Page 15 of Dawn of the Pack

I swallow hard. “We didn’t use a condom. After all the lectures I’ve heard my entire life, the first time I have sex and I completely forget to use protection. I’m like a Lifetime special. What if I get pregnant?”

Milo rubs a palm across his face and smiles, releasing a relieved sigh. “Don’t worry about it, you can’t.”

“What do you mean? Are you, I mean… can you not…” I don’t know how to ask, since I’ve heard men are super sensitive about that subject.

He barks a laugh. “No, that’s not it. You can’t get pregnant until you accept all of your mates at the lunar eclipse; it’s part of the weird and wonderful pack biology. Once we’re officially mated, the pack witch will brew you a potion to prevent pregnancy… until you’re ready to be a mom.”

“Oh.” How did I not know that? That definitely feels like something someone should have told me.

“Everything’s fine, Lily. Come here.” He lays back down and opens his arms. Taking the offer, I nuzzle into his chest and let him pull me close. Finally, I can relax; I breathe in his comforting scent, and allow myself to accept that he’s truly mine.

Chapter Six

Jared

It feels as if every living thing within five miles of this place should know we’re coming; that’s how much noise Landon makes while we’re attempting to sneak up on our enemy’s stronghold.

“Can you be any louder?” I hiss for the third time.

Landon just glares back at me. “Everything is covered in leaves, genius. What do you want me to do? You’re not exactly Mission Impossible over there, either.”

I think I’m a great deal quieter than he is, but it won’t get any better if we keep bickering. Instead, I ignore him and veer further away, hoping it’ll be less obvious if we split up the noise.

When I reach the top, I’m relieved to discover tall green hedges blocking me from view of the windows. It’s also a lot windier up here, so the blowing leaves and creaking branches provide a fair amount of covering noise.

Rising above the hedge, a pristine white building sits rather close, clearly old but maintained. I run up and crouch next to the green wall, and Landon joins me a moment later. We both listen intently, but there’s no sound aside from nature.

Landon’s eyes meet mine. “Now what?” He asks in a low voice.

“I guess… we could walk around and see if there’s a way to get through the hedge?”

He shrugs and nods, and we start our route along the back side.

It isn’t a hedge so much as tall skinny evergreen trees planted so close together they grew into each other. The tips are about eight feet high, and the bushy branches end inches above the ground. In a pinch, we might be able to shimmy under, but I’d rather not.

Unfortunately, it’s a solid green wall all the way around to the other side. We follow it quite a way down what we assume is the driveway, only for it to end at a low stone wall. Peeking around, I note that the other side is exactly the same, and there’s no gate between them.

We duck back to the safe side to regroup. I glance over at Landon. “Any ideas?”

His expression is thoughtful, obviously already trying to come up with a plan. “We can’t go up the drive. It’s like fifty yards with zero cover.”

“Agreed.”

“There’s a couple cars parked in front, but I didn’t see any activity, and the windows are dark. Not that it means anything, it’s still daytime.”

“Okay…”

“I don’t think there’s much else we can do aside from hang out a bit and hope we get lucky. Why don’t we go back to the house and see if we can, like, peek through the trees or something?”

I shrug my acceptance of his idea and follow him back the way we came. His plan reminds me of a cartoon villain, but I don’t really have any better suggestions, so it’s worth a shot. We’ve just gotten close to the front of the house when the unmistakable sound of an approaching car reaches my ears.

We both drop to the ground, as if someone could spot us through the thick foliage.

Fearless super spies we are not.

The car rumbles up—some kind of sports car, or at least something with a souped-up engine—and comes to a stop just feet from our hiding place.

My heart is practically in my throat. Landon and I stare at each other with wide eyes, and I completely stop breathing when the car doors open.

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