Page 47 of Dawn of the Pack

I bristle at the word boys, and Landon and Milo shift their weight behind me.

“So?”

“And you want to reunite the packs?”

Lily just glares at her.

Abruptly Azalea’s voice turns gooey sweet, like dripping honey. “Well, I’m guessing you don’t know how to do that, do you?”

“We’re working on figuring it out,” Lily says through clenched teeth. “There has to be a way. I don’t buy the whole ‘it’s impossible’ schtick. Nothing is impossible.”

“Oh no, you’re absolutely right. There is a way.”

My eyes dart to Lily, who glances my way briefly before refocusing on Azalea.

“And I’m guessing you know what it is?”

“You’re right, I do.” Azalea goes back to examining her talons. “But I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

“We’re over your little games, witch,” Landon growls behind me. “Either tell us what you know or don’t.”

“It hurts my feelings that you think so little of me,” she pouts. “I’m happy to share. I just wanted to prepare you. The solution is actually pretty simple, but I know you’re not gonna want to do it.”

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes.” Lily’s voice is firm and determined.

Azalea looks up again, and a delighted grin spreads across her face. “You are? Well, that’s excellent news. Because it really is simple, you know. If you want to reunite the packs, all you have to do is truly unite them. The Smoky Falls and the Montrose alphas just have to take each other as mates. I dunno how that would affect the curse, but it would solve your little pack problem.”

Lily sucks in an audible gasp.

“And you’re in luck,” Azalea continues. “Nielsen’s single. His fated mate died years ago, and he’s never taken another. So all you have to do is add him to your little collection and poof, problem solved!”

My heart drops like a rock in my stomach, and I glance aside at Lily again. Surely she wouldn’t? Nielsen is like fifty years old, and we didn’t didn’t spend a lot of time in his presence, but from what I’ve heard, he doesn’t exactly sound like a man we’d welcome to family dinner.

To my complete surprise, Lily doesn’t fire back at Azalea with any of the number of expletives I wanted to launch at her. Instead, her tone is calm and polite. “Thank you, Azalea. That was actually quite helpful. Give Shuya my best, will you? Tell her I’ll be in touch.”

Turning on her heel, Lily commands softly, “Let’s go.”

LANDON

The car is silent for the ride back to Smoky Falls.

Lily doesn’t say a word, and the rest of us can’t find something to break the silence when she seems to be concentrating so fiercely. Sasha has the radio on, and this time Lily sat in a bucket seat where she can stare out the window. Jared took the navigator spot to keep his sister company, and sensing that Lily needs space, Milo and I share the back.

When we pull up in front of Harridan House and pile out, I realize a thick blob of apprehension has been expanding in my gut. I’m not sure why, but after wishing she’d say something for the entire ride, I suddenly dread what comes out of her mouth next.

Lily thanks Sasha and we wave her off before trudging into the house. There’s a heaviness to the atmosphere I can’t quite explain as we follow our mate up the long, curving stairs. Ordinarily we’d pile into the elevator, but it feels good to stretch our legs after the car ride.

Plus, it drags out the time until I find out what Lily’s been silently mulling over.

When we finally reach the suite and shut the door behind us, I catch a long, pointed look between Milo and Lily. At that moment I realize he knows something, something he hasn’t shared with me, and probably not Jared, either, since he’s terrible at keeping secrets from us.

Nervous energy zips up my body and I can’t bring myself to sit down, preferring to pace slowly around the room. Milo sits and stretches out, always the picture of ease despite the tense atmosphere in the room. Jared sits as well, but his knee bounces and he doesn’t lean back into the cushions. Clearly he feels it too.

Lily sits in one chair, her back ramrod straight, and clears her throat.

Here we go.

“Landon, would you sit, please? We need to talk about something.”

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