Her face softens, and she kisses me, slipping her tongue into my mouth and taking everything else I have to say with her lips.

Like I said. Fucking perfect.

* * *

RAVEN

Adler and I wander back to the library a while later. His hand dwarfs mine, but my fingers seem to perfectly link with his. I’d never really thought I’d be the type of girl that likes to hold hands, but with him, it feels so right.

“You’re cute when you blush,” he says quietly, placing his hand on the door to the library and side-eyeing me.

Wrinkling my nose, I shake my head. “Thanks.”

He sucks in his bottom lip and his eyelids lower. It doesn’t take a genius to guess what he’s thinking about.

Who needs sleep? Another round sounds like fun...Joan trails off.

As much as I’d love that, I’m actually pretty sore. I think he broke my uterus.

She snorts.Those are aftershocks.

“We should sleep.” Adler rubs his free hand over his scruff. “Come on.”

Snatching my hand, he leads me over to our section of the room, making sure I lie down before he goes to his own bed. Carter clears his throat, and I glance at him, cringing with guilt. He grins and rolls his eyes. He mutters something to Adler, and I catch the wordslucky bastard. I fight off a smirk and bury my head in the pillow, trying to steady my fluttering heart enough to relax.

Chapter 9

EVERETT

A golden eagle swoops in front of us. We snap our teeth at it, not wanting to hurt him but warning him to keep his space. We recognize him as pack, and while he doesn’t have four paws like we do, he’s kin.

Something skittering through the brush catches our attention, but the eagle flies in front of us again, only this time the bird shifts into a man. With a sharp yip, we shift back to our two-footed form.

“What the hell, man?” I glance at the canopy, grateful the leaves keep out the mid-morning sun. I’m already hot from running, and the final weeks of summer are always hot.

Adler narrows his eyes on me before shooting his gaze around me. Three other wolves shift, and we’re one big, happy, bipedal family.

“Why’d we stop?” Carter asks, glancing between me and Adler as he walks to stand next to the nurturer.

It’s slightly annoying he’s decided to subconsciously side with the fae even though he has no idea what is going on, but his bias is to be expected. Unlike an alpha, the nurturer doesn’t command people’s attention by force. We’re all drawn to him as a leader when the luna isn’t around because he’s the one who can see past the bullshit of wolf hierarchies and make rational decisions.

Since I wasn’t born a shifter, taking a step back doesn’t bother me as much as it would a natural born, but submission still grates slightly. Not enough to piss me off, though.

“I found Raven last night in the gym locker room.”

“Yeah, we could all smell what happened down there.” Brayden scoffs, and his arm brushes against mine.

At least he’s not first in line to be Adler’s sidekick like Carter.

Okay, maybe Iama little bitter, but I’m working on dealing with the new dynamics.

Adler sighs and rubs the scruff on his chin. “I found her collapsed on the tile because she’d gone to the Other World.”

Draco hums cryptically.

I can’t tell if he’s wondering why we care about this story, or if he’s wondering why Raven would go to the Other World.

“She goes there sometimes,” I say with a shrug. “I’m assuming she was okay since you ended up having sex with her.”