“You don’t have to be jealous. I promise. I’m just nervous. What if your parents are horrified?”
“My parents already love you like a daughter.”
“Exactly.”
“Exactly what?”
“They might find it weird that you and… . you know…”
He smiled down at me.
“You’re enjoying how nervous this is making me?”
“A little. You’re cute when you blush.”
“Puppies are cute. And I don’t blush.”
“You do. And fine, you’re drop-dead gorgeous, and I’m the luckiest bastard in the entire world.”
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to overdo it.”
“That was me stating a hard fact, Ness. You are the most beautiful girl, and I am the luckiest guy.” He leaned in and stole a kiss. “But I don’t think we’ll be able to hide this for weeks. Days, possibly.”
I nodded. “Days are good.”
He kissed me again, dragging my mouth open, deepening the kiss until the tiles beneath my feet vanished. And they really did, because he lifted me and pressed me into the warm wall. Before I could fall, I wrapped my legs around his waist and got so carried away with our make-out session that my brain turned blissfully blank.
But then a phone rang, and Cole’s voice resonated outside the door, and I landed with a thump back into the present. August set me down gently, the stiff swell tenting his towel brushing along the insides of my thighs. Dizzy with lust, I leaned back against the wall to even out my scattered heartbeats.
August bracketed my head with his palms, breathing in the air I panted out. “I might have to take another shower.” His gravelly voice intensified my lust-induced daze.
There was a knock on the door. “Guys, sorry to interrupt, but there’s been a development, so if you two don’t mind taking a little break from-”
I opened the door so fast Cole almost stumbled inside the bathroom. “What development?”
“Julian just challenged Cassandra Morgan.”
I frowned. “Challenged her to do what?”
“A potato-sack race,” Cole said, just as August whispered, “No way… ”
“Yes, way.” Cole spun his phone between his fingers. “And I was kidding about the race.”
“He challenged her for leadership of the Creeks?” I blurted out. “What did she say?”
He inhaled a long breath. “When an Alpha challenges another Alpha, Ness, there are two solutions. You either relinquish your territory and scram, or you accept to duel and hope you’ll catch the challenger on a bad day.”
“She’d have to give up Beaver Creek?” I asked.
“And the inn. And any other land that belongs to them. It’s the law of the packs… the law of the fittest.”
“That’s a ballsy move on Julian’s part,” August said.
Cole stopped twirling his phone. “He’ll either go down a legend or an imbecile, that’s for sure.”
“Do you think he’ll challenge Liam next?” I asked.
“Julian would’ve done it before now if he’d wanted our pack’s land,” August said.
“Julian was probably frightened of doing it before,” Cole said, “what with the whisperings of the pack being so evolutionary.”
“Evolutionary?” I asked.
“All-male,” Cole said. “And before you rip me a new one, I neither came up with the term, nor did I believe we were more evolved. I was simply guessing at a reason Julian never challenged Heath.”
“But what if he does challenge Liam?” I asked. “Or she… ?” Dismissing Cassandra was foolish, considering she’d already defeated an Alpha.
“If either of them challenge Liam to a duel, my guess is he’ll fight them,” Cole said.
My heart skipped into my throat and expanded there until I had so much trouble breathing that August sketched small circles on my lower back.
“We’ll be okay,” he said.
Black dots danced at the edge of my vision.
“He’ll be okay,” he added in a weighty whisper, sensing I needed reassurance that Liam’s life wasn’t in peril. August stopped circling his palm, drawing me into his side instead, and then he kissed my forehead and repeated, “He’ll be okay.”
I clutched the hand wrapped around my waist as though it were the only thing keeping me from tipping over.
“Hey, Cole,” August said, heart thudding steadily against my shoulder blade, “keep what you saw this morning to yourself.”
Cole nodded. “Course, man.” He pressed off the doorjamb. “Anyone want a muffin?”
My throat had closed up so tight that I didn’t even think coffee would go down. “I need… clothes. I need clothes. Jeb-” I whispered raucously.
“He’s home. Let me get dressed, and I’ll take you.”
“Okay,” I breathed.
August unwrapped his arm from around me but threaded his fingers through mine and towed me back into the kitchen. I climbed onto a barstool, while he went through a passageway next to his bathroom-I assumed his closet.
After pouring himself a cup of coffee, Cole watched me from beneath his blond eyelashes. “I’m surprised you still care about him after last night. You looked angry enough to murder him.”
Huh? Him? Oh… Liam. “The only person I wish dead is Aidan Michaels.”
Cole leaned his forearms into the island. “Can I ask you something?”
I pressed my lips together warily.