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“Shit, look, I didn’t mean any offence. I was just playin’ and I got a little carried away. Caelan and I go way back.” My nose wrinkles in another ugly sneer and Seff realises he has once again messed up, reminding me of theiracquaintance.
I have no idea what in the actual fuck is wrong with me. This aggressiveness isn’t me, neither is this rabid jealousy, but I have zero control over what is happening. I just need him to stop being a threat to Caelan. And trying to get close to him. And stop looking at him. Just no Caelan.He is mine.
“Seff here is actually part of my pack? I guess. But we used to be, uh, friends. Hang out a lot.” Caelan is obviously trying to soothe me. His hand sneaks around my back and under my shirt, his pinky gently tracing a path under the waistband of my underwear. I tilt my head to look at him, one eyebrow raised humorlessly.
I’d heard the stories. These two were never justfriends, and it rankles that they are pussyfooting around it, even though I’m aware that I’m the reason they are doing it. I never said I was reasonable. Gentle pleading fills his green eyes, making me feel like a total asshole.
Maybe because I am being one.A giant one.
I blame the adrenaline from the fuckingwolf attackjust two days afteralmost being drowned by a mermaidfor whatever is going on with me, for making me go all weirdly animalistic and growly.
But I owe it to Caelan to not be a dick to someone who is obviously important to him. Or was, at least. I lean in and touch my forehead to his, taking the moment of comfort he easily offers to get my shit under actual control.
“Right, so obviously I have stumbled into… a thing. Either way, Caelan, you and your friend should come to the pack grounds tonight. Spend a couple of days. Full moon tomorrow night. It’s gonna be wild.” I turn just in time to see him pump his eyebrows, his wide, affable grin back on his face. I hear Caelan mutter a curse under his breath.
“We’re on a bit of a mission here, Seff. No time for your pack shit.” For just a moment, I think I see a glimmer of hurt pass over Seff’s handsome features before his friendly mask slides back into place. There is definitely a sharper edge to his eyes. Caelan still holds me close, stroking his strong hands up my spine under my shirt.
“It’s notmypack shit, Caelan. They are yours too. Or they should be. Theycouldbe.” Seff shakes his head, shaking off the argument, like he knows it’s no use; it’s one they’ve had too many times before. “Never mind, I am not getting into that shit with you again. But a mission, hey? That sounds like fun. Maybe I could help?”
I can feel Caelan stiffen against me, almost as if we have the same thought.Could this jackass help us?Well, maybe Caelan didn’t think the jackass thing. But we are getting closer to the coordinates left by Theo, and we still have no idea what we are looking for.
Caelan nuzzles his face into my neck and breathes deeply, dragging his nose over my jaw. I’m not quite sure who is comforting who now. The past couple of days have been a lot. His green eyes meet mine, one eyebrow raised in a silent question. I give him the tiniest nod. Honestly, whatever gets us to my brother faster is my preferred option. Caelan moves, releasing me for only a moment to step to my side and snaking one arm back around my waist.
“You’re right, Seff, I’m being a dick. I’m sorry. This is Tor. We’re, uh, looking for his brother. He is missing. In the Woods.” Caelan gestures broadly to the trees around us. “Well, we think he is. He ran off a few weeks ago and left a sketchy note and a location in the middle of the Woods here. It’s all seriouslysuss and we have no idea what we’re looking for to be honest. We just need to get there.”
Seff’s face scrunches up in concern. “Man, that sounds rough. Why don’t you guys come to the pack grounds tonight and we’ll see what we can find out, yeah? Maybe someone’s seen something.” He sounds so earnest. Nice even. And there isn’t even a twinge of doubt about his intentions from myknowing.
I still give Caelan heavy side eye, because despite what my instincts are saying, that feral little part of me, the one that’s still looking for a fight, doesn’t trust that this isn’t some ploy to get Caelan to agree to go to the campgrounds, somewhere he obviously doesn’t want to go. In reality though, we need a place to camp tonight, and now he isn’t snapping at our faces with his stupid wolf fangs, he seems like he genuinely wants to help. So with no legitimate reason to say no, except my own shitty attitude, we take him up on the offer, letting the still very naked Seff and his irritatingly perky ass lead the way to the pack grounds.
Tor
It turns out theclearing that holds the Everfyr Pack Grounds, the land on which they all gather to meet at full moons and other ceremonial events, is actually not too far from the path we are going to be taking, anyway.Lucky, huh?
When I ask Caelan about that, and the fact that we would have been skirting by his ancestral lands, right near the full moon, he just blushes and shrugs off my questions. Leaving to Seff to quite rightfully give him a rather stony look and a slap over the back of his head.
It also turns out, when it becomes clear that Caelan is out of bounds and not to touch, Seff isn’t the worst being in existence and maybe, just maybe, I had overreacted with the whole blind rage and “wanting to rip him to shreds” thing.
Maybe.
I’m still not a big fan of spending the night with the hulking golden god that is Caelan’s ex. When Caelan insists again it had never been anything serious between them, that they had been too young and naive for that, I see the spark of hurt in Seffs eye.
My man was a heartbreaker, and he didn’t even know it.
But Seff is genuinely friendly, and after a while I even forget he was bare ass naked as he asks about my life back in the city and Theo’s disappearance. He isnice,Godsdammit.
Caelan gets more and more tense the closer we get to the pack grounds. I can feel the sweat clammy on his palms where our hands were linked as we followed Seff’s tanned bubble butt through the Woods.
Not wanting to expose Caelans brewing anxiety to Seff, I stroke his hand with my thumb, trying to reassure him, like he does for me, that it will all be ok.Without words, I try to let him know I know this is going to be hard for him, that he is only going back to this place for me. With every squeeze of our hand, every smile, every shoulder bump, I try to show just how much that means to me.
The night that he had told me about his youthful attempt to re-join his pack had been a long one. We’d stayed up all night during a particularly nasty snowstorm that had raged outside of his cabin all night. The power had run out, but thankfully the internet had stayed connected as we chatted first on the phone and then on any of the devices he had left still with charge until the storm died and the sun rose.
He had been twenty three when his grandparents had died in a car accident in terrible weather. At the time, Seff and Caelan had a thing running for a couple of years and Seff had encouraged him to try to return to the pack, so he wouldn’t be alone. Unfortunately, the pack leader at the time had denied his admittance to the pack. He was all about blood lines and purity.
For Caelan the rejection had been crushing, especially since no one other than Seff had stood up for him. It had been the last time he’d had direct contact with any of them, except Seff. He’d avoided the members of the pack whenever they were at Black Stump and in Twin Heads, and they’d ignored him in return. He’d even broken things off with Seff. Caelan’s voice had been so soft and fragile as he had told me what had happened that spring. He didn’t blame Seff for what had gone down, but the hurt had been too much to bear.
The pack grounds are spacious as we enter. Or they would be, if it weren’t for the horde of shifters currently congregating in the wide, flat circle cleared out of the dense Woods. There are easily over three hundred beings gathered here.
I mean, there could be more. I’m not a mathematician. But there are alot.
