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Carter and the timber wolf stood next to Kelly. Carter was speaking in low tones, his hands on his brother’s shoulders. Kelly nodded at whatever Carter said. Carter kissed his forehead before glancing at me. He bared his teeth and drew a finger across his throat in a clear warning. The timber wolf woofed at me, as if agreeing with Carter, before they walked after the others.
“Kelly, Robbie, with me,” Ox said. “Tanner, Chris, stay here with Joe until I call for you.”
And with that, he turned and started to cross the clearing, expecting us to do as we were told.
We did.
Kelly fell in step beside me as we left the others behind. “You did good.”
I snorted as I rubbed my neck. “I got my ass kicked.”
“You did good at getting your ass kicked.”
“Gee. Thanks. Glad to know I made a great punching bag so they could work out their aggression.”
Kelly stopped me by grabbing my arm. I glanced down at his hand before looking up at him. “It wasn’t like that.”
“Tell that to my spleen.”
He winced. “Point. But Ox wouldn’t have given you more than he thought you could handle. He was testing you, sure, but it wasn’t just about that.”
I looked toward the Alpha walking into the tree line, hands clasped behind his back. “Unity.”
“Yeah. Ox is big on… well. He and Joe learned from our father. Dad was big on the pack as a team. That we had to depend on each other to anticipate what one of us might do.”
“Did we do this before?”
; He smiled ruefully. “All the time. You fight different. Scrappier. You used to be so worried about hurting one of us.”
“I broke your mother’s nose,” I said dryly. “And then immediately apologized.”
He shrugged. “You wouldn’t have even tried before. At first when it was you against her, you refused to touch her. You said you could never hit a queen. That made her weirdly happy before she would use it to beat you up.”
“What about you?”
He squinted at me. “What about me?”
I motioned between the two of us as he dropped his hand. “Did we….”
He laughed quietly. “We did eventually. You always tried to make excuses not to touch me. You said you didn’t want to hurt me.”
I closed my eyes. “It wasn’t because of that.”
“I know. Now. And it’s endearing. But back then? I was fine with using it against you. Come on. Ox is an Alpha, which means he doesn’t like to wait. He’s kind of a dick like that.”
I didn’t protest when he took my hand, pulling me along.
Ox sat with his back against an old oak tree. His legs were crossed in front of him, his hands settled on his knees. He nodded for us to sit with him.
Kelly went first, sitting at his left, facing him. He patted the ground next to him. I hesitated before joining him.
Ox looked off into the trees. In the distance, I could hear the faint sounds of Carter bitching at the timber wolf and the wolf’s answering snarl.
“You think he’s ever going to figure it out?” Kelly asked Ox.
Ox’s lips twitched. “One day. I just hope we’re all there to see it.”
