Page 24 of Black Moon

Then, he left me alone with Skye Johnson, who had a sly smile on his young face.

“You like Linden,” he accused quietly.

The man himself was in the other room, cleaning equipment. I could barely hear him shuffling around, but he was out of sight.

“Doctor Grove?” I asked, grinning back. “Absolutely. I always go for men who are at least ten percent terrified of me.”

Skye pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, blinking at me with wide eyes. “Really? Is that, like, an actual thing?”

“Oh yes.” I crossed my bad leg across the other and leaned forward in my seat. “Honestly, the funnest alphas are the ones you can make jump.”

Skye snickered. “Sounds like that’s why you’re single.”

“By choice,” I agreed. I still had my bag, as ever, and reached for my notebook. “So, can you show me that website he was talking about?”

* * *

Turned out, Skye put more time into his health and wellness than anybody I’d ever met, even Chase—and my brother liked nothing so much as staring at his abs in the mirror every morning before he slipped into his bespoke suit.

He had tables full of recipes and meal planning, an activity log, the kinds of vitamins and supplements that seemed to help keep the Condition at bay most.

Linden Grove was right—when it came to this stuff, there was nobody better to talk to than an omega going through it, even if the other option was a medical professional.

“This is great, Skye. Really, I don’t know that we even need my article with you already doing all the work.”

The guy turned pink and fidgeted with his glasses again. “Well, I’m just starting, and we don’t really know that what I do works for everyone. Linden said the low-carb thing helps, but only sometimes? And, I don’t know...”

I reached over and touched his shoulder. “Skye, I honestly think what you’re doing here is incredible, and if I ever get the Condition, I’m really glad I’d have somebody so knowledgeable to talk to about it.”

Poor kid made a choking sound, so I figured that was enough putting him on the spot. But as I started to gather my things, he cleared his throat. “Are you coming to The Cider House tonight? There’s...There’s supposed to be a pack meeting. Practically everybody’ll be there, so maybe there are some other omegas you could talk to.”

Okay, so I wasn’t pack. There was no reason for Linden or Skip or anybody else to tell me when, where, and how they conducted their business. But this was an opportunity, and Skye, at least, didn’t seem offended by the very idea of me showing up.

“Well, I’ve got to eat dinner sometime. Might as well be there.”

He beamed. “Good. I hope your article comes together.”

I nodded. “I’m sure it will. You’ve helped a ton, really. If it’s okay, maybe I could have you look it over before I send it to my editor? I don’t want to get anything wildly wrong or misrepresent us.”

“Oh. Um, yeah. Yeah, sure. I could do that.”

“And I’d obviously credit you for all your knowledge and assistance.”

Again, he got a little squirmy, but this kid was charming. Damn if I didn’t get a kick out of blowing air into his sails.

“Um, thanks, Colt.”

“Absolutely. See you tonight?”

He nodded, and I escaped the clinic without even seeing Linden Grove’s shadow again.

* * *

Skye was right—it seemed like a huge number of Grove wolves were at The Cider House. Which meant, obviously, that Skip Chadwick was there, at a long table, surrounded by every alpha and beta under thirty that he could find.

I slipped into a booth by the wall, not wanting to draw attention or dissuade the pack from seeing to their business. The second he caught sight of me, though, Skip was out of his seat, sliding into the bench beside me.

“I didn’t see you around town yesterday, Colt,” he said, his arm across the back of the bench as he leaned in toward me.

---