Page 39 of Black Moon

She hopped in after him, setting her chin on his thigh and curling up in the back seat.

An enormous brown alpha shifted then—must’ve been Birch, the teacher. “Gimme a second,” he said to Linden. “I’ll get her things.”

I stared as he walked over to one of the vans, completely naked.

This really wasn’t weird at all—I knew that. Most wolves lived in packs, and given our natures, got well used to the sight of each other’s bare asses.

But I’d grown up in DC. A big pack run in the wilderness was an annual tradition, not monthly. And I’d gone well out of my way not to see anybody naked outside of who I invited to my bedroom. Hell, the Doherty alphas were quick to start growling at anyone who started sniffing around me, even fully clothed—which yes, had always made temptation that much more fun.

This moment felt so much like it should be private, like I wasn’t allowed because I was a stranger. But no one else was acting like that. One of the other betas came up and stood, her arm pressed to mine.

“Glad you were here tonight,” she muttered to me while everyone was shifting, putting on clothes if they didn’t already have them on.

I looked down at her, smiled, and stuck out my hand. “Me too. Colt Doherty.”

“Becca Tartt. Dad runs the grocers.”

“Oh, Isaac! Met him. He’s super nice.”

She smiled at that and nodded eagerly. Even if this wasn’t my pack, to everybody else, it seemed like I had some kind of place here. I didn’t make them nervous or defensive.

After a lifetime of politicking, that was a brand-new feeling.

I glanced over at Birch and, thank all the gods who kept me from staring at his firm backside, he pulled on his jeans first. Then, he grabbed a bundle and stuffed it into the back seat of Linden’s car with Brook and Claud.

All Linden had to do was raise a brow at him when he stood back again, and the guy smiled. When he explained, his voice was low and soft, not like he was trying to keep secrets, but like he didn’t want to startle anyone.

“Think it’s probably best if I leave this to you and the omegas. There’s no way Claud’s leaving his side right this second. If she needs me, she’ll call.”

Wise. The last thing Brook Morgan would want was a bunch of alphas hovering over him in such a vulnerable moment. Even when they meant well, they could be overwhelming.

Everybody spread out, but no one was willing to drive off until Linden led the way. They all wanted to take up the rear, make sure their packmates got safely back to town.

I hesitated, not sure what to do. It felt wrong to let Brook go, wrong to get in my car alone and head off without them. Every instinct in my head was screaming to see them safe, to slide into Linden’s passenger seat and see to it that my pack was okay.

But this wasn’t my pack, and I couldn’t damn well leave my car on the side of the road.

“You’ll be safe?” I asked Linden.

He gave me a short, tense nod, but he didn’t say a word. His eyes were bright and intense, and if he was trying to tell me something with that wide-eyed gaze, I couldn’t begin to guess what it was.

Before I could walk back to my car, Linden grabbed my arm. For a second, he stared into my eyes. When he did move, it was just his throat flexing as he swallowed, his lips thinning and the pink flash of his tongue running between them.

“Can you come to the clinic?” His voice sounded tight. There was no way he could think, for one second, that I’d leave him or Brook or any of the Groves if they needed me that night.

I blinked. Honestly, I hadn’t been sure what I was going to do when I got back to the car. It felt so wrong to abandon Brook, though I barely knew him. I couldn’t imagine going back to the motel to wait, unable to sleep the whole night through until I went begging at Grove House for some kind of news.

“Absolutely,” I said, peeling his hand off my wrist only to give it a tight squeeze. “I’ll follow you there.”

21

Linden

Thankfully, Zeke didn’t give me hell in front of the pack. He gave me a look that said we were going to have a conversation later, but I suspected it was more about why I’d come, rather than the fact that I’d come at all.

It would be hard for him to question the method when the results had been better than our best-case scenario. From the smell, not a single member of the pack was injured. I even forced a head count to make sure no one was missing before we left.

No one missing, and not so much as a hangnail, injury-wise.

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