Page 159 of Altius
My mind went blank, save for a vein throbbing in my temple with such percussive force I thought I might be having an aneurysm.
“What are you talking about?”
How could there be evidence of other encounters between Morgan and Garvey that I didn’t know about, but Pack Redmond did?
“You know,” Wyatt said, thumping the kicker against his palm as he continued to pace. “The video Joaquin took the day of Morgan’s seizure.”
Joaquin opened the fridge, rummaging through the drink options. “When she turned Garvey’s balls into stethoscope decorations.”
“Yeah,” Alijah said, still focused on the laptop screen. “We had a pack meeting about it. Don’t you remember?” He froze and slowly raised a pair of dark, trembling eyes to meet my fuming gaze. “Oh.”
Joaquin shut the fridge and turned around, giving me a warning look. It would have been more effective if he wasn’t holding a container of cheese cubes and a sports drink.
But if they were going to exclude me, why should I bother to play nice?
“You all had a pack meeting about my girlfriend—”
“Careful.” Wyatt whipped around, pointing the cat toy at my face. “You’re not her only boyfriend, remember?”
“As if you ever let me forget.”
Owen cleared his throat, instantly bringing the temperature in the room down five degrees. “Save the possessive posturing for later.”
Frustrated, I slammed my hand against the island and stared at the ceiling, counting down from ten—when all I really wanted to do was pummel something.
Wyatt’s symmetrical, unfairly perfect face was begging for it.
“Alijah,” Owen continued, as if the matter at hand was no more important than a minor meeting detail, “can you upload your evidence to a shared cloud folder?”
“Just finished,” he replied. “You should all have email invites.”
Joaquin plopped down beside his mate, rubbing the back of his neck while he leaned in to study the contents of the folder.
“Nice work, babe. I’ll upload my video in a minute.” He nudged the drink and cheese cubes closer to Alijah. “Now eat something, please.”
“We had food on the plane.”
“Which makes me doubly determined to feed you.” Joaquin twisted off the cap of the drink and held it out.
Alijah begrudgingly took it. “No, I mean like real food. I stopped by one of those grab-and-go places at the airport and got wraps, spicy chips, and lots of water. Needed to make sure Morgan ate something before taking her meds and passing out. She was exhausted and just wanted to snuggle.”
Our heads swiveled in unison.
Ignoring our probing gazes, Alijah tried to mask his darkening cheeks by downing half the drink in one go.
Wyatt sidled up against the island and thwacked the side of my thigh with the kicker toy. “Looks like we’ve got company.”
Alijah choked, coughing into his hand while Joaquin rubbed his back.
“And you’re lucky to have him.” Joaquin flashed a triumphant leer in our direction. “Which means I’m not far behind.”
Wyatt and I exchanged a glance of commiseration.
Getting Morgan to ourselves would be tougher from now on, but at least I’d enjoyed a few months of being her only boyfriend. Wyatt had only managed three weeks before the next addition.
“I did my waiting, just like she asked,” Alijah said, his coughs morphing into a squeaky hiccup. “And we’re going to take things slow. I’m not going to move in on the sly like someoneelseI could mention.”
Wyatt puffed out his chest. “Hey, she’s my—”
