Page 27 of Wolf Lost

Kareni had proven to be a lovely person over the two weeks since they’d started working on the shop. She was excited for them to move in, and she and Asher had bonded over a love of books. She opened the door with a flourish and smiled at them. “I’ve told you, you don’t have to knock, dear. It’s a public store, and we’re going to keep the door open once you get going.”

Ash blushed and motioned to where they were applying the noxious stripping stuff. “We didn’t want to subject you to the smell.”

While she looked a little like she wanted to pinch his cheek, she refrained. “Fair enough. Is there something I can do for you? I have coffee if you haven’t gotten the old espresso machine going yet. You can always come over for some.”

Gavin muttered something about single-serving coffee machines and hell, but no one paid attention.

“The, um, espresso machine is what I wanted to ask about, actually.” He turned and looked at it like he was Steve Irwin and it was a misunderstood member of the animal kingdom. “Do you have any idea how it works?”

She laughed and shook her head. “Oh my goodness, no.” Then she cocked her head to one side consideringly. “But I might have a book for it.”

Asher’s eyes lit up, and he followed her back into the bookstore.

“Don’t think this gets you out of helping,” Sawyer called after him, then realized what he’d done and ducked his head. “Um—”

“Damn right,” Gavin muttered. “More than ten minutes and I’m coming in after you.”

Dez rolled his eyes and kept applying paint stripper, but there was a tiny smile lurking around the corners of his lips.

Warmth filled Sawyer’s chest as he went back to work.

“So the full moon is coming in a couple days,” Gavin said a few seconds later. He was quiet, almost like he didn’t want Asher to hear him over in the bookstore. He also sounded worried.

Sawyer gave his best encouraging smile. “This is only you guys’ second one, huh? Excited?”

Gavin was definitely not excited. He didn’t look nervous, exactly, but something close by it.

“I was just out of the hospital last time,” Dez grumbled. “Barely knew which way was up, let alone where the damn moon was.”

“Ash was a little hesitant to talk about it. He said the pull would be strong, but that we could ignore it.” Gavin—forthright, straightforward Gavin—looked away as though he couldn’t meet Sawyer’s eye. “So we did.”

He wasn’t wrong in thinking that was something strange among wolves, but clearly he thought Sawyer’s reaction was going to be stronger than it was. “You guys don’t have to do anything for the full moon, you know. Just because it’s a tradition for some packs doesn’t mean you have to do it.”

That got Dez’s attention. “Do you want to?”

Truth told, Sawyer had no idea what he wanted. His pack had always gathered for the full moon on his family’s small property. They’d all brought food, and it had been sort of a party. He hadn’t gone the previous month for obvious reasons.

It had been at Mark’s place, for one.

And the thought of a cookout and casual conversation with the people he’d once considered as close as family had turned his stomach.

It seemed a little silly for the Kismet pack in general. A cookout and celebration of four wolves? They could do that any night if they bought some steaks. Well, and someone learned how to cook steaks.

“We could run in our fur,” he suggested. “I used to hear about packs who did that, but mine always called it backward and old fashioned.”

After he said it, he wondered if Dez could run, even on four legs, and cursed himself for mentioning it.

“We do have a lot of property. We could run without having to worry about anyone seeing us,” Gavin said with a smile that was blatantly disingenuous.

“Or we could order pizza, watch some home improvement shows, and call it a night.” Sawyer got distracted by a small whorl in the wood pattern for a moment before continuing back on his previous thought. “New pack, new rules. And you get to decide what the rules are.”

“That’s not entirely true,” a voice said from the front door. They all turned to look at the newcomer—newcomers, actually—and a tiny growl rose in Dez’s chest.

The two men who stood in the doorway were wolves. Betas, Sawyer thought, though it was hard to smell them through the stink of paint stripper. They weren’t from the Holt pack, so the leap of his heart at the sight of them calmed quickly.

“Gentlemen,” Gavin said mildly, motioning them inside. He turned and shared a look with Dez, and while Dez stopped growling, he didn’t stop glaring. “Is there something we can do for you?”

Ash was filling the doorway to the bookstore suddenly, hackles up, and Sawyer wondered if he, too, would start growling.

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