Page 77 of The Good Boys Club

The alphas had finished scooping food onto their plates and were heading back to their places. On the way, Rita smiled and winked at either Clem or me, or both of us.

“And now the successors will eat,” Clem said. Her mouth immediately froze in an “oh” as we both watched Mash push up from his bench. “Oh, fuck,” she hissed under her breath. “Nooooo. No, no, no. There wasn’t any chance you didn’t hear that, did you?”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I already know.”

“You know?!” She pulled on my arm until I turned to face her.

“He sort of told me last night when he was a wolf. He doesn’t know I know, though. I couldn’t . . . I didn’t want to spoil his mood.” Not what I wanted to say.

At that moment, Mash looked over at us. Clem gave a too-obvious wave, and Mash smiled back, without a single modicumof knowledge about our discussion, or about Clem’s crash course in werewolf-feasting hierarchy. He made a heart gesture to me and I flashed him a lazy half smile.

Someone yelled, “Leave some food for the rest of us, Mash.” People laughed.

“What happened? Tell me everything,” Clem said.

“Well,” I began. “There’s not much to tell. He said something to the effect ofI know I’m supposed to be this big old alpha dude . . .” I didn’t finish his sentence. That he couldn’t do it alone. He needed me.

Clem looked at me for a moment, her features travelling from concern to . . . a different kind of concern. A softer worry. Like she was worrying about me. “How do you feel about it?”

Not quite what I expected her to say, and I really didn’t know how to answer that question.

Sad. I was feeling sad. Heartbroken. Mash was more than a friend. More than a kindred spirit. He was my soul mate. My other half. My ride or die. But he didn’t have a choice.

And maybe I wasn’t as important to him, but he loved me.

He was moving seven hours away from me. I would be demoted from daily visits to once in a blue moon weekends. I was going to miss him so fucking much.

Clem seemed to glean whatever she needed from my silence. “You’ll get used to it here.”

I nodded. Wait—

“What do you mean?”

The successors were now seated again, Mash’s plate piled so high it almost mirrored the shape of the mountains at the end of the reserve. He held up a piece of my baklava in one hand, pointed to it with the other, then made a sex face.

“Howling Pines . . . it’s not such a terrible place to live. It might not have the same amenities as the city, but you’ll never breathecleaner air, or eat fresher fish. And the view from the house across the forests and mountains . . . you can’t beat it.”

It took a few moments for the pieces of the puzzle to slot themselves into place. “You mean me living here?”

“Of course.” She said it as though there was aduhat the end of her sentence.

“That’s an option?”

Clem frowned at me. “No, it’s notanoption. It’s literally the only option.”

Oh. Sure. I was Mash’s mate. Of course it was the only option. “Yeah, shit, sorry.”

We continued eating as more than half the remaining wolves—the betas—formed a queue for the food. The only people from Mash’s pack not joining them were the kids, Felix and Juno, and Mash’s sister Alba and her partner.

“Is Alba not a beta?” I asked.

Clem swallowed her mouthful and shook her head. “She didn’t want the responsibility, so she rejected the call. Like your mate, she moved away to the city. She returns to Howling Pines for the big holidays, but she’s not bound to them. But unlike your mate, she had options.”

Suddenly, I didn’t feel much like eating. I should have encouraged Mash to talk about it before. Maybe I could have helped him somehow. Or maybe we could have run away together.

I watched Mash, happily munching on his food, and my heart ached. For a million different reasons. Occasionally, he would look over at me and wink or salute. One time he mouthed, “What?!” and then flipped me off.

Felix pointed at something over Mash’s shoulder and Mash turned to look, and both Felix and Juno stole baklava from Mash’s teetering hoard. Mash laughed and noogied Felix’s head.

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