I learned they were the largest of the Eastern packs and the most influential. They’d done their share of dueling in the East but weren’t interested in expanding to the West or to the North-the territory of the igloo-dwelling Glacier Pack, descendants of the Inuits.
“I’m surprised August didn’t tell you about them. He knew the Alpha’s daughter quite intimately.” My sudden intake of air had Liam dip his chin into his neck. “You didn’t think he was a choir boy, now did you?”
“Of course not,” I said a little too abruptly. And I truly hadn’t, but that didn’t mean I wanted to know about all the beds August had warmed and all the bodies he’d stroked.
Jealousy reared its petty head, and I turned my attention to the ocean of sky surrounding us. Just as brusquely as the jealousy appeared, the realization that my navel didn’t tingle-not even a little-hit me.
The link was gone.
Between talk of the Rivers and petty jealous musings, I barely realized the plane had started its descent toward an airstrip at the base of the Smoky Mountains. When the wheels jounced against the tarmac, though, I became wholly centered on the aircraft. And then the pilot braked, and the lap belt dug into my stomach, sending what I’d eaten back up my throat. I mashed my lips together and swallowed so hard I almost choked on my spit, but that beat hurling all over Liam.
Liam, whose eyes glinted as though amused by my predicament.
The pilot’s voice crackled over a loudspeaker, announcing we’d touched down, as if we’d somehow missed it.
“You can leave the college packet on board,” Liam said, getting up. “We’re taking the same plane home.”
As I unbuckled myself, the door with the retractable staircase popped open, letting in a burst of hot, humid air. I followed Liam out of the jet, and when my white sneakers met solid earth, I almost purred. Liam tossed me another amused look, but then his features hardened into his Alpha mask.
Two open-roofed SUVs fit for a safari were snaking past the few parked private aircrafts. Laughter and chatter floated from the bodies crowding the vehicles.
“Did the entire pack come to greet us?” I murmured over the drone of the approaching cars.
“They’re close to three hundred, so no.”
I’d been joking, but Liam was too concentrated to pick up on my intended humor. When the fenders all but butted against our thighs, the vehicles stopped and the passengers jumped over the sides. A man with a thick auburn-brown beard pushed through the tight web of shifters circling us.
“Liam!” he boomed, clapping my Alpha on the back as though they were old pals.
Even though Liam was as stiff as an ironing board, he offered the large male a tense smile.
And then the man moved toward me and extended his hand. “Zachary. But everyone calls me Zack.”
I shook his gargantuan palm.
“So you’re the Boulder female everyone’s been yappin’ about, huh?” He hadn’t released me yet.
“The one and only,” I said, eyeing him and his pack.
“Well, welcome to the East,” he boomed again.
I tugged my fingers loose. “Thank you.”
He nodded before turning to Liam. “Shall we run for the hills?” A slash of white teeth appeared between the coarse brown hairs of his beard.
Some of his wolves chuckled, stances slack, exhibiting no signs of aggression.
“I’m kidding. We’ll do enough running tonight. Liam, you’re ridin’ with me, son,” Zack barked.
Liam nodded, but before going off, he signaled for me to follow.
“My son Samuel can give her a lift,” the River Alpha offered.
A man, who had the same sturdy build as Zack and the same reddish-brown hair, lifted his hand in a wave.
“My Second rides with us,” Liam said.
I sensed from the weighted look father and son exchanged that they weren’t too pleased with Liam interfering in their plans.
“All right,” Zack said, his voice a little less loud, which wasn’t to say it was at a normal pitch. It was most definitely louder than any voice I’d ever heard.
Although they all climbed in the way they’d poured out of the vehicles, Liam opened the door. He gestured for me to go ahead of him before hopping in, and then we were off, warm wind scraping through my hair and pounding against my eardrums.
At some point during the drive, the girl sitting beside me introduced herself. “Jane.” She looked to be around my age, perhaps a year or two younger, with a round face dusted in freckles and sweeping lashes that looked red in the sunlight.
“Ness.”
“I know.” She pushed a bluntly cut piece of auburn hair out of her dark-blue eyes. “Are you and your Alpha a thing?”
When I shook my head, she scrutinized Liam a little more boldly.
“Why the heck not?” she asked after a long beat.
“It’s a long story.” One I didn’t see myself sharing with her.
“It’s a long ride.”
Was she really expecting me to confide in her? I didn’t know her, plus Liam was sitting right there. Not that I would’ve felt comfortable had he been in the other car.
“The males in your pack are so hot,” she said with a breathy sigh. “Makes me want to visit Colorado.”
I frowned. “How do you know if you’ve never been to Colorado?”
“I attended the pack summit a couple years ago.”
Oh. Right.
“After what happened to my older sister, though, Daddy doesn’t want us straying too far off our land.”
I was glad Sarah had told me about the Alpha’s daughter, the one who’d been killed by Morgan. “You’re Zack’s daughter then?”
“One of them. We’re seven. Two boys, five girls. Well, only four now.” Her gaze turned a little misty, but she blinked, and her eyes dried.
I wondered which of her sisters had been the one to sleep with August, because Jane was far too young to be the girl in question.
Thinking about August made me acutely aware of his absence.
And of the emptiness inside my stomach.