Page 59 of Black Moon

Brook huffed, but it came out like a short laugh. He shook his head. “You chose a good guy to spend it with—Linden. The Groves are...well, they can be attentive.”

Staring hard at him, I blinked. “Have you—?”

He started. “With Linden? Oh, god. No. No. Never. His brother Aspen and I—we dated. A long time ago. But he was...”

While gazing into the center of my chest, he got a far-away look in his eyes. I bit my lip to hide a grin.

“That good, huh?”

Brook flushed, sinking back into the pillows. He shrugged. “We were kids. What did I know?”

It seemed to me like he knew an awful lot, if he could still get that wistful look in his eyes about an alpha after suffering what he’d just gone through.

I brushed my finger along the curve between his thumb and pointer. “If you ever want to talk—about anything—you can absolutely talk to me, Brook. I just want to make sure you know that, first off.”

He nodded, dropping his eyes again, but since he’d left his hand in mine, I figured I hadn’t offended him too much yet.

“And there are other resources too. Like, I have a therapist I see twice a month. It really helped with—god, I don’t know. I felt kind of lost in the whole Doherty alpha fog.”

“Like...Senator Doherty? That guy?”

I nodded. “That guy is my father. And—and from the outside, he looks great. And from the inside, he is sometimes great. And not everything is all the time great, which, duh. But I can say with complete certainty that what you’re going through right now is the complete opposite of great.”

He scoffed, and his smile was thin and his eyes were wet, but he kept my gaze this time. I squeezed his hand again.

“All I’m really trying to say, is you can talk to me or a therapist or anyone or not talk at all, but you’re not alone in this. The pack isn’t going to leave you to deal with it on your own, and neither am I. So...that’s it. Way too many big words from me. Woof.”

As over the top as I felt, Brook was pressing his lips together tight, nodding fast. “Thanks, Colt.”

“Absolutely.”

Brook looked past my shoulder, and I twisted to see Skye there holding a little case in his hand.

“Your mom brought a bunch of stuff over. Left this,” Skye muttered. “I was wondering if you wanted to play that racing game with me?”

Brook cocked a brow at me, but I held my hands up. “That’s all you two. I’m no good at all with the pointy clicky stuff. But let me know when you want to watchDirty Dancingand eat junk food—I’ll be there for that in two seconds.”

And that was how Skye Johnson, being the industrious young man that he was, figured out how to set a Nintendo Switch up on Linden’s small clinic TV, and the doctor himself lamented ever being able to get to the Weather Channel again.

31

Linden

“But how do I fix it when you’re done?” I asked, looking at the mess of cords dubiously.

“I’ll fix it,” Skye said with a deep sigh.

Did it really make me someone’s grandfather, checking the weather on the TV before I left the house? Given the look on Skye’s face, those pursed lips and single quirked eyebrow, I thought maybe yes. I suspected he was about to call me grandpa.

“I’m going to go over to the Grille and grab lunch,” Colt interrupted. The twinkle in his eye told me he knew exactly what I was thinking. And I was probably right. “How does everyone feel about grilled cheese? I hear theirs is amazing.”

“Mmm,” Brook sighed. “And their tomato and roasted red pepper soup. It’s the best.”

“I can always get behind Wanda’s grilled cheese and tomato soup,” I agreed instantly, both because it was true, and because anything that made Brook feel more at home was important.

Colt looked to Skye and waited. For a moment, Skye bit his lip nervously. “If she’ll make it on whole wheat. Just this once. It really does sound amazing.” Decision made, his cheeks flushed pink with the absolute wickedness of eating something off his diet, he grinned at all of us. “Racing and junk food. Perfect afternoon, right?”

“Perfect,” Brook agreed, laying a comforting hand on Skye’s shoulder.

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