Page 123 of The Beta's Heart

Following their scent trail into the woods near the alpha house, I let my oldest brothers know what was going on, just in case they wondered why I was wandering around on their property.

Since Jay and I are at the alpha offices, let Mase or Cole know if you need help,Wyatt linked back for all of them, sounding unconcerned, and I smacked my lips at him.Why so worried, Periwinkle? They’re nearby, still on pack territory, and no one is picking up on anything but the usual silliness coming from them.

Because you know as well as I do that neither of them have the sense the Goddess gave a goose!I sassed back, quoting one of Dad’s favorite sayings.

Of course, that only made him and Jay giggle, but Mase sighed and said he and Cole would be out to help me in a minute, so I blew a raspberry at the other two rascals and closed the link.

As I walked a little further, the rich smell of wet earth tickled my nose and wolfy giggles reached my ears. I followed the noise, weaving through the trees until I came upon a small clearing where I found River and Sid rolling around in an enormous mud puddle, the muck splattered everywhere as they wrestled, their fur absolutely caked with the sticky stuff.

“River! Sid!” I called out, exasperated. “What on earth are you two doing?!”

They froze, then whipped around faster than a hiccup to stare at me. River’s face was completely covered, only his golden eyesvisible as they blinked innocently up at me, and Sid, equally muddy, gave me a shameless grin.

Hi, mate!River said with a littletoomuch excitement.We find mud!

“I can see that,” I replied, trying to suppress a smile. “You two are a mess. Tyler and Ash are going to either bust a gut laughing at you or burst a blood vessel scolding you.”

But mud fun.Sid tilted his head, looking puzzled.It cool and squishy!

I had to laugh at his logic.

“Yes, it’s fun, but it’s going to take forever to get out of your fur. Come on, babies. Let’s head home and get started.”

Then River and Sid exchanged a devilish glance and, next thing I knew, I was flat on my back in the ‘fun, cool, squishy’ mud that seeped into my clothes amazingly fast.

“River! Sid!” I shouted, but their laughter drowned me out, their joy too infectious for me to be mad. After flailing around for a bit, I managed to sit up, grimacing at the wet sucking noise the mud made as it finally released me. “Okay, okay, you got me, but now we’reallin trouble.”

Sorry, mate.River looked at me with wide, apologetic eyes.We just playing. Me good boy. Siddy good boy, too!

“Yeah, yeah, you’re both good boys,” I sighed. “The very best good boys.”

Then a familiar voice rang out from the edge of the clearing.

“You three look like you were dipped in dark chocolate pudding.”

I turned to see Mase, arms crossed and eyebrows raised, with Cole beside him trying—and failing—to keep a straight face.

Pudding!the pups yodeled together.Pudding, pudding, pudding!

“Well, I found them,” I said, gesturing to the mud-covered wolves. “And they decided I had to join in on the fun.”

Cole couldn’t hold back any longer and burst out into loud guffaws. Thankfully, Mase stepped forward, extending a hand, and I took it. As he effortlessly pulled me to my feet, I cut my eyes to the pups and saw them nodding at each other with gleams of mischief in their eyes before they started to creep up on Mase from behind.

“Don’t do it,” he said before I could warn him.

Those eldest brother instincts kicking in,I thought with a chuckle.Man’s got eyes on the back of his head.

Do what, Masey?Sid asked innocently, even tilting his head to one side, but his tongue lolled and his tail wagged like crazy, giving himself away.

“You know what.”

River and Sid looked at each other, then at me, their expressions a mix of disappointment and hope that I’d help them.

“No, pups. That’s enough now,” I said gently.

Awww!they pouted.

Despite the hour of work ahead of me, I couldn’t help but smile. They might be troublemakers, but they wereourtroublemakers, and I wouldn’t trade them for any other wolves in the world.

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