Page 13 of War Games

“So, Landon was being an asshole. I mean, we all know he had it in him,” Carey said as she fell onto the couch on the other side of her father.

“Language,” Heath muttered. I shifted around to put my feet on his lap and laughed harder as Carey did the same from the other side. He gestured at our feet, looking between us. “I am an Alpha werewolf reduced to an ottoman.”

“Well, Dad… she’s a werecat, and I’m a human, so… I don’t know why we need to care about you being an Alpha werewolf,” Carey teased, grinning as she spoke.

I needed to slap a hand over my mouth to stop from hooting. Heath slowly turned to his daughter one more time, and I didn’t have it in me to warn her. Heath grabbed her ankle, holding her leg before she thought to pull both her feet away. She screamed in laughter as he tickled her. Her free leg kicked, and her bowlof popcorn was tossed in an attempt to protect herself, though it was an ineffective defense.

I watched, trying to turn my laughter into giggles, so he didn’t turn on me, too. As the movie started, Heath cleaned up popcorn while Carey and I leaned on each other. I fixed her hair, pushing it from her laughter-flushed face, her cheeks warm, her smile endless. Heath tried to wedge himself back in the middle, and we eventually let him.

The next time Landon crossed my mind, I wasn’t angry.

I understood him.

Beyond that, I hated that I was wondering if he was right about me when he stormed off.

5

CHAPTER FIVE

Iwas up with Heath at the same time we rolled out of bed every day now, which was too damn early for me. I missed the schedule where I used to stay up too late and got to sleep in. I had gotten used to waking up early for a little while, but some mornings, all I wanted was to stay in bed. The real problem was that Heath was too busy to stay in bed with me and make those mornings more fun right now. He was going to be out with the pack right after breakfast, and he couldn’t be late for a bit of fun. It was a bad example for his werewolves, who showed up on time because he set the time.

I was a werecat, so I wondered if that was what possessed me to look at him this morning and act ridiculously.

“We could make it quick,” I purred in his ear while we were both in the bathroom. While I knew he would regretfully turn me down, there was a thrill knowing he’d say yes if it weren’t for his stalwart need to be as good as he asked the pack to be. It was very clear to me he’d say yes, and it certainly wasn’t from the heavy-lidded stare he was giving me.

“You know they can tell when you do this to me in the morning, right?” he asked, leaning in, his lips brushing against mine.

“Oh, really?” I played innocent, but it was hard not to smile for very long, and I didn’t feel all that strong this morning, letting it betray my innocent expression.

“I wish there were a day I could just…” He trailed off. “If I say anymore, you will finally succeed in making me late.”

“A girl has to try, right? It’s not like I’m getting any other workouts with you. I need to take them where I can get them.”

“You are in a mood this morning.” Now, he was struggling to keep a straight face, the heat in his eyes telling me that he wanted me as much today as the day he first came over, and we gave up pretending we weren’t into each other. “And I do believe I made sure you broke a very good sweat last night. I remember your heart racing and the heavy breathing, actually.”

That was true.

“I think it was such a good workout for you that you were falling asleep right as it was finishing up, and I had to do all the cleanup,” he continued.

He wasn’t wrong.

It was all the pent-up energy of Carey not leaving us be, not just through one movie but three, with two of them after dinner. He had to send her to bed for the first time in a long time. Normally, Carey knew when to step out and go do her own thing. The moment she went to her own room, he remembered all of those things he was intending to do to me.

It was a good night for me, and it was the only reason I didn’t dream about Alaska and what happened there, not that I felt like I could tell Heath about that.

“Now, with that little rewriting of history you were trying to do corrected, I am going to make you breakfast. You needprotein after last night. Or you need it for tonight. Take your pick.”

I snorted as he walked around me, hitting my butt as he went.

I finished getting ready for the day and met him downstairs, where Carey was already waiting for breakfast. Two faces were missing, though. In recent weeks, Landon and Dirk were here for breakfast so Landon and Heath could discuss how each member of the pack was doing, if they were improving, what their strengths were like, and more. Dirk joined in, offering ways to improve the digital security to complement the werewolves, which was ever-evolving. I always got a bit lost and preferred to eat my breakfast with Carey, pretending as if none of it mattered to us. If I paid too much attention, I got cranky, knowing it wasn’t helping me solve my problems after Alaska. It was protection, which was good, but it wasn’t solving anything for me.

Noticing that Landon wasn’t there made me think even more about what he had said to me the afternoon before. It made me think about why I didn’t mention the comment to Heath, who frowned when he saw the empty seats where Landon and Dirk normally were.

“Carey, what are you planning on doing today?” I asked, trying to ignore the absence of her brother.

“Well, Dirk and I were planning on going to the gun range when the werewolf training started,” she explained. “With no classes today, it’s time for me to get comfortable with something to protect myself. Once I turn eighteen, I can carry, and I probably should.”

“She’s used a gun before,” Heath said quickly.

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