“Stranger things have happened. He is a werewolf after all.”
“Or, he might have healed, and he’s laying low,” Liam suggested. “Your brother could have been shot and left for dead. Not wanting them to find him, he is hiding. If he stays in his wolf form, he can last a long time without eating. I’m not saying he can go weeks without food, like a real wolf can, but we can last at least the three days he’s been gone.”
Tawny leaned over and hugged Liam. “Thank you. That makes me feel better.”
Alex cleared his throat. “Thinking about food makes me hungry. We have some beef jerky if anyone wants some.”
“I brought power bars, enough for all of us. I also threw in two dried food meal packages. All it needs is hot water.”
Alex grinned. “Let me fix us some hot water then.”
Liam stood. “I’ll scrounge up some plates. We’ll have a regular feast.”
She smiled, making Alex feel a whole hell of lot better. It took less than fifteen minutes to prepare the meal. The entire time, however, Alex tried to put himself into Zach’s shoes. What would he do if he’d fallen down the side of a mountain and been injured? It wasn’t as if a werewolf couldn’t suffer a concussion, but it wasn’t highly likely.
“Alex?” Tawny asked. “You okay?”
He’d been starring. “Sorry. I was just trying to come up with more options.”
She reached out and placed a hand on his arm. “Thanks.”
That one touch sent fire straight to his cock, and that reaction was totally unwarranted. They were here for Zach—not for sex.
After they ate, Tawny washed the silverware and placed it back in the drawer. As for the trash, they’d have to pack it out. It wasn’t as if there was garbage service here.
For the few hours of daylight they had left, they played a board game. Alex’s mind was focused on this whole messed up situation more than on the game’s strategy. In the end, Tawny won, which was just as well. She needed a victory.
Tawny sighed and leaned back. “That was fun.” She looked over at him. “You two know about my family, but I know nothing about either of you.”
Alex wasn’t one to say much about his upbringing, but since Tawny was his mate, she should know the good and the bad parts. “It’s not very impressive.”
“I don’t care. Your past—good and bad—made you who you are today. To be honest, I think you ended up pretty good.”
Alex never blushed, but if he did, his face would be red. “Thank you. Okay. Let me see. I am the youngest of three kids and the only boy. Believe it or not, I was rather small growing up, which was unusual for a shifter.”
“I think the males in my family were born large,” she said.
He smiled. “I’ve heard that’s normally the case, but not me. Anyway, I was picked on a lot. To make matters worse, I had a big mouth, what can I say?”
She chuckled. “I can believe that. Were your schoolmates fellow shifters or all human?”
“There were a few werewolves but most were human. My dad told me that if I ever shifted in public that… Well, I won’t tell you what he said would fall off.”
She laughed. “He did not.”
“Hey, I was eight. I believed him. Anyway, by the time I was sixteen, I had a growth spurt. It was then that I decided that I needed to learn to fight.”
“Did you take classes or were you self-taught?”
“I took classes for the most part, but since we didn’t have much money, I found a job working at a warehouse after school. On weekends, I’d take a class. I started with boxing and finished with martial arts.”
“However, as a werewolf, we need skills we can’t learn from a normal class,” Liam said.
“True,” Alex said. “I wanted to learn to fight in my wolf form, but for some reason, my dad said it would be safer if I avoided all werewolves.” He shrugged. “I didn’t listen.”
“Tawny, I’m sure your brothers played in their wolf form as kids,” Liam said.
“They did. I tried running after them, but you can imagine how well that worked out. They left me in the dust.”