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I stared for a long moment, unsure of what to make of it.
Then I joined him, sitting on the broad shower floor. It had been so long since I’d been near him like this: in peace. Two pack mates, side by side.
He was deathly still as we sat with hot water streaming over us. So, so still. It wasn’t an awakening, but it was more than I’d had in a long time.
Slowly, I lifted an arm and dropped it over his shoulders. He didn’t react, so I drew him against me, tugging his head to my chest.
“Fucking miss you, man,” I told him through clenched teeth.
I had to keep it together. My job was to protect him.
Protect them all like they protected me.
Useless once. Never again.
The only one left.
His arm shook as he lifted it. I tensed, eyeing the iron rod that I’d left just within reach.What was he doing?
Nothing, for a long time, it seemed, and his hand wavered in the air between us. Then he closed it, balling it into a fist.
My heart tripped over itself.
Ransom Kingsman was our pack mate entirely by shitty circumstances. He was a man we’d barely met, joining a pack that had only recently formed. All I knew of him was panic, bravery, and a whole lot of feral alpha.
Finally, he was awake and ready to show his face.He crossed toward me first and he was a storm of nerves through the open bond.
“Hey.” He lifted his arm, but instead of going for a handshake, he held out his fist.
Oh God...It wasn’t even in that ‘fist bump’ way. It was sideways, like I was supposed to bring mine down over it.
“What is that?” I asked, eyeing the greeting with a scowl.
“Oh...” He cleared his throat, his fist wavering nervously. “Like you’re supposed to?—”
“I know literallywhatit is,” I snorted. “You know who does that shit? Tech bros and trust fund babies. Umbra!” I raised my voice. “What the fuck are we going to do with this one? He’s spoiled—and I don’t mean like an egg.”
“Nah mate,” Umbra said with a chuckle as he walked over. “No returns. No refunds. You break it, you buy it.” Umbra happily did the tacky fist-greeting with Ransom as I rolled my eyes, but it was refreshing to see Umbra grinning. “Welcome to the pack, bro. And don’t mind him. He’s always a grouch.”
With steam in the air and scorching water cascading down his face, Ransom’s eyes were finally somewhere other than the pillowcase. He was staring at the fist he’d made.
Was it... just chance?
Blood roared in my ears.
It had to be, right?
It felt like a rope was squeezing the life from my lungs as I dared raise my hand, closing my own trembling fist and bringing it down on Ransom’s.
Aspark lit, quick as a flash. A firework bursting to life for a moment before leaving an imprint of smoke in the air.
Him.
Fleeting, powerful, alive. The shock of joy was so violent and unfamiliar it made the world spin.
I dropped my arm from around his shoulder, reeling.
“Ransom?”I shifted into his vision.
