Page 16 of Blood and Trouble

Everyone who joined the pack made a blood vow to the alpha, which meant we were all connected through him. He was the enigma at the center of our universe, the sun that had caught us all in his gravity. Because of that, he knew what was going on in the pack better than anyone, even those insipid fuckers who always ran their mouths. I’d heard a rumor that Kodiak knew Maeve and Mill were mated years before they did, and if that were the case, I shuddered to imagine what he might sense about me.

“Anything else?” I asked, my wolf bowed in defeat. Kodiak, after all, was right. Pack meant family, especially when it was difficult. I didn’t want to see Lycan. I didn’t want to go to Copenhagen and play second fiddle to some spoiled Vanderbilt princess. But I wouldn’t deny Kodiak. I owed him far more than my life and a place in the pack.

“Yes,” he said. “Take better care of yourself. I can’t have you keeling over the next time the Scorpions decide they want to ruffle up our skirts.”

I pushed to my feet. “You got it, alpha. Thank you.”

He narrowed his eyes as I left and quietly shut the door behind me. But I straightened when I met eyes with the person standing outside his office.

Channing, Lycan’s younger sister. At six years younger than me, we’d gotten close after I started dating her brother, and quickly became best friends. Hell, after everything went down with her brother, she might be my only friend.

We were complete opposites. She was brilliant sunshine and wide-eyed grins. I was scowls and sharp edges and mumbled snarls. Despite this, she was the only one who laughed at my gallows humor, and she’d decided she got to keep me in the breakup.

“I heard you’re taking a trip,” she said, pushing off the opposite wall to fall in beside me.

“That was quick,” I said, shoving my hands into my pockets. “You using your tech detail to spy again?”

“That was one time.” She nudged me with her shoulder. “And it was necessary. Aquila said he wasn’t fucking around, but he was obviously lying.”

I shook my head and sighed. She and one of my Bastard brothers, Aquila, had been a thing for a few months, not long enough for anything serious, and it had ended when they’d discovered they’d both been sleeping with other people. They were still friends, had even laughed it off after having it out, but that didn’t stop her from being salty about the whole thing.

“Besides,” Channing continued. “I had to approve your flight details earlier today, so my information was ethically sourced.”

I swallowed the question burning my tongue. What did she know about Lycan and Ava? From her perch in front of the pack’s keyboard, she likely had access to everything they’d been up to. Were they sleeping together? Were they sipping fancy champagne and rubbing elbows with the high lords of enterprise? Were they hiding in dark corners and giggling to each other while Lycan ghosted his fingers over her bared shoulders?

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” she said. “You could have told Kodiak no and insisted he send someone else.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “Who the fuck cares, anyway? It’s not like Lycan and I are going to suddenly get mated or⁠—”

“Lycan can be a real asshole sometimes.” She wrapped her hand around my elbow to pull me closer to her. “Trust me. I know him. I grew up with him. But nothing will convince me he doesn’t love you.”

I didn’t believe that. He never said it, not once in two years. His apathetic demeanor when it ended only proved my point.

He doesn’t care about me.

Easily cast aside, like always.

“Like I said, it doesn’t matter,” I replied. “He’s off screwing Ava Vanderbilt, and I’m about to crash their party. Won’t that be exciting for everyone?”

We stopped in front of the tech room so she could start her shift, but she turned to face me and raised on her tiptoes to brush hair out of my eyes.

“He’s not fucking her,” she said.

Some small, pathetic part of me whimpered with hope. “How do you know?”

“Because Locust said they played poker for two hours before Lycan went back to his room.” Her smile widened, showcasing the dimples in her cheeks. “I have eyes everywhere.”

Two hours? Knowing that stomped on the hopeful ember burning in my chest. Lycan’s favorite currency was clothes, and if he’d initiated it, he could have had her naked in three hands. What did they spend the other ninety minutes doing?

“Go to work, Channing,” I grumbled.

“Oh, cheer up,” she said. “Here’s what you do. You put on your best fake smile and your best fake ‘nothing-to-see-here’ face, and when you show up in Copenhagen, you act like everything is fine. It will piss him off that you’ve gotten over him so easily.”

I didn’t want to get over him. I didn’t want to act like nothing was wrong. I didn’t want any of this.

“He’s already gotten over me,” I said.

She shot me a skeptical side-eye and turned toward the door. “If you really think that, you’re much dumber than I thought.”