Page 12 of Secret Wolf Baby

“Yeah, there was that one time a guy punched him in the face because he thought it was the same guy who stepped out with his girl,” Trent added.

“I sorted them out,” I said, playing along. “So as long as you don’t plan on hitting me, I don’t care who you think I look like.”

“Maybe,” Saul muttered, continuing to squint at me. After a moment, he gave a short shrug. “Probably my imagination. Old age will do that to ya.”

“Regardless, mind showing us around a bit?” I asked. “See if we’d be a good fit?”

He studied us, his head tilted in interest. I waited, wondering if he would tell us to get the hell out of here or if he would take the bait. After a minute of contemplation, he broke into a charming grin.

“I think I can help you fine gentlemen out with that,” he said.

As he led us around the town, something about him also struck me as familiar. Just small things, like the way he gestured at a building or rubbed his nose, and something about the shape of his eyes. I had been certain I hadn’t seen him before, but now… I wasn’t sure.

I pushed the thought from my mind. I was here on a mission, not to wonder why a guy struck me as familiar. And if I had met him before, that was even worse. The less any of us dwelled on it, the better.

“All in all, the people here are pretty good,” Saul said as he showed us down another street. “Strong community, once people know you. I always like to say we’re all one big happy family.”

Whenever someone said that about a pack, especially someone who helped run things, I’d often found that the “one big happy family” was typically about as far from the truth as possible. The only “family” there was the kind that was enforced by cruelty.

“That’s what I like to hear,” I said. “Kind of place we’re looking for.”

“What about your alpha?” Will asked. “What’s he like? He’s not one of those who likes to roll over for anyone who comes by, is he? Our last alpha was such a pushover that he let everyone walk all over him. It was an embarrassment. He—”

“Hey,” I snapped on cue. “Watch it.”

Will shut up. The instant Saul turned his attention away from Will and back onto me, Will winked. It seemed he hadn’t lost that acting touch that had made him so good at infiltrating.

Chuckling, that laugh oddly familiar, Saul asked, “I’m guessing you three didn’t get along well with the last alpha?” he asked.

“He was a good guy,” I said, pretending to shoot Will an irritated glance. “We just had some disagreements with him about how to handle certain things.”

“Don’t mince words,” Will drawled, folding his arms. “He was a wimp. Let anyone do whatever they wanted and didn’t do anything to assert his dominance. Honestly, it was embarrassing.”

“Let’s just say that we’re looking for a pack whose alpha knows what they’re doing,” I said.

Saul nodded. “I completely understand. A lot of alphas nowadays are too soft, if you ask me. They don’t know what it takes to keep things under control.”

“Exactly,” Trent said, nodding. “We’re the type of people who respect strength in our alpha. Feels like too few people care about that anymore.”

“Don’t worry, you’ve definitely come to the right place,” Saul promised. “I have a funny feeling you guys are going to like Reacher. He’s the kind of guy that everyone respects. And he’s certainly got strength in spades.” He suddenly glanced over to the side and instantly straightened. “Ah, and here’s just the man to tell you all about it. Reacher!”

A large shifter with graying hair and messy stubble turned his head at the name. He gave a brief nod of acknowledgment and strolled toward us.

“Glad you’re here,” Saul said when Reacher came to a halt next to him. “Looks like we might have some new recruits for the pack.”

Reacher raised his eyebrow. A long pause followed the statement as the alpha looked at each of us. His eyes lingered on me before he finally said, “That so? Where are you guys from?”

“Redstone pack, a few hours from here,” I lied.

“Long way to go for a new pack,” he mused.

I shrugged, trying to keep my expression indifferent. “Nothing tying us down there. Why not try a new area?”

He nodded, looking us up and down. For a moment, I worried we’d been made, that our cover was blown and we were about to get kicked out of town. It would mean the mission was over. On one hand, going home would be nice, but I wasn’t the kind of person who would back out of a mission before it was complete.

I waited to see what Reacher’s next move would be, already calculating next steps in case things went sideways. Itturned out to be unnecessary, though, because a moment later, that suspicious look turned into a smile.

“In that case, why don’t you three come into my office?” Reacher suggested. “I’m sure we can have a nice long chat about whether you three would be comfortable here. Saul, why don’t you come as well?”

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