Page 31 of Stargazer

His finger gently rubbed mine and then he let go of my hand and took a step back. Like he realised this wasn’t exactly giving me space.

It didn’t stop his gaze from roaming my body though, the corner of his mouth tilting up.

“Do you know how hard it is to refrain from kissing the fuck out of you when you make that cute little crumpled look every time you’re confused or frustrated? Not to mention the effort it took to not crawl into this fucking bed last night.”

He smirked at the little intake of breath that came out of me, and then finished with, “I just miss you.”

“I miss you too, Griff.” I told him truthfully. The words barely a whisper.

“I needed you to know.” He bent to pick up a new top from my mess and handed it to me. “I know you need time.”

He turned to leave but threw over his shoulder with a grin, “I’m up for the challenge.”

I just stared after him, not knowing what to say or do.

“I’ll meet you in the car,” he called as he left my room.

When I was alone, I put on the cropped charcoal-coloured band tee he’d handed me and then touched my mouth, still standing in the middle of my closet.

I didn't know why that little kiss always branded me, the imprint of his lips burning into my skin where they touched.

By the time I’d gotten to the car, there was no trace of the romantically tormented Griffin that had been present in that conversation.

Nor the cheeky one that graced me with his presence at the end.

Just the warrior, asking questions about the pack, the area and everything else he needed to know to add to his mental catalogue.

CHAPTER 12

VENUS

The pack was clearly on edge with not one, but two Knights sitting in their version of a strategy room. We were getting quite a few curious looks, mostly aimed at the irritatingly unphased Knight captain sitting at their table. The one who tried to kill their Beta only yesterday.

River had a large conference room, complete with a long wooden table made to seat twelve. The row of windows making up one wall let in copious amounts of natural light while the surrounding forest, only feet away, filled our peripherals with a wall of deep green.

There was no whiteboard in here, no maps or anything else likeable to a war room. It was homely and comfortable, like everything else in the pack house. A place for a family to sit and discuss.

Not all the wolves made it to these meetings, just the more active ones in higher positions that worked as a sort of council. Twelve seats for twelve wolves. An extra two brought up to squeeze at the end so Griff and I were directly opposite River seated at the head. Five shifters were seated on one side, with Zander on River’s right, and six had squeezed together across from them, Axel to his Alpha’s left with Skylar beside him.

River had wanted me to sit with him at the front. But this was a meeting between the pack and us, so I thought it best that the Knights distance ourselves from them a little, to make the pack more comfortable—at least while we got through this first meeting and they divulged information to us.

There were a few other wolves under River’s command who still attended pack runs but weren’t actively involved in the day-to-day. Three of them—Aubrey’s parents and an older female—were from the town over. Another handful who had been close friends with the previous Alpha lived nearby in Saint Claire, and a small number of younger or newly shifted descendants were kept sheltered by their families, given their age.

Riv’s mum was part of this pack once upon a time, but she was gone before I’d even met him. We didn’t talk about her anymore. She and River’s dad were not true mates but chosen. And when she found her soul’s counterpart—an Alpha of a pack on the other side of the country—she left for him, giving in to that fated bond.

I think that was part of the reason Riv never stressed about us being together. He vowed he’d never leave someone he chose for a true mate. Not after his mum abandoned them.

It wasn’t uncommon for wolves to pick their life partner and later find their real mate, but it usually didn’t happen like that for Alphas, who traditionally waited for their fated.

I knew it broke something in Riv and the rest of their pack when they lost their Luna. His dad ran everything on his own following her departure … until he passed away.

When a wolf didn’t end up with their true mate, it was often only because they had picked someone else, or they hadn’t survived long enough to meet them. Most of the time fate intervened in the crossing of their paths, so those were generally the only reasons they wouldn’t be with their intended. I wasn’t aware which one it had been for the previous Alpha, but as far as we knew, he hadn’t found his soul mate in his lifetime.

It had been a long while since this pack had a Luna.

The pack house itself was only actually home to River, Zander, Axel and Sky; with Aubrey basically an unofficial tenant.

The same could have been said for me no more than six months ago.

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