“She tried to commit suicide. I’m taking part in a competition. Besides-”
“A competition no one wants you to compete in! No one. And I’m not talking about Lucy and me. I’m talking about the whole”-his voice dropped to a hiss-“pack.”
His comment hurt. “I’m out of the running anyway,” I mumbled. “And for your information, the whole packjust invited me to go out with them tonight.”
He drew his shoulders back until they formed a perfect T. “I thought you wanted nothing to do with them. I thought you weren’t looking to fit in.”
Outside, a car honked, and then Amanda waved from the passenger window of a silver Dodge sedan.
“I thought so too, but I’m trying to make the most of my time here. But don’t worry. I’ll be out of your hair soon.”
What I’d wished for the most had finally come true, except leaving wasn’t what I wanted most anymore.
Matt honked again.
“I’ll see you later,” I said.
Jeb pinched his lips together. Either he was all out of unsolicited advice or he’d understood giving me any was useless.
I pushed through the revolving doors, the deep-blue night air slapping my warm cheeks, then pulled open the back door of the Dodge. Someone was already sitting in the backseat.
Sienna. Her fingers worked the hem of her baby-doll top, rolling it over and over.
“Hi,” I said.
Keeping her gaze cemented to her hand, she murmured, “Hey.”
I wasn’t certain why, but I felt guilty all of a sudden. As though entering the Alpha contest had prompted August to leave-which wasn’t true. He’d left because he’d needed to get away. It had nothing to do with me.
Matt spun around and gave me a wolfish grin. “Little Wolf’s in the house!”
I smirked at the nickname. “Should you be driving?”
“I’m a righty.” He wiggled the fingers of his good hand. “Thank goodness for Amanda.”
Amanda flicked his big arm and tittered.
I didn’t catch the correlation between his fingers and his girlfriend, until Sienna said, “TMI, guys.”
Oh. “Eww.” I wrinkled my nose.
A soft smile settled on Sienna’s face.
Matt belted out a laugh that was as large as his ribcage, then spun the dial of his stereo until a rap song shook the car. And then he revved up his engine and took off, headlights zipping over the darkened landscape as fast as laser beams.
“You might want to put your seatbelt on,” Sienna yelped, strapping herself in. I think she added, “Not that you can die from a car crash,” but the music was so loud and her voice so soft I wasn’t sure.
Couldn’t I, though?
Werewolves were stronger than normal humans, but they weren’t immortal. If Heath could drown in a pool, couldn’t I die from a car crash? Couldn’t August perish from a detonating grenade? I filed the question away for later
I would ask Everest.
After yelling at him for ditching me, I would ask him.
The pack along with two bartenders and a couple grizzly-faced beer drinkers made up the small crowd at Tracy’s.
As I walked inside, I started regretting coming along. Wherever my enthusiasm to hang out with the pack had stemmed from, the second I crossed the threshold, it shrunk like the Colorado River during hot, dry months.
I straightened my spine and raised my chin. I was here now. Might as well make the most of it. Besides, I was leaving, so it wasn’t like they’d have to endure me much longer.
Several gazes raked over me as I trailed behind Amanda and Matt. Even though I was mad at Everest, I desperately sought him out, but encountered Taryn’s narrowed blue gaze instead. She elbowed Lucas, who leaned on his cue stick as he turned toward me. On the other side of the felt table, Liam was lining up his pool tip to the cue ball. He was so concentrated on making the shot that a deep wrinkle plowed the spot between his eyebrows. Next to him stood Cole, and next to him, Tamara.
Whereas Tamara looked at me as though I were a leper come to contaminate her, Cole sent me a smile.
“You got Ness to emerge from her lair.” Cole pumped his fist against his brother’s uninjured one.
“Can’t take credit for that. It was all Amanda’s doing.” Matt draped his arm around his girlfriend. “Everyone knows you can’t say no to my girl.” He craned his neck to look at me. “I tried when she pursued me. She was relentless.”
“Poor baby.” She pouted up at him. “You’re such a victim.”
He laughed and kissed her temple, then tightened his grip. “A real content victim,” he purred into her ear.
“They’re annoyingly cute those two,” Sienna said, her tone slipper-soft. There was no jealousy in her voice, though, just genuine affection.
“When did you move to Boulder?” I asked her.
“In my junior year of high school.”
“Where from?”
“Tucson.”
“You like it here?”
She shrugged a freckled shoulder.
“First round’s on me.” Matt made a beeline for the bar that was decorated with sticky ring marks.
The hygiene freak within me cringed. How hard was it to wipe down a bar?
“Name your poison, Little Wolf.”
That nickname. I shook my head. “Sam Adams.”
“Coming right up.”
I was tempted to follow him to the bar, feeling strange just standing here next to the pool table, especially after Sienna and Amanda had flocked over to Taryn and Tamara. I watched Liam finally hit his shot-miss it, to be exact. The tip of his stick skidded right off the cue ball, which spun on itself without making contact with any other ball.