Page 66 of Crescent Warrior

“Your mate?” Alex’s eyebrow almost reached his hairline. “Yeah, no. We just want to meet the leader of your pack.”

Sadness entered Vincenzo’s eyes. “Our leader? Oh, of course,” he paused, turning to look at Adele and Carlo who were shaking their heads at him. “Knox would love to meet you.”

Carlo sighed, rolling his eyes as Adele gave Vincenzo a mildly pitying look.

“Knox?” Alex grabbed onto the name, feeling uncomfortable in this warm male’s presence. There was something that was tugging at him. It was similar to how he felt about Michael, but less strong.

“Our alpha,” Vincenzo said quietly. “I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to meet you. Will you let us call him? He can come here. He can be here today.”

Hope soaring in his chest, Alex nodded enthusiastically, reaching out to grab Michael’s arm. For the first time, the male glanced over at him, showing him with his expression that he didn’t trust these Werewolves or anything that was happening. Alex scoffed, not understanding how he could trust Jason so wholeheartedly but not this male who they clearly resembled.

“While we wait,” Vincenzo cleared his throat, “perhaps you’ll join us for a coffee?”

Alex nodded, tightening his hold on Michael’s bicep as he tensed. “Yes. That’d be great.”

With a huge grin, the male turned, offering his vulnerable back to them. Carlo and Adele watched them for a beat, before they returned to the cottage.

“I don’t trust them,” Michael muttered.

“Come on,” Alex said with a persuasive smile. “What’s the worst that could happen? We’re waiting for their alpha just like Jason wanted.”

Michael huffed out a breath but nodded, letting him lead the way. He walked toward the cottage, his heart pounding, wondering what secrets he could uncover with whatever time he had there.

“So, you and Lyta?” The voice trailed inside Hippolyta’s bedroom, coming from the front door. Her eyes peeped open and she saw that her bedroom door was closed and it was dark outside. “How’d that happen?”

There was no response as Hippolyta rose to sit up in the bed, her thighs still aching. She knew she didn’t sleep long enough to heal the muscle fatigue that the copious amounts of sex they had been having had wreaked on her body.

Stretching, she listened with a small smile. The voice belonged to Griffin, the goof. He was laughing loudly, probably giving Cole shit for not spending any time with them.

“She’s—” Cole trailed off and she flinched, knowing that he wanted to shout that they were mates from the rooftops, but she was holding back.

“You’re not… mated or anything like that, right?” Griffin asked, suddenly serious. When he blew out a breath of relief, she knew he probably looked at Cole’s neck and not seen her mark there. “Thank God. Can you imagine how much poor Nyx would be beside herself if she didn’t have you all to herself?”

He was snickering now and Hippolyta cradled her legs to her chest, her heart aching at his words.

“Nyx isn’t my mate,” Cole muttered in a low, annoyed voice.

Hippolyta felt soothed by that, but she wondered whether he wished

she was. Nyx would be a much lower maintenance mate than she was. Cole doted on her, and while logically, she knew it was because he thought of her as a younger sister, Hippolyta couldn’t help but think that if she wasn’t in the picture, Cole would fully embrace being mated to the beautiful Nyx. Which male wouldn’t?

Feeling her throat clogging with tears and her lower lip trembling, she squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t need to torture herself with ‘what-ifs’, yet, here she was.

“You won’t know if she’s your mate until she’s older, huh?” Griffin snickered, and the small scuffling noise told her that he was shoving Cole playfully.

“Whoever she’s going to mate is going to be very lucky,” Cole laughed, breaking Hippolyta’s heart with his words, “but it sure as hell isn’t me.”

“You’re already a lucky bastard,” Griffin scoffed. “You’re hitting some prime real estate there. What I wouldn’t do to spend one night with Ly—” the words were cut off by the low growl in the other room. “Woah! What the fuck, Cole?” The loud slam of the door told her that Griffin had been shoved outside.

Hippolyta didn’t bother to open her eyes as he came back into the bedroom.

“Hey,” he murmured in a low voice, hurrying over to her. She stayed where she was, pressing her forehead to her knees, hiding her face. “Are you alright?”

She nodded, not bothering to say anything. He could already smell her tears, she was sure.

“Gods, my Lyta, did I hurt you? Are you in pain?” He reached out gentle hands to stroke down her bare back and arm. “I’m so sorry.”

She shook her head, unable to speak through her tears.

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