don’t have to,” he pointed out. “It doesn’t change things.”
“Who is Joe’s—never mind. Carter.”
Mark looked pleased.
“Heartbeats?” I reminded him.
“It’s how a pack works,” he said. “How we move in sync with each other.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s your heartbeat,” Mark said. “And Joe’s. We move with you because we listen to the sound of your heart.”
“But the humans—”
“They follow our lead,” he said. “And yours. Until it becomes second nature.”
“That’s what we did with Thomas?” I asked quietly, because suddenly things made much more sense. How we’d been with him. How they were with me. How Carter, Kelly, and Gordo were with Joe.
Mark said, “Yes. You didn’t hear it. Not like we could. But you moved with us. Over time. And now we do it with you. And Joe.”
We became lost in our own thoughts then. The waitress eventually brought out our food. Mark’s foot was pressed up against mine, touching, always touching.
I looked down at my soup and said, “I’m glad we’re friends. Still. After all this time.”
He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. I think the pounding of my heart spoke for the both of us.