Page 6 of Dawn of the Pack

It works. He’s thoroughly distracted. One warm hand cups my cheek and the other wraps around my waist, pulling my body closer while our kisses deepen. My arms twine around his shoulders and I toy mindlessly with his satiny hair. Tension builds in my belly, and I let myself drift into the delicious warmth of our physical connection. I don’t know if it’s a fated mates thing or a hormonal teenager thing, but nothing can shut off my anxious brain like intimacy with one of my guys.

Milo’s fingers trail along my jaw and thread into my wind-blown mass of hair, curling to pull gently at the strands. Electricity courses over my skin; it feels good, but it’s not the same as Derrek’s forceful tug that curled my toes and clenched my belly.

And just like that, I’m hit with a stabbing pain in my chest, remembering Derrek is somewhere I can’t reach him.

With a gentle hand to keep him in place, I pull away from Milo and break our kiss. Instead of breaking contact completely, I tuck my face into his chest and wind my arms around his waist, and he obliges my need for comfort by wrapping warm arms around my shoulders and squeezing me tightly.

We stay there in silence for a few long moments before I speak, murmuring into his shirt.

“I have to get Dom and Roxanne to help me come up with an actual plan to rescue Derrek.”

“Mmm,” is Milo’s reply. He rests his cheek on the top of my head and squeezes.

“I don’t want to force them to comply. But I don’t have a lot of experience in coercing people to agree with me, either.”

“Mmm-hmm.” His chest is warm against my cheek, and the rumbling vibration of his voice blends with the natural vibrations close contact with his body always gives me.

“I know nothing about Pack Montrose, or where they would put Derrek, or honestly, what they really want him for.”

One of Milo’s hands starts rubbing circles on my back, and my eyes close in contentment, despite the increasingly fast beat of my heart.

“I’m afraid I’ll make the wrong decision and more people will get hurt.” It’s easier to admit my fears in this warm, safe space with my eyes closed. I still can’t bring myself to admit my biggest concern to him, but this is close.

Milo continues rubbing my back wordlessly, his body supporting me as I sag against him.

“I don’t know what to do.” My voice is barely above a whisper, and I’m not even sure he can hear me.

“Trust your instincts, Lily,” Milo finally replies. “You were born to do this, and we’re all here on your side. Whatever you decide, the pack will follow you.”

“Will they?” I question in a tremulous voice. “Or will I have to force them to do what I say? And if I make a mistake after that, how can I call myself a leader?”

“I don’t believe there is any such thing as a perfect leader. There are good people with good intentions who do the best they can. Perhaps these people are smart, and they make informed decisions. Perhaps they consider the advice of those around them. But everyone makes mistakes, and leaders are no exception. Even the world’s greatest leaders have slipped more than once in their careers.”

It feels rather on the nose, but it makes me feel a tiny bit better. “I’m afraid that I’ll do what I think is right and I’ll be dead wrong.”

“I know. But I believe that if you stay true to what you think and feel and believe is right, there’s no way it can be wrong.”

I’m torn between dismissing him as someone who has to tell me what he thinks I need to hear because he’s my fated mate, and grasping onto his words like a drowning woman would clutch a life raft.

“How do you have so much faith in me when I have so little in myself?”

“Maybe that’s why Landon, Jared and I exist, Lily. To bolster you when you doubt yourself. Did you ever consider that?”

I pause, considering. “No,” I answer honestly. “I just assumed it was a politics and mating thing.”

“Well, don’t forget that—assuming you choose to accept us all—we become a team of alphas. Once we complete that ceremony, it’s not all on your shoulders anymore.”

“So then, it’s like… an oligarchy?” I’m pleased to dredge up the political term from my GED cramming over the last year. Apparently, more is still rattling around in there than I realized.

“I’m not sure, exactly. There hasn’t been a mated alpha in my lifetime. But from my studies I assumed it was something like we, as your mates, have alpha authority, and sort of serve as your council. You’d still be the ‘top’ alpha, but the three of us function as a team to help make decisions and run the pack.”

A guilty feeling accompanies my immediate thoughts of Derrek. “And how does the mate-claiming thing work again?”

Milo gives me a reassuring squeeze. “It’s not as big of a deal as you think. Basically, it’s like the first ceremony where you shifted, except instead of being on the full moon, it’s on the lunar eclipse. The whole pack gathers, you make your declaration to claim us as your mates, and then we all four shift and run together to seal the bond, with the pack following.”

“And what if…” I lick my lips, searching for the right words. “What if one of you can’t make it? Like you’re sick or something?”

“You don’t have to worry about us, Lily. Even if we were at death’s door, we’d be there.”

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