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“I’m not that guy anymore, Sloane,” he mutters.
“You could be.”
He just stares at me for a long moment, a silence stretching between us. Our gazes remain locked until we’re interrupted by the sound of the patio door sliding open. I lean around Madd’s hulking form to see my dad at the door, peering out at us.
“Just wanted to let you know that Theo just arrived,” he grumbles. “We’re ready to start the meeting.”
I hold up a finger. “Can you just give us one more sec?”
Dad’s never hesitated to break up moments between Madd and me, but to my surprise, he nods, retreating a step back into the house and closing the door.
Well that’s new.
Maybe my dad is more accepting of us as a couple than I thought.
I turn back to Madd with a sigh, fixing him with a pleading stare. “Think about what your dad would do, what type of Alpha he raised you to be. I know it’s important to you to make him proud, so now’s your chance, Duke. Let the past go, let the anger go, and take a leap of faith and hope for the best. I’m going to go in there and try to convince those guys that this is the right thing to do, and I’d really like for you to be on my side.”
Madd’s jaw ticks, his eyes boring into mine with so much intensity that it makes me a little weak in the knees. But then he slowly nods, sliding an arm around my waist and tugging me in flush with his chest, dropping a kiss on the crown of my head.
“Okay,” he murmurs, squeezing me tight. “Let’s do this.”
35
“You guys, we’re thesix-pack. Not the seven-pack, or the eight-pack…”
“Iver makes a good point,” Ares states, throwing his thumb over his shoulder in his direction. “Seven-pack just doesn’t have the same ring to it.”
Avery rolls her eyes. “That’s the least convincing argument yet. Who the hell cares what we call ourselves? This is about human decency. If we were on the run, I’d sure as shit hope that another pack would be willing to help us out.”
I bury my face in my hands, groaning in frustration. We’ve been at this for the better part of an hour now, and we’re no closer to reaching an agreement than when we first walked through the door. All the key players are here: the alphas of each pack, their lunas, and all seven squad leaders- nine, if you count Sloane and Andie. Everyone’s scattered around the living room of the Riverton packhouse, posted up on couches and chairs while bickering nonstop.
“I’m just sayin’, outsiders can’t be trusted,” Ares mutters.
“You do realize that I was an outsider once, right?” his mom scoffs disapprovingly. I pick my head up to see Serena flip her red hair over her shoulder, fixing her son with a scathing look.
“That’s a good point,” my uncle Theo agrees, sliding her a smirk. “You couldn’t be trusted at first.”
My aunt Brooke whacks him on the chest with the back of a hand, the frown on her face betraying exactly how she feels about his commentary.
“You’re not even on the council, you don’t get a vote,” Archer cuts in, pointing a glare at his younger brother.
“Well I’m still part of this discussion, aren’t I?” Ares fires back. “I’m a squad leader. Thesecuritysquad. This is a matter of security if I’ve ever seen one.”
Brock scrubs a hand over his face, heaving an exasperated sigh. “Did the alpha respond to you yet?” he asks me.
Because I’m the one who took Javi’s number, so I’ve been tasked with being our point of contact with him.
Lucky me.
I lift my ass from the couch cushion, shoving a hand in my pocket to retrieve my phone. As soon as the screen lights up, I see a message notification on the screen, frowning as I read the text waiting for me.
“Yeah,” I reply, jaw ticking as I look back up at the others. “They’re holed up in that old motel off highway four.”
“Well that’s a little close for comfort,” Alpha Chase mumbles from across the room.
“My thoughts exactly,” Iver agrees.
Alpha Reid leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together. “Where’d you say they were originally from?”
