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“No. Ryder went after him, but only to keep an eye on him. River wants to give him some space and see if he comes back on his own. He doesn’t seem worried. I’ll let you know if that changes.”
“Okay. But if you need us, we’re there. No questions asked. Got it?” Lexie said.
“I second what Lexie said, but also, I think River’s right. Cages mess with your head. If he stays, it needs to be his decision.” Maia sounded solemn. I figured she was thinking about her own history with the Palace’s cages and how she escaped. If anyone could relate to him, it would be Maia.
“Got it. I hear you both. We won’t force him back. For now, Lexie, I need you to tell me what you found out. What changes things with a prime alpha?” If Wolf came back, I wanted to know how to help him. I didn’t know if that was truly his name, but I had decided to use it. I didn’t want to keep referring to him as the giant alpha. He deserved to have a name.
“The most important thing is, if you’re going to claim a prime alpha, you need to claim a beta first. Maia claimed Max with Leif, before any of the others, but Damon already had informal bonds with the guys, that were filtering his power. My pack came together so quickly and we claimed Dave last. It got hairy after I claimed Sam, and I don’t mean chests. Sam’s power spread through us when I claimed him, but it felt raw and unsettled. As if it was looking for an anchor and started to build towards something destructive when it couldn’t find it.”
“You didn’t tell me that! What would have happened if Dave hadn’t been willing?” Maia sounded outraged and worried.
“I don’t know,” Lexie said. Her voice sounded muffled. I think she was getting another hug. Or maybe Maia had her in a headlock. “I’m just glad we didn’t have to find out. I’m going to read through some of the other books we stole from the Palace library. Until then, you need to be careful. He didn’t seem like he would hurt you, but he also looked half wild and acting purely on instinct. I’m not sure how much humanity is left in him.”
I bristled at that. If Wolf was truly wild, he would have bolted for his freedom the moment he was loose. He hadn’t. He came to save Cary and me first. I got she was coming from a place of care, but anyone talking even slightly badly about him had me feeling riled up.
“His name’s Wolf,” I said, my voice going low and hard in a way that was unlike me.
“Wow, that’s an unusual name.” Maia sounded tentative, as if she didn’t want to set me off. It was an unusual feeling. Nobody had ever worried about getting me riled up. I noticed my hands had clenched, and it freaked me out.
“Wolf suits him. The guy was never going to be a John or a George.” Lexie said, her voice going soft, before she hesitated and I heard her take a deep breath. “I’m sorry if I upset you, Ava. I’m just worried about you. I know you’re probably feeling protective of him right now. When I met Sam, I did too. Even though he pushed every one of my buttons and his anger issues felt insurmountable. For a while there, I wasn’t sure we would ever bond. It scared me to think we might have to walk away from each other when I knew he was mine.”
I forced myself to take a deep breath, shake out my fists, and calm down. “I already walked away from my mates once, when I was barely a teenager. Doing it again now would destroy me. I know my path ahead is rocky, but I’ve looked into his eyes and there’s still humanity there. It’s just underneath a lot of fear right now. I can already sense him and I know he’s come close to going feral, but he hasn’t tipped beyond a point he can’t return from. I know you’re both worried, but I’m a strong as fuck omega. Right, Lexie?”
I felt myself blushing, not used to cursing. I sometimes swore in my head, but never out loud.
Maia gasped. “Ava swore. What did you do to her, Lexie?”
Lexie just laughed, that deep husky laugh of hers, “Yeah, you are.”
“What about Cary?” Maia asked. Neither of them were holding anything back right now, but I knew it was only out of concern and affection for me. I was used to hanging back in group conversations, letting more outgoing people take the lead. I preferred to watch their interactions and listen. Yet it seemed Maia and Lexie weren’t going to let me get away with that around them.
“He held my hand when we got here last night, and it’s become a thing.” I could feel my blush deepening as heat raced down my neck and across my chest. To others, it may be a meaningless act. To me, it was a revelation.Jeez, no wonder everyone knew I was a virgin.
“Well, that’s cute as heck,” Maia said with a smile in her voice.
“If he’s Wolf’s mate, too, is that a problem?” Lexie, ever the practical one, asked.
“Not for me,” I said, without a moment’s hesitation. It gave me hope, for the first time, that we could be together. I’d always dreaded the day an alpha would take one of us away. Sharing an alpha with Cary would be no hardship. It would be a dream.
“You go, girl,” came Lexie’s quick response, my own personal cheerleader.
“Well, Wolf isn’t there right now, so we have some time to find you a beta. If Lexie is right, you’re going to need one in your pack if you plan to take on a prime alpha, an omega, and two alphas who sound more like ninjas,” Maia said.
I didn’t respond, not sure how much to admit to right now, but Maia broke the sudden silence when she yelped.
“Why are you poking me?” she hissed at Lexie. I grinned as I heard sheets rustling and light slapping. I imagined the hand gestures that Lexie was giving Maia right now, trying to explain silently. As if I didn’t know what she was up to.
“Um, do you want to explain to the class, Ava?” Lexie finally asked. Clearly, whatever miming she’d been doing hadn’t gotten through to Maia.
I rolled my eyes, even though they couldn’t see. “I kinda have a thing for Nick.”
“Oh my god, he’s perfect!” Maia shrieked. “How did I not see that, though, when you clearly did, Lexie? And whatever you were trying to spell out looked nothing like Nick.”
“I was pointing to my crotch and making the letter N. How could you not get that?”
“You don’t have a dick, so I was trying to figure out what a vagina and an N together meant. You weirdo.”
Before I could say anything, through my laughter, a sharp knock sounded at my door.
