But out of nowhere, aggression is rolling off me like it’s fight night. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end. It’s not a full moon, not even close. I take a few breaths, bounce on my toes, and throw a few punches into the air. I’m unsettled. Is there a threat I’m sensing?
“You didn’t smell anything when you were out, did you?” I ask Tye. He’s lounging against the ropes, the fraught moment passed.
“Nope.”
“No tracks?”
“None.”
“No signs?” I push, a dog with a bone.
“A woodchuck took a dump near the old dens. Is that what you want to know?”
“You can tap gloves with me anytime, pretty boy.” I bare my fangs and lick the tip of the incisor.
Tye raises his hands. “You saw me last night. I almost let Lochlan Byrne pin me.”
“Yeah, what was that?” Tye should’ve finished off that upstart in one round. I’d forgotten about it in all the drama afterwards.
Tye shrugs. “Too much turkey and gravy? Fuck if I know. It was a strange night.”
“That it was.” I duck between the ropes and slap his back. “Sauna?”
He nods, and we make our way to the locker room. I kept most things the same when I became alpha, but I did have the old gym restored and the facilities updated. We’ve got a sauna and hot tub now, and I had a ring built in the middle of the basketball court. When you can leap ten feet from flat-footed, dunking isn’t really a thrill.
Before I was born, this camp used to be a nature retreat for school children, church groups, and the like. In the 80s, there were budget cuts, and the county was forced to sell the lodge, a dozen cabins, and fifty acres, including the river, ponds, a tract of virgin forest, and a cross section of Quarry Pack’s claimed territory.
Earning the money to buy our land from the government was my father’s greatest accomplishment. And it made our males what we are now—prizefighters mostly, bounty hunters and hired muscle on the side. It could be worse. We could wear suits and sniff human ass all day like Moon Lake Pack.
It’s an impossible balance—the old ways and the new, the human world and our own. There is no balance, really. It’s not unlike Una Hayes’ gait—steady only because we keep it movin’。
There are only a few in the pack who realize how tenuous our hold on all of this is. Humans are weak, venal, and undisciplined—and they outnumber us by billions. That’s an unstoppable force. They’ve been content to profit off us where they can—bet on our fights, sell souvenirs to the lookie-loos—but how long before they eye our territories?
Our DNA?
Humans are never content to coexist. I see Moon Lake, and I think Man has already conquered us. Wolves in suits. Humans must know they don’t need to do much but let their ways infect our minds. We’ll corrupt ourselves.
I strip, drop my sweats on a bench, and pad out the back of the locker room to the free-standing sauna. The door creaks on its hinges, and I inhale the cedar, sinking down on a hot, dry bench, not bothering with a towel.
Rowan Bell kneels by the fire, ladling water over stones. She casts me a sly look from under her thick lashes and arches her back so her perky tits nearly fall out of her tube top. I close my eyes and tilt my head back to lean against the wood paneled walls.
Rowan’s mated to Liam Hughes. She doesn’t care for the hand she was dealt, so they’re one of those “strictly for heat” couples. Even if I was interested, I wouldn’t go there. I’ve seen “strictly for heat” turn into “my one and only” too often, and I never want to make an enemy of Liam. He’s too good with the engines.
Tye lets the door slam as he comes in and makes the maximum possible noise settling next to me. Hope he’s got a towel wrapped around his waist. He’s got no concept of personal space.
Not content to just harsh my mellow, he digs an elbow into my ribs. “Check out our little sauna maid over there. She’s got something she wants to show you.”
I rest my clasped hands on my belly and exhale. “Not interested. You’re welcome to it.”
He snorts. “Liam’s fixing my alternator.”
“I see we’re in accord.” I open my eyes and snap my fingers, catching Rowan’s eye. She curves her lips into an invitation. She’s got her tits out, shirt bunched around her waist. I jerk my head toward the door. Her smile falls, and she huffs while she yanks up her top, but she goes.
“Rowan better watch herself,” Tye says. “Haisley’s gonna do to her what she did to Una Hayes.”