Jason swallowed and attempted to get himself under control. Waking up with morning wood was one thing; getting up and continuing to tent his boxers was another thing entirely. Not sure there’d be any explaining that away.
Resorting to drastic measures for getting rid of his unwanted erection, he thought back to that night weeks ago when members of his own fucking pack had attacked him. He didn’t dwell on it long and tried not to focus on the actual attack, only the waking up in an unfamiliar room, surrounded by Regent’s Park Pack members. Most of that night was still a blur, but he remembered being so fucking relieved to be alive. And safe.
He might’ve been in a different pack’s territory, but he’d felt safer than he ever had with Newell.
Boxers no longer straining at the seams, Jason got up—careful not to look over at Daryl—and went to take a shower.
Daryl was awake and sitting on the edge of his bed when Jason came out about ten minutes later.
“Morning.” Jason smiled at him, refusing to let his gaze dip lower than Daryl’s eyes because there was a very good chance he was still naked. He walked past rubbing at his hair with a towel and successfully blocking Daryl from his vision. “Bathroom’s all yours,” he offered.
“Thanks.” Daryl yawned and rubbed a hand over his eyes. “You were up early. Couldn’t sleep?”
“No, I slept okay.” Jason opened one of the drawers and fished out a pair of boxers. “I’ve not been up that long. Thought I might as well hop in the shower since I was awake.”
Daryl yawned again. When Jason glanced over his shoulder at him, he caught Daryl with his head in his hands, shoulders hunched as he let out a long sigh.
“Did you sleep all right?” Jason asked, slipping on his underwear.
“So-so.” Daryl shrugged and blew out a breath. “Strange places leave me on edge. It’ll be fine after a couple of days. I just need to get used to it.” He shrugged again as if it was no big deal, so Jason let it go. Nothing he could do about it anyway. “I’d better go shower.” Daryl stood in all his naked glory, and Jason bit the inside of his cheek so he didn’t do anything embarrassing, like moan.
“Wouldn’t want to be late on our first day.”
No, neither would Jason. That thought got his mind off Daryl and back on to the day ahead.
Alpha Cornell hadn’t been overly generous with the details for today. Would they be thrown into tasks straight after breakfast? Would they come back here first? Eyeing the clothes he’d brought with him, Jason opted to err on the side of caution and went with joggers, a long-sleeve T-shirt, and
trainers.
They were both ready by 6.45, Daryl dressed in a similar fashion to Jason. “You ready to go?”
Jason walked over and peered out the window. The sky was still dark, but it looked to be dry out there. Shifters didn’t feel the cold like humans, but Jason wasn’t a huge fan of getting soaked if he could help it.
Daryl joined him, looked outside for a couple of seconds, then smiled. “Looks like we’ll stay dry today, at least.”
“Fingers crossed.”
Choosing to forgo coats, they locked up—the key had been on top of Jason’s bedside table—and headed downstairs to meet the others.
ASHA ARRIVED dead on seven and escorted their party back through the forest to the alpha council main building. Jason walked at the back with Daryl, a companionable silence settling between them. They could’ve found the way on their own, but for whatever reason, the council preferred to do it this way. Jason wasn’t about to question it or voice his opinions.
Breakfast was laid out buffet style in one of the downstairs rooms, and Asha directed them all to take a seat. The tables were round, each seating six people. Not surprisingly, the units kept to their own tables and the betas chose another.
“Please help yourselves to breakfast.” She gestured behind her to the right. “Plates and cutlery can be found over there, and tea and coffee on the other side of the room. Alpha Cornell will be along shortly.”
By unspoken etiquette, the betas went first.
With a plate full of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, Jason helped himself to coffee and returned to his table. From where he sat, he had a good view of the other tables. For now, it was all polite nods and coolness between the two units. Understandable considering where they were. Would that change as soon as they were let loose out in the forest?
From what Cam had said, Jason didn’t think the alpha council would be with them all the time.
How long would it take for the animosity to show?
He glanced at the table seating Rachel’s unit. Newell had harped on about Nathan often enough after the fight with the rogue pack, but that didn’t mean Jason knew what he was like. He’d long ago learnt to ignore Newell’s biases. He looked around the rest of the table. Luke, he knew was Nathan’s best friend, then there was Clive, Kara, Will, and Tasha. He was pretty sure Kara had given him blood when he’d been near death but was ashamed to say he didn’t know much more about her than her blood type.
Now they were here, away from the security and familiarity of his own unit, it became painfully clear that neither he nor Paul had made enough of an effort to get to know their new pack members.
They’d naturally stuck together when the two packs merged, but in the long run, they had to integrate with the other betas or the pack would never feel whole. What sort of an example were they setting?
