Page 21 of To Challenge a Wolf

“You could say that.” April grinned and tugged Malachi’s hand.

“Okay, so, I know among most wolves, their life mate doesn’t have to acclimate to them. It’s sort of like, if they try to, nothing happens?”

April nodded.

“But with his extra three percent of wolf DNA, did you have to acclimate after all?”

“No. He lowered his shield, and I had no reaction.”

The line had resumed moving forward, and people filled their plates. Vivian remained in place between Willow and April, so Rhett did the same. Screw his plan to keep his distance. Yeah, the plan had felt important before she arrived, but it was stupid and immature, and anyway he couldn’t remember why it had seemed like a life-or-death matter not to interact with Vivian.

She found a spot on a log bench across the fire pit from April and Malachi. Rhett sat beside her and hoped no one would notice.

Of course, immediately April said, “I understand y’all go way back.”

“We sort of grew up together,” Vivian said. “Then we lost track of each other. But we were good friends back then, and I wanted to know Rhett was safe and happy.” She nodded to him, then turned her attention to her food as though there were nothing else to tell.

April was no slouch when it came to reading people and circumstances. Her pale blue gaze moved from Vivian to Rhett and back again. She nodded. “I wouldn’t want to be left wondering about someone I cared about.”

“Exactly,” Vivian said.

“I hope our pack will meet your criteria for safe and happy.” Her words held real kindness, not a speck of sarcasm.

Vivian blinked, her scent spiking with quick surprise. She was more at home with snark than with April’s soft sincerity, but she didn’t prickle in response. Instead she smiled. A bit of stiffness left Rhett’s shoulders. Her smile was still…well, beautiful. Especially when she turned it on him, and a sliver of mischief showed in her eyes.

“Well, Rhett? Are you safe and happy here?”

She’d tried to find out the answer yesterday too, and he’d been angry and rude. While he tried to figure out why, words popped out of his mouth. “Yeah, Viv, I am.”

At his simple answer, her dark eyebrows shot up toward her spiky hair. Before she could reply, Ezra and Willow joined them, but they hadn’t brought their plates of food. Both their signature scents—Willow’s lime and Ezra’s cedar—were so thick with stress, Rhett tasted them at the back of his throat. Ezra could be an anxious wolf at times, but this smelled different.

With a concerned growl, Malachi stood to meet them. “What is it?”

“Can you hear that, Mal? That motor?”

Instinctively Rhett focused his own hearing, but the only sounds around him were the usual ones: conversations, several of which had turned to Ezra in the last few seconds; a giggling twin of Jeremy and Lucy’s; a heavy truck passing by without turning onto Lunar Lane; various chirping birds all around him; a chittering squirrel several hundred feet away, safe from the wolves at the top of a tree.

The alpha stood silent for a moment, then shook his head. Maybe Ezra’s hearing really did beat Malachi’s.

“It’s above us,” Ezra said. “I mean,highabove us. Above a hawk’s flight, I think. But—shoot, I just lost it again. It goes in and out, but I’m telling you, something’s hovering up there. Some kind of tech.”

“The drone,” Rhett said, on his feet so fast he nearly sent his food flying, remembered to pick up his plate in the nick of time. “Malachi, they’re back. They’re watching us.”

“Don’t look up,” Malachi rumbled when Willow’s head began to tilt upward. Instantly she froze beside Ezra.

Trevor loped toward them, followed by Aaron.

“Has anybody’s sat phone pinged?” Aaron said. “Mine hasn’t.”

Malachi shook his head.

Rhett said, “Not mine. Robert?”

From across the yard, easily heard by all wolves present, Robert said, “No, nothing.”

“What do we do?” Trevor was nearly bouncing on his feet. His eyes flashed with instant rage that crackled in his scent and only grew hotter when Kelsey joined the growing cluster of people around the fire pit. “Mal, we’ve got to go out and find them.”

“Ease up, Trev,” Kelsey said. “Let Malachi think.”

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