Page 68 of Blood and Trouble

“Wait, what?” I said.

“Go home, Poe.”

After she hung up, I debated whether to pine away out in the woods for the rest of the night or venture back to the cabin to check in with Ava. Being this far away from her, from them, for so long grated on my wolf in the most annoying way. He wanted to rub up against her like he did last night. He wanted to nip at her neck and goad her into playing with him again. But I couldn’t let that happen. It would hurt too much when it was over, and I needed to protect myself.

Ava’s muffled laughter echoed from the other side of the door as I climbed the steps to the porch. Lycan’s deep voice followed, calling her more trouble than he originally bargained for, which only made her giggle harder. I stood outside and hung my head. Whatever I found when I walked inside would only wreck me, make me feel like more of a pariah than I already was.

“Go,” my wolf urged. “Take. Claim. Mine.”

“Shut up,” I told him.

In my thirty years of life on this earth, we’d never disagreed this much on anything. I’d gotten us through the first nineteen years; he’d gotten me through the transition. I’d gotten us to the Helena pack; he’d accepted his place within it. But now I wanted to punch him in his stupid snout for roping me into this mess, and he was biting at my metaphorical heels to make me move.

I pushed it aside, turned the handle, and walked inside.

Ava and Lycan sat around the tiny dining room table between the kitchen and the living room, the remnants of our nest still on the floor. Plates full of chicken and vegetables sat between them, and my stomach growled to remind me I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday. Whatever Ava had been about to say died when she shifted her attention to me. Her mouth dropped open, her eyes brightened, and she sat up straighter like I was the best present under the Christmas tree.

Not the welcome I was expecting, but I’ll take it.

Lycan raised one degrading eyebrow, and I locked my legs to keep from falling to my knees.

“He returns,” Lycan said, tilting his head to the side. “How was your hike?”

I cleared my throat and rubbed the back of my neck. “Fine.”

“You must be hungry,” Ava said, gesturing to the spot next to her. “Bas brought us dinner about an hour ago. The rest of the pack usually eats together, but since our shift was yesterday, he thought we might want some time to adjust.”

I took an involuntary step toward them, my foot moving on its own. Or maybe it was the fucking wolf again. The scent of the spices on the chicken drifted toward me, and my stomach let out another angry howl.

“Oh, he’s starving, poor thing.” Lycan nodded to the empty chair. “Come on. I’ll fix you a plate.”

He stood and walked to the kitchen cabinets, and I found myself taking another step toward them.

“You don’t have to do⁠—”

“I didn’t ask,” Lycan said. “Sit. I’ll feed you.”

The command rattled through me, compelling me forward before I could stop it. I planted my ass in the chair, Ava poured me a glass of water, and Lycan came back to the table, piling meat and veggies on the plate like he was feeding someone who’d survived a famine.

“Thank you,” I said when he set it down in front of me. He walked back to his chair and lowered his massive body into it, his beautiful lips twisting into that smirk that used to make my cock hard. At the swoop in my belly, I had to admit it probably still did.

“Channing called while you were out.” He tapped his fingers on his glass. “She had some news.”

I took a bite of the chicken and nearly melted. Fuck, I was so hungry. Why did I let myself go this long without eating, especially the day after a full moon?

“She’s been in the pack archives,” Ava explained, her voice going flat and careful, the one she used in boardrooms. “She found a mating request from 1986. Never fulfilled.”

“Between a Bastard named Logan Coates,” Lycan continued, “and Priscilla Kennedy.”

The names sat there for a moment before my mind caught up. “Your mother?”

“Also known as Priscilla Vanderbilt.” Ava pushed a piece of chicken around her plate without eating it. “She was from a pack out west, apparently. The Sierra Nevada. She never told any of us that.”

“We knew she was a shifter,” I said. “None of you would have turned otherwise.”

“That’s not the strange part.” Lycan’s jaw worked. “Coates changed his name when he patched in.”

I let the implications of that sink in. “Who?”