Page 62 of New Blood

Austin turned and left.

Thaddeus shot up from the couch. “I’m going for a run.” He set his empty glass down on the coffee table.

“A run? That’s a good idea,” Mason replied. It would help him get rid of the tension in his body. “I’ll join you.”

There was an almost imperceptible flinch in Thaddeus’s face, making him want to take back his words. But to cave now just because Thaddeus seemed to dislike the idea of running with him would be spineless. The youngest Gallagher son would have to get over whatever issue he had with him.

“Anybody else wanna join?” Thaddeus asked now as if running only with him was making him uncomfortable.

“Nah,” Owen said. “I’m waiting for Spencer to call me back.”

Francisco lifted his glass and shook his head. “I’m good here.”

“Guess then it’s just you and me,” Mason said, walking toward the door.

In the foyer, they encountered Ransom.

“We’re going for a run,” Mason said.

“Great idea. I need that,” Ransom said and joined them as they headed toward the mud room.

As they entered it and began shedding their clothes so they could shift into their wolf forms without tearing their clothes, Ransom shook his head.

“What?” Mason asked.

“I should have smelled a rat when Jude told me this morning that I shouldn’t bother making a pass at Danielle.” He scoffed. “He said she’s so shy that she’s probably boring in bed.”

Mason let out a chuckle. “And you believed him?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I didn’t know he only said that because he wanted her for himself.”

Thaddeus shrugged and tossed his shirt on a bench. “Guess he had you fooled.”

Mason ran his eyes over Thaddeus’s chest, admiring his firm abdominal muscles and his defined pectorals. He had to tear himself away from it and looked for something to say so that nobody would notice how he was checking him out.

“And you, you weren’t fooled by him?” Mason asked

Thaddeus opened the button of his pants and lowered the zipper. “I wasn’t fooled that he didn’t want to mate with Eve. Though after hearing him in the laundry room quite obviously making out with a woman, I’d thought that it was Violet who’d thrown her hat in the ring.”

“Violet?” Mason asked.

He let his eyes travel lower to watch as Thaddeus pulled down his pants. Fuck, he wasn’t even wearing any underwear. His cock sprang free of its confines, while he tossed his pants onto the bench.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the puppy eyes with which she’s been ogling him,” Thaddeus said, then looked at him. “You gonna run in your pajama pants?”

Fuck! He’d stood there like an idiot while Thaddeus and Ransom had gotten undressed.

“Oh, fuck,” Mason said, raising his arms in a disarming gesture. “Guess I’m still discombobulated about tonight’s main event.”

Thaddeus didn’t comment. Instead, he opened the door to the outside, while Mason quickly shucked his pajama pants. With his eyes, he followed Thaddeus, admiring his firm butt muscles and his strong thighs and long legs. It was evident that the youngest Gallagher son took care of his body. While their werewolf genes gave them supernatural strength and resilience, muscles and flat abs like Thaddeus’s didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Even werewolves had to work out to pack on more muscle and trim down the fat.

“Let’s go, Storm,” Ransom said with a slap on his shoulder. “We’re not getting any younger.”

He followed the two men. Outside, they shifted into their wolf forms.

Mason went through the change like in a trance. He’d always enjoyed the transformation because as a wolf, his senses were heightened. He became hyper-aware of everything around him, and he loved that sensation. As if he was one with nature and didn’t have to hide what he was. Didn’t have to pretend he was just like the others in his family and his team. Didn’t have to lie to everybody he loved.

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