Page 34 of Wolf Reborn

“Stop...” Gavin wanted to pretend the conversation was about Dez’s leg, or the weather, or literally anything other than Miles. “Stop what, specifically?”

“You did what you did. You’re right, it wasn’t great, but it’s not like you had a good option.” He rolled his shoulders but didn’t turn those knowing black eyes away from Gavin. “But you’re still making it about you, and it’s not anymore. It’s about him now. Miles is the one who has to live with the decision you made. So you have to let him decide what that looks like for him. If it’s with us, with you, that’s great. If not, then we support him however he needs.”

“How am I the alpha of you, again?” Gavin asked. His tone was light, but he was entirely serious.

Dez snorted and lay his head back. “Just because you’re the alpha doesn’t mean you don’t need support. You’re the one who told me that, back when you were my CO instead of my alpha. Keep you honest, you said.”

“You still do.”

With a self-satisfied yawn, Dez shook his head, but he didn’t seem inclined to debate with any heat. “You’re the one who keeps you honest. I just do what you asked, and remind you to do it. Congrats, by the way. Don’t fuck it up, and Miles is going to be good for the pack. I wonder if ‘alpha’s mate’ is a thing.”

Gavin groaned and buried his head in his hands. “Oh no. Don’t say that. Graham will go all wolf scripture and tell us about how Miles is going to magically get knocked up and bear the heir to all wolf kind or something.”

Dez started laughing, and a moment later, it had turned into a full-throated, boisterous thing. As much as he wanted to draw things out, discuss the problems inherent in their power dynamic or remind Dez that he was no one’s messiah, Gavin couldn’t help himself, after a moment, he joined in.

17

The Easy Way

Miles sat in the passenger seat of Dez’s truck, huge and empty but for himself and Sawyer. Everyone else had opted to go in Ash’s car, which made a certain amount of sense.

“Have you guys ever thought about getting some kind of van?”

Sawyer cocked his head but didn’t take his eyes off the road. This must be why Dez was okay with Sawyer driving his truck: he took it very seriously. “What, like a communal pack vehicle? Or like a minivan so we can fit more people in one car?”

“Both, I guess. I mean, taking two cars to do errands is a little much.”

Sawyer cocked his head both ways, then nodded. “I mean, you know we don’t usually all go on these trips, I assume.”

“They just wanted rid of us?” It didn’t feel quite right, and the last thing Miles wanted to do was complain, but he was worried.

Maybe he was losing it or jumping to conclusions about how being a werewolf worked, but he was convinced he could feel Gavin. It was possible he was making things up, but he felt an oppressive heaviness from Gavin’s direction, and he wanted nothing more than to run back to the house and fix it. He couldn’t fix it while he was off running errands with everyone except Gavin.

“No. Well, no and yes.” Sawyer bit his lip and gave a long sigh. “Ash is an alpha, but in a lot of ways he’s... not, not really. He likes taking care of people, but he’s not the guy who’s ever going to make the really hard decisions. Like, you know, biting an unconscious guy without asking his permission because if you don’t, he’s gonna die.”

Miles almost choked on nothing. “Is everyone dancing around this?”

Sawyer gave a snort and shook his head. “Fuck no. Ash and Graham probably don’t even realize what happened. They’re born wolves. Yes, before you ask, so am I, but I didn’t grow up in a wolves-only cult.”

“So Dez and Gavin need to talk about it? Is Gavin in trouble with some kind of werewolf elders? A council?” Miles wouldn’t lie, he didn’t like that idea. He didn’t want Gavin facing any repercussions for making a choice that had saved his life.

Once Sawyer stopped laughing, he shook his head. “Nah. We’re not that well organized as a people. It’s more like neighboring countries who’ve all agreed to abide by similar rules, and we’re all forced to the honor system by the fact that if one douchebag exposes us to humanity, we all die.”

“That makes sense.” It was all too easy to imagine humanity turning on werewolves as something unknown, even if the same werewolves had been their friendly neighbors the day before. Hell, he wished it was harder to imagine. “Okay, so Ash and Graham—and Hannah?—aren’t going to understand.”

“Hannah might. She left her pack and got a shitty crash course on humanity. I don’t know how Ash didn’t end up cynical, but somehow, he went through the same as Dez and Gavin and came out of it looking at the world like a kid on Christmas.” Sawyer slowed down to a near crawl, signaling for almost half a mile before making the turn into the apartment complex where Miles lived. “But generally speaking, no, they’re not gonna understand why there might be an issue. They wouldn’t understand why anyone might not want to be a werewolf.”

“So what’s Dez going to say to Gavin?” That was the only important thing. If Gavin couldn’t be in trouble for having bitten Miles, Gavin’s state of mind was all that mattered. If Dez was going to hurt Gavin, that mattered.

Sawyer considered for a long while as he circled the building to park in Miles’s space. “I won’t lie, he was obviously worried about what happened with you. But it’s also Gavin, so I don’t think Dez has jumped to any conclusions. Gavin would never have purposefully hurt you.”

“He didn’t hurt me at all. He saved my life.”

“By turning it upside down, and without asking if you were okay with that.” Before Miles could give a defensive rebuttal, Sawyer threw up a hand. “Believe me, I know. It’s better to be alive. But your life is still changed, and if Gavin didn’t spend some time thinking about that, he wouldn’t be Gavin. And frankly, I wouldn’t trust him half as much as I do.”

“I wished he’d bitten me on the full moon,” Miles whispered into the chilly cab as Sawyer turned the truck off. The words seemed to echo through the empty air, and Miles flinched.

Sawyer looked over at him, eyes too intelligent and knowing by far. “Maybe you did wish that, but I think now you know better. It’s better like this. This is the same for you, but better for him.”

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