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Shit, shit, shit.
“N-no!” I stuttered entirely too loudly before standing abruptly from my chair.
“Where are you going?” Cole asked me as I left the table and started heading for the door.
“We have to go…do the reindeer games,” I stammered.
This conversation would have to wait. Preferably until the end of time.
Chapter 4
Cole
I was still grinning to myself as I followed Marley outside to where my grandfather’s pack was gathered. A massive bonfire was roaring, the flames crackling and sending sparks into the air. Bottles of beer were cracked open and tapped together before being thrown back. Unlike inside, there wasn’t much provided for seating. It seemed like the culture of this whole thing was for people to either bring their own picnic blankets or just shift and lie on the ground. As such, lots of people had shifted into their lycan forms and were lounging near the fire, play-fighting, or vanishing into the woods.
I could see Marley’s wonder and curiosity. Her wide eyes scanned the area. I was always so enamored with her bright, effusive curiosity about lycans. The longer we were together, the more I could feel her enchantment with my kind. It was such a boon to know the woman I loved celebrated me, even after everything she’d gone through. River was right—for Marley to still find it in her heart to love me, my son, and my parents said so much about her capacity to love.
Marley, my sweet mate with the biggest heart. My adorably sinful minx. My everything.
I was so grateful she was here with me.
She turned to me, and that bright smile I loved so much lit up her eyes. “Are you going to go and play?”
I looked around again and found a group of shifters stretching. They seemed to be preparing for a run. “I don’t want to leave you here on your own.”
“I can stay with River or Vic,” she suggested. “You should let loose a bit. You haven’t really been able to engage in wolfy activities in New Middle Bluff.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I don’t know. Dad said to keep you really close.”
“I’ll be fine,” she promised. “Go have some fun, Cole. Your grandfather’s right over there. I’ll just sit down and get to know him.”
As the group shifted, I felt the tug of wanting to join in, and then I felt a little drift of amusement through my bond with Marley.
She elbowed me. “Come on, I can tell you want to go,” she said. “Just be back before midnight.”
“Wouldn’t want to turn into a pumpkin,” I said.
“Or, god forbid, look like a party girl,” she joked.
Grinning, I kissed the top of her head. “Go on over to my grandfather. Once I’m sure you’ve made it, I’ll get going.”
She nodded and navigated her way through the crowd to the old fallen tree where Gramps was sitting. I watched from afar as he smiled at her and patted the wood next to him. Marley waved at me, her figure somewhat distorted by the heat radiating off the bonfire.
I was still reluctant to go, but I could feel she was at ease and relatively safe. The feeling was only bolstered when River joined the group of shifters a few seconds later.
I could indulge in this. No, I needed to indulge in this if I wanted to be a good alpha. I couldn’t always be at Marley’s side, so I needed to trust her to know what was best for her and who she was safe with. Better to do that in a controlled environment like this than with a bunch of complete strangers once we started our pack back home.
I walked over to another group of shifters who looked like they were getting ready to go for a run. The group was mixed, both men and women, most of them around my age if not a little younger. I realized Eugenio was among them. I almost didn’t recognize him with his shirt off. The guy was built like a brick house under that unassuming polo.
“Hey, Cole,” he said as I approached. “What do you think so far?”
“Of what? The bonfire?”
“Of everything!” He gave a cheerful laugh. “The place, the food, the community. It’s nice, right? Feels good to be around your kind and exercise a bit of freedom.”
“Yeah, it does,” I admitted. “I guess I never realized how much we’re still restricted over in New Middle Bluff.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of that place,” a sharp-eyed woman beside Eugenio said. “They’re one of the most shifter-friendly cities in the US, right?”
