My throat felt like someone had gone at it with a fist
Frank squeezed my shoulder once then went on his way.
“What’d she die of?” Matt asked as I got up.
I pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. Even though I didn’t want to discuss my mother with anyone, I also didn’t want them to get their information from other places. “Ovarian cancer.”
“Is that why you’re so bitter?” Lucas asked.
Matt and Liam both shot him a look.
Lucas raised his palms in the air. “I was just wondering if she was biting off our heads because she couldn’t stand the look of them, or if her behavior was out of the ordinary. Am I not allowed to ask?”
“Damn. And here I thought I’d been coming across as charming.” I smiled. “I should probably work on my social skills.” My phone vibrated in my back pocket. I fished it out, but when I saw the number on the screen, I rejected the call and shoved it back inside my pocket. “So, paintball?” I asked, my heart loping around my chest.
If only I could’ve quieted it with a press of a button, too.
A SMALL BUS was waiting outside the inn, already crammed with animated pack members. Sucking in a breath, I climbed on, Everest close behind. I slid into the first row so I didn’t have to ford through the entire bus. Everest dropped down next to me.
I caught sight of August across the aisle. He seemed intent on deciphering the slogan in bold block letters on the driver’s cap.
Everest bent toward me and dropped his voice to a low whisper, “He broke up with Sienna last night.”
That explained the surly curve of August’s mouth.
“How long were they dating?” I murmured back.
“A couple months. Wouldn’t know why he ended things, would you?”
“Me?” I frowned. “Why would I know anything?”
Everest gave me a come-onlook.
“I didn’t even know her…”
He narrowed his eyes so much they looked about to collide against the bridge of his nose.
“What?”
“Dimples?” he whispered.
“You think it’s because of me?”
Everest shrugged. “Maybe they were having trouble before he called you his favorite girl.”
I jabbed my elbow into his ribs because he’d said that way too loudly. So loudly that August glanced my way. I highly doubted he’d broken up with his girlfriend over me. Everest was giving me way more importance than I had.
The bus door closed after Liam, Lucas, and Matt walked on. Matt slid in next to August, while Liam and Lucas sat behind me. I sank a little lower in my seat. I heard Matt ask August how he was holding up.
August grunted. “Fine.”
“How was the meeting?” Everest asked.
As the bus pulled out of the inn’s driveway and rolled west, I told him about the first trial and the rule-the one that only applied to me. And then I told him about the last trial. And his eyes went as wide as his mouth.
“You can’t win a physical fight,” he whispered.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” He was probably right, though.
Lucas leaned forward, his greasy black hair flopping in my peripheral vision. I half expected him to mention the trials. He didn’t. “I was remembering the last time I saw you in your wolf form. You were this scrawny ball of white fur.”
The bus went over a pothole, and my breasts jiggled. I folded my arms to block them in place. “You sure you didn’t mistake me for a kitten?”
He smirked. “I know the difference between a cat and a wolf. Both have claws, but only one bites.”
My phone vibrated in my lap. I could tell Everest had recognized the number from the stiffening of his body. I flipped the phone over.
“Who you avoiding? An ex?” Lucas inquired.
“Exactly.”
“Got many exes back in… Where was it you lived again?”
Matt filled in for him, “Los Angeles.”
“Got many exes back in L. A.?” Lucas asked.
“Maybe.”
“You know, Ness, the elders didn’t state this rule, probably ’cause there hasn’t been any girls in the pack for over a century, but there’s no dating among the pack. We don’t shit where we eat, if you get the gist.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “In what screwed up world do you think I’d be interested in dating anyof you?”
He tipped his long chin toward Everest. “You and your cousin look awfully chummy.”
Shock rushed through me that he would think I would screw my own cousin.
Everest spun and smashed his fist into Lucas’s simpering grin, which had Lucas shooting to his feet.
Liam grabbed a fistful of his friend’s t-shirt and yanked him back into his seat. “Enough!” His eyes gleamed dangerously. He probably didn’t want his little friend to be kicked out of the running for Alpha for being uncivil
“You punch like a girl, Everest,” Lucas muttered under his breath.
“Stop being a dick, Lucas.” August’s retort rumbled like thunder.
The bus had gone extremely quiet, so quiet I could hear Everest’s leaden breaths. I wound my fingers around his wrist, but he ripped his hand away, then sulked the rest of the trip to the paintball arena.
Lucas didn’t try talking to us again, but he did talk. To Liam. Told him about the explosive orgasm he’d given Taryn that morning, which had me wrinkling my nose. And then he asked Liam if they were still on for tonight, ’cause Tamara was extremelyeager to see Liam.