Page 66 of Dawn of the Pack

“Says the coffee addict.” She smiles again.

“Exactly. So you know if I’m saying it, it’s serious.”

“Fine, I’ll eat if you do.”

“You have a deal, my darling.”

I happily fill a plate and tuck in, and Lily follows suit. The rest of the group alternate between eating and talking in low voices, and overall there’s a general feeling of waiting. My eyes dart repeatedly to Dom’s phone, laid out in the center of the table, screen black.

We’re halfway through breakfast when it finally starts buzzing, some annoying ring tone practically echoing in the abruptly silent room.

Dom checks the number, then accepts the call and hits the speaker button. “Go ahead, you’re on speaker.”

Billy’s voice is as cheerful as ever, despite the apparently paranoid measures he took to avoid getting caught. “Whoohee, you guys sure kicked up a hornet’s nest! I must say, I’m a little hurt you didn’t let me know you was comin’. I coulda helped ya’ll out!”

“We didn’t want to get you in trouble, Billy. I’m sure you understand. We figured it was better to not involve you in case something went wrong. Turns out we were right.”

“Yeah, sure were.”

There’s a long pause before Dom prompts him.

“So what happened?”

“Well, once they knew something was up, everyone came rushing and followed you out into the woods. Alpha was mighty pissed you got away with that many people out there.”

“I bet.”

“Yeah, the only person he had anything good to say about was Erica, since she got closer than anyone else. Even laid into us pretty bad, and our job was just to stand outside Leaf’s door.”

“Who’s Erica?”

“Oh, she’s the one alpha’s got working with Leaf right now. He figures it’s a better way to bring out his wolf than the next step of the program, which… well, it gets a lot worse.”

Lily speaks up, her voice shaking slightly. “Billy, is this Erica the one who caught up to me and Jared last night?”

“Yeah, that was her. That’s why he wasn’t as pissed with her as everyone else. Still pissed at her, though. She hasn’t done what he told her yet.”

Lily holds my gaze for just a moment before she asks, “And what’s that?”

“Well, she’s got to get Leaf to mate her. She spent all day alone in the room with him yesterday and the job’s not done.”

“How long does she have to ‘get the job done?’”

“Can’t say. He’s probably going to give it a few days at any rate. He likes Erica, would have claimed her for himself if she wasn’t so much younger. She’s really pretty. I can see why he had the inclination. I’m sure they don’t expect to have much trouble with it. At this rate, he might just stick them both in the same room until something happens.”

Lily’s jaw flexes, and I can read her opinion on that information all over her face. “I see. What about Azalea?”

“The witch? What about her?”

“She was with us last night. They caught her.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that now. I dunno.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“Aside from them reporting they put her in a room, no one brought her up again. So I don’t know what happened after that.” Everyone’s gaze darts around the room with significance.

“Okay, thank you Billy. Is there anything else we should know?”

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