I jumped at Liam’s command.
And no getting naked behind closed doors. When I still hadn’t moved, he pawed the ground. Now.
Heat spiraled through my body.
“What?” Lucas asked.
“Liam wants me to”-I uncrossed my arms, because coupled with the hoodie and Liam’s order, I was getting hot-“join them.”
Lucas frowned. “Can’t hurt to train a little more.”
“That’s not-um . . .” I pulled on the collar of the hoodie but still couldn’t get myself to peel it off.
The black wolf barked, which made me jump, and then he pawed the earth again.
“Go on,” Lucas said.
Pressing my palms, which were thankfully a little cold, against my neck, I unglued my soles from the hardwood floors and stalked out the front door. “I said I’d do it tonight, and I will.”
Now.
My body felt as though it were impaled on a spit hung over an open fire. “Why?”
The shimmering blue rope that connected me to August tightened as he stepped out of the house, Lucas at his side. At least Cole and Greg hadn’t come to watch, not that they couldn’t see me through the window.
“Please, Liam-”
You’re a werewolf, Ness. Act like one.
I bristled. “Fine.” I pulled off the hoodie and tossed it on the ground, then unlaced my boots and kicked them off.
When I reached for the hem of my tank top, August trampled the grass until he stood in front of me. “What are you doing?”
“Acting like a werewolf, apparently,” I gritted out, yanking off the top, exposing my bare chest.
August’s nostrils flared, and he snapped his head toward Liam. “If I want to stand in front of her, I’ll stand in front of her.” I guessed Liam had told August to move through the mind-link. “I get that tonight she’ll be on her own.” He returned his attention to me, his chest all but squashing my bare breasts.
I’d rather have been waxed from muzzle to paw than strip in front of an audience, but Liam was right, I was a shifter, and nudity wasn’t taboo in our circle. It was a way of life.
I sighed and splayed my palms on August’s pecs to press him away, but it was like trying to displace a block of cement.
“I can do this,” I told him.
The green around his irises seemed to glow brighter, as though his wolf was somehow rising to the surface in spite of the Sillin.
I took a step back as I popped the button of my shorts and dropped them. When my thumbs hooked into my underwear, August turned his attention to the others and stared them all down until they looked away.
I shut my eyes, willing the transformation to come quick, realizing full well that tonight I would be expected to stand out there-wherever out there was-in the buff way longer than mere seconds.
It was silly, but when I dropped onto my paws, I felt a little braver by what I’d just accomplished.
A little more ready to face off against Justin.
I trotted toward August and rubbed my cheek on his stiff thigh before glancing into his human face, finding that his features had softened. His fingers slid through my white fur. Once I sensed he was calm, I darted toward my Alpha.
“Nice ass,” Lucas said, tossing me a wink. “A little on the skinny side for my taste, but-”
August cast Lucas such a barbed glare that he shut up and raised his palms.
“Calm down there, Watt. No one’s stealing your girl. I mean, with that temper . . . yeesh. She’s all yours.”
I smiled on the inside because my rubbery lupine lips weren’t engineered for smiles. But then I gasped as I was knocked onto my ass.
Hey, I growled at Liam. Was that really necessary?
The minute you’re in fur, your attention needs to be on me, Justin, and Morgan. Not on your mate.
My attention wasn’t on my mate. It was on Lucas.
Get up, Liam barked.
Huffing, I stood. You want me to attack you? Or-
My body skidded sideways as though my black pads had sprouted tiny wheels.
What the hell? Matt yelped, sliding right past me. How’d you do that, Little Wolf?
For a moment, both wolves observed me in silence, and then Matt craned his long neck and peered over his shoulder at August who was still planted on the lawn, fingers tapping his thighs.
Fuck . . . Matt said at the same time as Liam asked, Can one of you please enlighten me as to what just happened?
As Matt filled Liam in on the mysterious mechanism of mating links, August tugged on the tether again, but not to move my body, just to remind me he was there, watching over me.
That he had my back.
The shimmery blue rope tautened between us. I wrapped an invisible hand around it and prepared to pull back to prove to August it went both ways, but then Liam barked.
I jumped, losing sight of the elusive rope.
How far is his reach? he asked.
Far.
How far?
As long as I’m in his line of sight.
Good. Although his massive body was coiled tight, he sounded genuinely pleased by what he’d just learned.