Page 24 of Haze

Through everything, Thalia has been incredible. She’s coordinating pack functions and the renovation build practically flawlessly. It must be from being raised a politician’s daughter, or maybe she has the kind of grace for this, but Thalia is a phenomenal Luna. Everyone loves her, and where I always thought the cliché phrase, her face lit up a room, was something reserved for dead people, Thalia is truly becoming a light for the pack.

But there are still a lot of things she doesn’t know because she wasn’t born into this life. You can’t become an expert on wolf culture in six months. Even after being gifted one, in the messed-up way it happened, it would be impossible for anyone to simply catch up out of pure will.

It’s a little selfish on my part too. It’s much easier to hide my wolf and her flaws when standing beside Thalia because The Leviathan gifted his mate an Alpha wolf. As long as she and I are in the same place, there are no questions about why my wolf is so quiet.

My wolf, she doesn’t get to exist. I run with the smallest group of wolves possible: only Cade, Deacon, and Thalia. The pack hasn’t seen my wolf. I don’t know how long I can hide her, but I need better control first.

“Ms. Alden?” The first internet installer dude calls my name.

“I’m in the great room.” I can’t be bothered to hunt both installers down.

“Do you have a computer to check connections? We double-checked the connection on our end and all the boosters, but to be safe, please?” The tall one finds me.

Opening my laptop, I find a few new options for Wi-Fi. Thank fuck. The dude goes over the security settings we provided, and I fire a text to Cade’s second favorite lackey, Adam, to come and finish the security system things.

Habitually, I open my email browser and wait as my screen loads. My heart stops.

I jump from the couch and hurry the technicians out the door, thanking them with smiles all around, then close the door and rush back to the great room.

Before I’m even fully settled back down with my computer, I click the email and stare at the words on the screen. Words I’ve been working to earn for as long as I can remember.

I know my position as a second-semester freshman was a massive exception to the general requirements of the laboratory and the research projects. But I’ve always made grades and put in the hours. I’ve wanted to work with the program developing birth control for wolves since I was old enough to understand how babies were made.

Despite the fact that Cade cuts a sizable check to the university every year, I’ve worked my ass off every day to get to this point. I have more to prove than everyone else. And I’ve shown at every point that I belong in the lab as much as the tenured researchers and professors. This confirms it.

“Lena?” Deacon calls from somewhere in the big open space of the house.

“Yeah, Dea?” I answer loudly, without taking my eyes off the screen.

He walks over and sits next to me. “You’re okay, right? You’ve been sitting there staring at your computer longer than normal.”

A glance at the clock and then the email’s time stamp says it’s been an hour that I’ve been reading through the paperwork. Uff dah.

I blink dumbly at him. He’s generally the first person I tell everything anyway. Who else will I tell?

“I got approved to run a trial on a birth control pill.”

“Why are you not jumping off the walls?” Deacon squeezes and shakes my shoulder gently. His smile lights up so easily.

I shake my head as the overwhelm sinks in. “I’ve clearance to run a trial on three people to test the side effects. I’m not positive it’ll work to prevent pregnancy. So it’s either people going into heat alone, have partners ready to use secondary protection, or willing to accept the risk.”

“Oh, damn.” Deacon pats me on the shoulder. “Maybe Thalia? She’s due soon? I know Thalia is all for risking it. Cade’s saying no. This could be a good compromise for them?”

I shrug. “I’m not ideal for it. It would put my heat two months early. I could force it if I can’t find others. Fuck, maybe I should anyway. I don’t know enough to tell people what to anticipate.”

“Anticipate what?” Thalia comes into the kitchen with an armful of groceries.

“I got approval to test my drug,” I answer without thinking.

“That’s exciting! Congratulations!” Thalia beams. When I don’t meet her enthusiasm, her face falls. “Oh. Not happy. Okay, what’s wrong?”

“They’ve granted me the authorization to try it on three people. And I’m worried about who to ask. The efficacy of its ability to block pregnancy isn’t guaranteed and—”

“I’ll do it.” Thalia shrugs. Her desire to help everyone all the time is so pure. Unpacking the bags onto the counter, she tells me what Deacon already did. “Cade and I are back and forth on kids, so this can be part of the compromise.”

Despite Deacon’s suggestion, Thalia isn’t an optimal choice. A bitten wolf on her first heat could be an outlier in how her body responds to the meds.

“I can’t ask you to do this,” I try to explain before—

---