Page 40 of Wolf Forsaken

"Ivy!" Sara squealed as Ivy picked her up in a bear hug.

"Manny!" Cole had a huge grin on his face and pulled Manny into an awkward hug with lots of back slapping.

It seemed everyone was coming together at once, a cacophony of voices in the once quiet room.

Looking over my shoulder to where Xander and I had been snuggling, I found him missing, the television still playing the movie. I looked around, just catching his back as he went down a hall.

"Now that we have the brains of the pack back, let's get going on contacting our members." Cole gave Sara a hug and then turned to me. "Go get that laptop."

I was going to ignore his playful jab that Sara was the brains. I was just as capable of sending out emails too, but Sara was better at how to word things. Plus, we both knew who in the pack might side with Dante over Cole.

"But Xander..." I looked to the hall he'd disappeared down.

"He said not to bother him." Ivy put her hand on my arm. "He'll be fine. Just too many people and too much noise."

I sighed and went to get the laptop from upstairs when all I wanted was to make sure he was okay.

* * *

"I sent the email.Let's hope we picked the right wolves." Cole stretched his arms over his head and then folded them on top of it. We'd been discussing for an hour which pack members were most likely not following Dante's ploy and had a working dinner.

"You might just have to take him out." Silas had been nearby, but wasn't involved in our decisions on who to email.

"I'll take him out if Cole doesn't." Ivy put her napkin on her plate. "Are all wolves just born to be good cooks? Well, besides Silas and me?"

Cole snorted a laugh and put his arm around her. "I'm sure your food is edible. But I agree, that food was really good, Bone. If you ever get sick of this asshole, you're welcome in my pack." He nodded his chin in Silas's direction.

Bone was an excellent cook, although there were some grumbles about how long it took him to cook. Not as good as me, but I wasn't complaining.

"Once we get a good read on the pack, we can solidify our plans. The Tahoe pack is sending reinforcements to help in the next few days. So now we're just going to have to be patient." Sara stood and looked around. "Where will Manny and I be sleeping?"

"Manny and you?" My eyes lifted from the laptop and landed on Manny, who was staring up at Sara with a goofy look on his face. What the hell was going on? "Manny? What is she talking about?"

I was trying to keep my cool, but was having a hard time not lunging over the table and asking him what he was doing with her. Manny was a good guy, but not for my sister.

He looked at me and rubbed his jaw. "Well see, we can share a bed now because we're together."

I stood, the chair I was in falling backward. "No. You can't."

Sara rolled her eyes and stood with a wince. Her prosthetic must have been bothering her or she was having phantom pains again. "Yes, we can. We're grown adults. And besides, you're shacking up with a woman and three other men now, so you have no business worrying about my sex life."

"You two can take the room upstairs and we'll sleep in another room." Ivy grinned when Silas protested. "There's plenty of floor space in the room with the bunks to make one giant mattress."

"How long has this been going on?" When Manny shrugged in response, I leaned over the table and got in his face. "If you hurt her, I swear I'll-"

"You'll do nothing, Elias. Stop being overprotective. We're having fun." She smiled when Manny stood and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Goodnight, everyone. Thanks for dinner."

They headed up the stairs, and I turned to Cole. "Can you believe that?"

"They flirt all the time. I don't see why you're so surprised." Cole laughed. "I'm not ready for bed yet. One of those beanbags has my name written on it though."

I shut the laptop and looked over at the hallway leading to the other rooms. "I'm going to go check on Xander."

"What's his deal?" Silas started to help clear off the table from dinner dishes, but stopped and looked at Ivy for an answer.

"He showed up at Cole's house, stuck in his wolf form. He says he was taken with the rest of his pack." Ivy piled four plates on top of the four Silas already had. I hoped he didn't drop them.

"Taken by who?" A line formed between his brows. "And they took the whole pack? How is that possible?"

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