Page 47 of Black Moon

This early in the morning, it was something of a miracle that anyone answered the door when I knocked, but after less than a minute standing on the porch, Rowan Grove opened the door.

He stood there in the light of their fashionable, cozy living room, rubbing the sleep from his eyes in a pair of flannel pajama pants and a T-shirt from Grove Apple Grove.

“Hi, um, good morning,” Rowan said, blinking at me with a scowl.

So, this was a totally normal thing. Sort of. Except that if any fuckbuddy of mine had come knocking at the Doherty front door, Chase would’ve sent them running with a growl.

Before I could even say, “Good morning, I’m here to bone your dear brother,” Rowan’s eyes cleared.

“You smell like...like Brook,” he accused. His eyes were wide, his nose flared, but he was catching up quick. “And—”

I nodded before he could finish that statement. “I know. Horrible timing. And, um, Linden offered to give me a hand. So, it’s, like, totally embarrassing, but who’s going to pass up a shot at a hot doctor?”

Rowan was still blinking at me, a frown on his face. Briefly, he glanced toward the clinic. My car was there. Linden’s too. And it must’ve been hard for pack to stay away, but he didn't make a move.

I’d heard it was a thing with wolf packs—you pile on the hurt party and take care of them until they were better. It was sweet, and it was foreign. My dad was as likely to exploit a wound as to offer help.

“And Brook’s okay. We, um, we found him last night. Some alpha from their pack must’ve grown a conscience. So he’s at the clinic. He’ll be okay, I think. Eventually.”

He ran a hand through his hair. If not for the fact that Linden was older, a little taller, his jaw a bit broader, Rowan would’ve looked exactly like him, with that thick blond hair and his clean-trimmed face.

He shook himself and seemed to abandon all thought of rushing to the clinic to check on his packmate. “Right. Come on in.”

He stepped back from the door, leaving me to close it after us.

“Linden’s room’s that way.” Rowan nodded through the living room and down a hallway, where the old house seemed to split off into a separate wing. “But can I get you something to drink? We have coffee, orange juice, apple juice, water—”

“A water would begreat.” The last thing I needed was coffee or sugar to get me even more keyed up, but it would be important to stay hydrated. And, well, it felt too weird to crawl into Linden’s room without him, slip between his sheets, bury my face in a pillow that smelled so much like alpha. As much as I wanted to drown in his scent, I was still determined to hold onto the last tenuous strands of my patience and control.

Their kitchen was big and light, full of white cabinets and granite countertops. The fridge was as big as my father’s—so huge. That was probably a thing with alpha-heavy families.

There were clerestory windows that let soft morning light fall over the whole room, so there wasn’t even an overhead light on that morning. They didn’t need one.

Rowan poured me a cold glass of water, and I drank half of it with my bag on my shoulder before he said anything else.

“So Brook, he’s—”

He trailed off, worry shining in his eyes. And this, I figured I could hold it together for.

“He’s bruised pretty bad. And, um, the alpha that took him bit him.” Anybody would know what that meant. Rowan grimaced. “But your brother’s taking care of him, and I think he’ll be okay.”

“Yeah. No, he will be. I’m sure. Brook’s always been...” He tilted his head back and forth for a second. “He took care of his mom and his sisters a lot growing up. He’s been through hard stuff. He’ll make it through this.”

We all kept saying it to each other—that Brook would be okay—but it was nice to hear it from Rowan, backed up by actual reasons. Frankly, I’d just been saying it because it was what everybody needed to hear, including Brook himself.

“Absolutely,” I agreed with a smile, taking another sip.

When I emptied my glass, Rowan held out his hand so he could refill it.

“So you’re going into heat?” he asked bluntly as he passed me another full glass.

I almost choked on my sip. “Well, yeah. I am.”

My whole head felt like it was on fire, embarrassment making my heart race and turning over in my stomach, but Rowan was just watching me calmly.

“That must suck, going into heat in a strange place, surrounded by a strange pack.”

I shrugged. “All through school, it was—god, just try being an omega in a dormitory. Not good. Even though my dad got me a separate room, ugh. It was bad. Anyway, this is...Okay, maybe I could’ve planned better. I honestly didn’t expect to be here this long.”

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