Another guy was sprawled out on his back on the dirt, snoring. He had light skin and crazy brown hair cut around his chin, concealing most of his face.
A fourth was laying across a bench on his stomach, his head resting on his arm while he stared at the fire. His hair was dark, falling long past his shoulders in waves that made me just a little bit envious, and his skin was tan.
The last guy I didn’t recognize had his hair done in what I thought might be short locs. He had dark skin, and was relaxing on a metal, outdoor chair next to an identical one that Ethan occupied. Both of them were roasting marshmallows, and there were huge boxes and bags of graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolates on the table between them.
Graham was in another metal chair, across the fire from the guys roasting s’mores. He was leaning back pretty far, his shoulders slumped and his chin resting against his chest like he was exhausted.
There was an empty bench next to his chair. I wondered if Nico usually occupied it, or if they all just sat wherever they wanted to every night.
All of the guys were shirtless, their only pieces of clothing varying from athletic shorts to sweats. None of them seemed to care how they looked or what they were wearing, and they were all spotted with dirt and/or mud.
They all looked up when we approached.
A few nodded.
A few waved.
The snoring guy kept snoring.
The guy making s’mores with Ethan didn’t look up from the fire.
“Guys, this is Abby. Abby, these are the guys. You already know Ethan and Graham.”
Ethan saluted me.
Graham dipped his head again.
He listed off the rest of their names, and I tried hard to commit them to memory. Teaching had given me some practice with that, at least.
The snoring guy was Wyatt.
The dude with the perfect wavy hair was Connor.
The s’mores guy who didn’t acknowledge me was Finn. I was pretty sure he was the one who disliked women the most, followed by Wyatt.
The guy with the buzzed head was Austin, and he was snuggling Enzo.
“Welcome to the Feral Pack. We’re all smiles out here,” Ethan drawled.
Finn elbowed him in the gut hard enough to make him grunt.
He coughed, and threw out a thumbs-up for emphasis. “It’s great. You’ll love it.”
Something told me they’d already been threatened not to be shitty to me.
“Do you all live around the lake?” I asked, forcing myself to try to be at least a little bit friendly.
“Yeah, we live in the cabins,” Austin said, nodding toward the buildings. “There are a few larger lodging spaces in that direction for the wolves who are staying while they go through lessons.” He gestured behind him.
Nico led me gently toward the open bench, and I went with him, sitting down at his side. His arm remained on my shoulders, and I couldn’t help but lean in a little.
Multiple sets of eyes followed the motion.
Most of the guys seemed to relax a little in response to it. I imagined they were worried they would have another rejected wolf joining them soon.
“How long do people usually stay here?” I asked.
“Depends on the person, and how much they hate their wolf. We’ve got a few mated pairs who’ve been here eight or nine months, on and off. A few bastards have been here every weekend since we started,” Austin explained.
