Page 40 of Resurgence of the Pack

I looked at him. ‘You’re a genius.’

‘I have my moments. I’ll message Bastion and in the meantime we’ll go to Rosie’s.’

‘What about the pack?’ I asked worriedly. ‘We can’t just leave a threat walking around unchecked. And Tristan, Finley and Ethan are already at Rosie’s.’

‘We clue in Archie and Liam,’ Greg suggested.

I brightened suddenly. ‘Oh my God, yes. We were worrying about a Domini mole in the pack but Kearns was one of the Council members that stayed late during the whole rose and mantelpiece debacle. If Kearns is Domini then we’ve found ourmole.’

‘There could be others,’ Greg cautioned, ‘but Archie and Liam have shown their trustworthiness over and over again. I say we bring them up to speed and tell them to go and make nice with Debbie and Kearns, ostensibly because they’ve just arrived. Archie and Liam can stick to them like glue under the guise of good hospitality.’

‘You’re right,’ I agreed. ‘Do it. You fill them in while I drive us to Rosie’s.’ And once we were there, it was time for a certain discussion between Greg and me that I couldn’t put off any longer.

God help me, it was time to talk about my feelings.

Chapter 21

‘Alpha!’ Tristan said as we strode in. ‘I mean … my Queen! I didn’t realise you were due a recharge.’

‘It sneaked up on me,’ I admitted. I turned to Greg. ‘Can you fill Tristan in on the latest whilst I grab a shower?’

‘Will do,’ he nodded.

Tristan raised an eyebrow. ‘Scram,’ he said to Finley, Ethan and Xander. ‘Make yourselves scarce.’

Xander stood up to leave straight away, obedience threaded through every inch of his young being. ‘But we could help,’ Ethan started. Obedience wasnotthreaded through every inch ofhisyoung being and I took a moment to be grateful for that, no matter how annoying it could be at times. I didn’t want ‘yes men’, but people who would think for themselves – though admittedly right now Ethan’s back talk was annoying.

‘Scram,’ Irepeated firmly.

Finley reached out and cuffed him lightly around the head. ‘Less talking, more moving. Those are our orders.’

Ethan sighed but got to his feet and followed him out of the living room. Tristan and Greg waited a beat until we knew they were in their own rooms. ‘Beer?’ Tristan asked Greg.

‘Sure,’ he agreed. ‘Just the one.’

It made me smile; even a few weeks ago, the thought of the two men kicking back with a beer had been ridiculous. The tension between them had been ever present but now it had vanished. I guessed the fight had finally settled something and they had accepted that they were brothers-in-arms. Men were weird.

I’d already strode through the portal on my way into Rosie’s and Esme had already been ripped from me. I felt solitary, but for once not lonely. I needed to be alone to talk properly to Greg; though I rarely minded that Esme was with us a lot of the time, today I really did want privacy. I didn’t needanywitnesses to this conversation.

The hot shower wasn’t as relaxing as it could have been because I kept rehearsing the conversation in my head. When I stepped out in a towel, Greg was lying in our bed, boots kicked off, fingers laced together behind his head, showing off muscular arms that I could kiss all day long. Ihad a thing about his arms and it temporarily derailed all my carefully practiced phrases. ‘Hi,’ I said dumbly instead.

He sent the smile that was reserved only for me. ‘Peaches.’ His eyes trailed lazily down my towel-clad body and the heat in his eyes let me know exactly what he was thinking about.

‘Talking,’ I blurted. ‘We need to do some talking.’

Like a switch was flipped, he banked his desire and flipped his gaze to my face. ‘What do you need?’ he asked, all business.

‘We need to talk about the mating thing.’ He stilled and I bit my lip. ‘I didn’t realise that it was up to me to raise it with you. Stupid wolfy rules. Um… So. The mating thing.’

And this was why I didn’t need Esme to witness this; my tongue felt as thick and stupid as my brain. ‘The thing is, I need to pick a mate. I thought I needed to actually mate formally this full moon, but I don’t – I just need topicka mate. So that’s not so bad, is it? I guess it’s like an engagement? But, erm… There’s this other thing that I wanted to discuss with you because we haven’t, you know, talked about it.’

Oh God, save me now. ‘Babies,’ I blurted. ‘Esme wants babies. Pups. And I realised I have no idea what you andRed—’

‘We would love to have kids with you.’ Mercifully, Greg interrupted me. He slid off the bed and prowled towards me, his movements so fluid that he could never be mistaken for anything other than a predator.

‘You would?’ I said, shoulders sagging in relief.

‘Wewould,’ he confirmed, wrapping his arms around me. ‘Lucy, how long have you been tying yourself up in knots over this?’

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