“Where’s Markus?” I ask, wondering where my former best friend is. Markus and I were always close, but my last few months in the pack, he’d been distant. I could sense him pulling away, even though I wasn’t sure how or why he was doing it.
Ryder and Thorn exchange heavy looks before Ryder speaks up.
“He isn’t coming,” he answers. Ryder glances at Red, then back at me. He raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything else.
“Where were you last month?” I ask, suddenly feeling like we’re playing twenty questions.
“Trouble at camp,” Thorn says. His eyes are heavy.
“Alpha trouble?”
“What else would it be?” Ryder spits and crosses his arms over his chest. “Things have gotten bad, brother. Worse than they’ve ever been. You think we had it bad before Elise? Things are ten times worse now.”
“What did he do?” I ask, knowing I don’t really want to know the answer, knowing it’s going to push me over the edge.
The two men exchange weary looks again, communicating silently without words to one another. I know whatever they’re going to say is going to be heavy, but they need to just spit it out. I can’t take much more of this. I need answers and I need them now.
“Who’s the girl?” Ryder stares suspiciously at Scarlett. He eyes her up and down and even though she’s covered up with that damn cloak of hers, I want to leap in front of her and tell him that she’s mine. I can’t go all caveman or full-on wolf right now, but I want to.
Thorn chuckles and jabs Ryder in the side.
“That’s his girl, man. Damn, what a growl. Haven’t heard you get like that in a long time, Nash.”
Thorn jumps across the narrow creek and holds his hand out to Scarlett. He’s completely nude, but she manages to do an amazing job not looking at his junk. She has no idea how much I appreciate that, how much it means to me that she’s not oogling my buddy. She wouldn’t do that, I don’t think, but I appreciate it just the same. I’m not insecure about my body, but Thorn is hung.
Like, really hung.
“Thorn,” he says, and she shakes his hand.
“Red.” Her voice is sweet and sends a jolt of heat straight between my thighs. I want to get her back to the cabin and run my hands all over her body. I want to touch her, play with her, lick her. I want to-
“You okay, Nash?” Ryder’s voice brings me back to reality.
I look at him, but he’s eyeing my dick. I glance down. Sure enough, little me decided to say hello to everyone.
Scarlett just giggles.
“We’re ready to move forward,” Thorn says, turning to me.
“When can we make this happen?” I ask.
“There’s a gathering tomorrow,” Thorn says, his deep baritone voice sounds heavy and weighted. “Everyone is getting together for the big announcement.”
“What big announcement?” I ask. I haven’t been gone from the pack long, but I’ve been gone long enough to be completely out of the loop. It’s amazing how fast things can change before you even realize what’s happening.
Ryder raises an eyebrow.
“About Nightfall.”
“What about Nightfall?” The other pack is known for being quite tame compared to the Silent Canines, but the leader of the pack, Jordan, is no one to be trifled with. I’ve known Jordan since he was just a kid. Jordan’s father was the Alpha before him, and like his father, he ruled with a heavy hand and a kind heart.
He isn’t the kind of guy you should mess with unless you know, without a doubt, that you can win.
“He wants to merge the packs.”
“You mean he wants to attack them.”
“Basically.” Thorn says gruffly. “He’s got