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They both grimace, Ares’ reputation for being a terrible mixologist preceding him.
I wave a hand flippantly. “She’ll be fine. Aves is the toughest chick I know.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Norah smirks. “But seriously, Madd, you may wanna check on her. She looked like she was about to puke her guts up.”
I groan, pushing up from the couch. “Yeah, yeah. I need to go for my run anyways.”
With the curfew on shifting that has been in place since the hunters first arrived on the scene ten years ago, most of us have made a habit of letting our wolves out to run in the mornings, since we can’t after dark. The hunters always use the cover of night to ambush the shifter packs they hit.
They won’t be able to employ the element of surprise here, with the security measures we have in place. If they find us, we’ll be ready. And we’ll end them.
I jog upstairs, making my way down the hall to knock on my sister’s door. “Avery? You decent?”
“Yeah!” she calls from the other side, and I let myself in to find her sprawled out on the bed in shorts and a sports bra, drenched in sweat.
“Norah said you looked like you were gonna be sick,” I say, leaning a shoulder against the doorframe.
“Yeah, well…” she flops her head sideways to face me, blonde hair sticking to her forehead. “I don’t know what Ares put in those long islands, but my head’s killing me. I need to chug a gallon of water and pass out for a few hours. Let my shifter healing kick in and get rid of this hangover.”
I chuckle to myself, shaking my head.
“What are you doing today?” she asks.
“I’m headed out for my run now, then I’ll probably go over to the complex.”
She arches a brow. “Gonna try to mend fences with Roxy?”
“Something like that,” I mumble, scrubbing a hand over my face. “Wanna come with?”
Avery snorts a laugh. “Sorry, you’re on your own. I’m staying far away from that mess.”
“Hey, where’s the solidarity, sis?” I tease. “You’re supposed to have my back.”
“I do, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna do your dirty work for you.” She props herself up on an elbow, squinting her eyes. “Speaking of, wanna tell me what happened with Sloane last night?”
“You’re right, you should stay far away from my mess,” I mutter, pushing off the doorframe and retreating a step.
“Thought so,” she smirks.
We both know I’ll tell her all about it eventually. Avery and I don’t have secrets- she’s the one person I can talk to about anything; the one person I can always depend on. Her mate better wind up being from our pack, because traditionally the female leaves her pack to join her mate’s, and there’s no way I’m letting her go.
“Have a good run!” Avery calls to me as I back out of her room into the hall. “Lots of wolves out today around the squad complex.”
“Noted,” I mumble as I start pulling her door closed behind me. “Feel better.”
I head downstairs as I map my run out in my mind, appreciating the heads-up about the forest being crowded this morning. Unless it’s a full moon, I prefer to run alone, and with the squad complex being located in Goldenleaf’s territory, privacy’s sometimes difficult to come by. I need it today; I need to get out in the woods and lose myself for a while, so I’ll stop thinking about all the things that are weighing so heavily on my mind.
Like why I couldn’t just walk away last night when Sloane started crying.
And what I’m gonna do about it.
Roxy is definitely pissed. When I show up at her dorm room at the complex later that afternoon, she greets me with a scowl, blocking the doorway instead of inviting me inside.
“Did you lose your phone?” I ask, annoyed that she didn’t respond when I tried to text her earlier.
“No,” she snaps. “You told me to fuck off, so that’s what I’ve been doing.”
“Yeah, I suppose I owe you an apology for that,” I sigh.
