Page 24 of Pack to the Wall

“My brother, Brutus,” Tyson said to both me and Milo. “He’s a good man, and I know he’s not close with our father.” Tyson addressed this next bit to me. “You remember how Brick was so adamant about bikes being our lives? Well, that’s just one part of it, the other part is shifting, being a wolf. Brutus hates the bikes. He’d rather be a wolf all the time. I say… let’s let him. I’m certain he’d be grateful for it. The only condition… he needs to stay by Milo’s side and protect him. I’m fairly certain Brutus will agree to that.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about a wolf going everywhere Milo did, but I did like my boy having a constant minder and protector. I trusted Tyson — that seemed to come with being fated — so I’d let him do this.

I nodded.

Milo gave a whoop. “Yeah! Nice! I get a wolf!”

That was taken care of.

Tyson squirmed for a moment then said, “Izzy?”

Again, it seemed like he felt awkward being so informal with my kids.

She looked at him and I caught something in her gaze. She’d been through a lot today, but she was still a hormonal teenager. There was a strange mix of fear and lust in that look, neither of which was surprising. Tyson was a very handsome man, if you liked the dark and dangerous type. As for the fear, that made sense too. Apparently, she couldn’t quite separate him from the monster she’d seen earlier, not yet at least.

“Yes?” she said through her sniffles.

Tyson looked back and forth between me and my daughter. “I was thinking my sister might tag along with you. She won’t be a wolf, just herself, but she’s a tough bitch, and?—”

“Language, please,” I admonished Tyson.

He blinked. “What?” It seemed to take him a long moment to understand. “Oh… ah… you may need to get used to that word. It’s common for us to refer to the women of the pack as bitches, the men are simply dogs. There’s no real male equivalent of the word. That one may be hard for us to cut out. It’s not meant offensively… most of the time.”

“Oh.”

“So, once she’s turned, Mom will be a bitch?” Milo said, a little too excited to be saying that. I spun on him, staring him down, and he quelled himself.

Tyson cleared his throat. “Ah… yeah, she would.”

Izzy cracked a smile, just for a moment. I could tell she was going to use the hell out of that now. Great.

I sighed. “Go on,” I said to Tyson.

“Ah… yes, well, my sister doesn’t take crap from anyone and she can defend herself well. She probably should have been the next alpha instead of me, but my pack — or the old alpha at least — still had some feelings about women being in charge… whichwe’re going to rectify soon.” That last bit was tacked onto the end just a little too hastily.

“We’d better,” I mumbled. To Izzy, I asked. “Would you be okay with a roommate for a while.” To Tyson I asked, “how old is your sister, and which one is she?” I’d met the entire pack today and most were still a jumble in my head.

“Her name is Rita, she’s thirty-seven.”

Ah… so not really a contemporary for my daughter, but old enough to know how to handle herself, hopefully.

“I guess that’s okay,” Izzy said with a shrug. My daughter liked her privacy, and I knew this was asking a lot of her. Izzy gave a bit of a harrumph. “This is all just so…” she gave a loud groan.

“I know,” I said.

Izzy made an annoyed sound but didn’t say anything else.

“I guess that’s settled,” I said to both Izzy and Tyson. Then, just because I really didn’t know how old Tyson was… I pried a little. “So, youryoungersister will?—”

“No, she’s older than me, by three years.”

Oh…

Oh!

I knew helookedyoung and strong and virile, but… that meant he was at least ten years younger than I was. Oh, Lord. What was I getting myself into?

“And Bronn and Colt?” I asked, unable to help myself.

---