Page 68 of Entering a New World

Gray snorted a laugh. “I’m not arrogant enough to agree with you, but I do think I’m doing a good job. Still, in a fucked up way, it’s kind of validating to see you lose your cool. I never believed the day would come.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, giving him the finger.

But for all his teasing and for all the painful memories our conversation had brought up, I felt lighter now.

“I think Paul got a lead.” Gray nodded to the road. Paul was in front of us, his cruiser suddenly lighting up, the siren blasting through the speaker.

My heart skipped a beat, my wolf pawed at my chest.

Finally.

“I think we’re heading back to the Inn,” Gray said, speeding up in order to stay right behind Paul.

Seconds later, we were racing along Main Street, getting closer and closer to the edge of town where Mave’s Inn sat.

As we turned into the driveway, my heart stopped. It didn’t just skip a beat, it outright stopped.

Because there, in one of the parking lots in front of the Inn sat my truck. The truck I’d left at the packhouse.

Which could only mean…

Oh fuck.

My wolf howled at the same time as a scream shattered the silence.

“Levi!”

Chapter 18

Levi

Waiting was boring.

So.

Fucking.

Boring.

Turning around, I paced through the dining hall, then headed through big, double-winged doors into another hall-like room and stopped in front of a glass front that overlooked the packhouse’s yard. A vegetable garden stretched from the edge of the patio right to the edge of the forest and was surrounded by a wooden fence with white flower pots hanging over the top. The green stuff in them was probably herbs, not that I could say that for sure from this far. Well, to be honest, it was highly unlikely I could say it for sure, even if I was standing right in front of the pots. I wasn’t much of a cook… or biologist.

A group of kids ran across the lawn, their laughter and screeches filtering through the windows. A couple of wolf pups chased after them, yipping and growling. A few steps behind them, a bear cub emerged from the woods and gave chase. To me, it appeared to be younger than the wolves, but easily towered over them.

I snorted as a small fox kit came barreling from the side and jumped right onto the bear’s back. I could swear the fox was grinning from ear to ear.

“I could spend hours standing here and watching the kids play, you know?” a voice said from right beside me.

I flinched and whirled around to face whoever had managed to creep up on me. Grabbing my chest, I tried getting my heart beat back under control while I mustered the man in front of me.

He really shouldn’t have been able to get as close to me as he had without me noticing. The guy was easily in his eighties and was walking with a fucking cane. Which meant that I’d been more engrossed in watching the pups and cubs and kits play than I’d realized, or shifters had the ability to sneak up on unsuspecting humans even if they needed a cane for walking.

“It looks like a lot of fun,” I told the man with a smile.

He nodded. “Gray certainly made this pack a great place for kids… well, for anyone, really. His father, the Alpha before him, had started the process of opening the pack up as a safe haven, but under Gray it really thrived. Of course, with people having those pesky phones attached to them twenty-four seven, word gets out far more easily than it did during our days.” Shaking his head, he extended his hand. “Martin’s the name. I’m one of the Elders. Well, the eldest, really. As in, the oldest person in the pack.”

I chuckled and shook his hand. “I’m Levi. I’m…”

“Rhett’s mate, I know.” Martin nodded to my neck. “And I see you two finally made it official. I told the other Elders I’d probably bite the grass before you two had pulled your head out of your asses. In my time, this whole waiting and courting business wasn’t a thing. Then, of course, interspecies-mating wasn’t a thing either.” A hint of sorrow clouded his eyes, and he turned his head to look outside the window to watch the pups play. “Anyway, congratulations on your mating. Does that mean you’re moving to Balwood? I hear you weren’t from around here, and I really hope you’re not planning on stealing our Rhett away.”

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