2. Callum
CALLUM
I sense Lynx approaching before I see him. His scent drifts over on the breeze: comfort, safety, home. My wolf settles instinctively.
I don’t smell Morgan with him, though, a fact confirmed when I look up as he rounds the corner of the house. He’s in the middle of pulling a T-shirt over his head, and when he glances up, he’s got a wild roughness about him that tells me he’s either just had sex or shifted.
Thankfully, this time it’s the latter.
He and Morgan have been fucking like crazy ever since they bonded—not that anyone blames them—but sometimes it’s a lot to be around. There’s only so much of our shifter senses that we can shut off.
“Hey.” He takes a seat on top of the picnic bench next to me. “What you doing?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Enjoying the sunshine.”
He gives me a flat look.
I grin at him. “Fine.” I hold my phone up. “Waiting for Jet and Flint to get back. Flint just texted to say they’re on their way.”
“Any sign?”
“Nope. That fucker is either back with his pack, and they’re lying about it, or he’s gone.”
“Fucking Birch,” Lynx snarls, his anger mixing with mine and tainting the air around us.
Jason Birch, ex-alpha and ex-president of the Feral Beasts. Or supposedly ex. No one’s seen him since he disappeared after Lynx raided the fight ring to rescue Morgan. “You think he’s still here?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know.”
“We’ve been all over the fucking forests and around town. Not so much as a whiff of him anywhere.”
Lynx sighs, heavy and resigned. “Everything points to him having fucked off. It’s what makes sense. But . . .”
“Yeah. But . . .” Instinct tells me that if he has gone, he’s not gone far, and I know without asking that Lynx feels it too. And we all know better than to ignore our instincts. “For now, there’s not much more we can do except keep up patrols.”
“Let me know the second anything changes.”
“Of course.”
Lynx sighs, a mix of frustration and worry coming off him.
When he doesn’t make a move to get up, I turn to face him. “Something else bothering you?”
He tilts his head, listening for a second, then meets my eyes. “Ash is coming here this morning.” He checks his phone. “In about fifteen minutes, actually.”
“Ahh.” Now his unease makes sense. “Morgan finally gonna tell him?” I can’t keep the growl out of my voice, and Lynx’s eyes narrow. “Don’t look at me like that, you know as well as I do it’s a big fucking risk.”
He sighs and tips his head back. “I do.”
“You could order him not to.” They might be mates, but Lynx is still his alpha.
Lynx laughs in my face. “Yeah. Not happening. I like waking up with all my body parts attached to me, thanks.”
I chuckle. “He totally would.”
“Yep.”
He looks proud of that fact and I shake my head. “I’m happy for you but never thought I’d see the day you got yourself a fucking mate.” I nudge him and he laughs again, but this time it’s accompanied by that soft look he gets when he’s thinking about Morgan.
“You could have it too.” He gestures around us. “You all could.”
“Right.” I scoff. “Pretty sure the rest of us aren’t going to find our soulmates around here.”
“You can still bond with someone, even if they aren’t your fated mate. You know that.”
I do, but my point still stands. “And again, I don’t have the time nor inclination to seek out other shifters right now. We’ve got too much to focus on right here to worry about that shit.”
“Doesn’t have to be a shifter,” Lynx suggests, right as there’s a yell from the gates that we have a visitor.
Ash.
Lynx smirks.
“Fuck off.” I stand and ignore him when he starts to laugh.
“He likes you.”
“Nope. He might like the way I look, but that’s all it is. Never gonna happen, and I don’t want it to.”
“Don’t want what?” Morgan asks as he jogs down the steps from the house.
“Nothing.” I glare at Lynx and he wisely keeps his mouth shut. I nod towards the approaching car. “You gonna tell him today?”
Morgan grimaces and I hope that means he’s having second thoughts. I get that Ash is his family and he doesn’t want to lie to him any more than he already has, but revealing our truth is bigger than that.
“You think I shouldn’t?”
I feel Lynx’s eyes on me, but I’m not going to sugarcoat my answer. “I think you need to examine why you feel you should tell him.”
“I’ve told him enough lies. I don’t want to do it anymore.”
I spin around so I’m facing him properly, aware of the fact Ash’ll be here any second. “So this is for your benefit?”
“No,” he snaps, then sighs, and I feel Lynx tense beside me, but he remains silent. “It’s for both our sakes. We swore we’d always tell each other the truth. I’d want to know if this happened to him.”
I hold up my hands. “I’m not trying to be an arsehole here, but I think that’s easy to say when you’re sitting on the other side of it.
Telling Ash about shifters not only puts our lives in danger; if he goes running his mouth, it puts a possible target on him too.
Not every shifter pack is comfortable with humans knowing we exist. Are you going to tell his family too? ”
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
“Then you’re also going to ask him to lie to the people he loves.”
Morgan scowls this time, and I feel a twinge of guilt, but this isn’t something to be taken lightly.
“He doesn’t have to tell them anything,” he grumbles.
“But he’ll be keeping a massive secret then. There’s not much difference.”
His heavy sigh is full of resignation, and clearly that’s a step too far for Lynx.
He stands so he can face both me and Morgan.
The faintest trace of alpha power colours his voice when he says, “Callum’s not wrong.
There are heavy consequences to you telling Ash about us, not least of which being he might not believe you, or he might not want to be in your life after he finds out.
” I can tell from Morgan’s harsh inhale that he hadn’t even considered that.
“But I told you it was your choice whether you tell him or not, and I stand by that.”
And we’re out of time as Ash’s car pulls to a stop a few feet away. It takes him longer than normal to get out of it.
Morgan hurries over to meet him, all smiles now. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Ash answers as Morgan pulls him into a hug. They grip each other tight, and Lynx’s soft growl brings a smile to my face. As does Morgan’s eye roll when he glances our way.
“Still not got a handle on that?” I murmur.
Lynx’s “Fuck you” has me disguising my laughter with a cough, which unfortunately grabs the attention of both Ash and Morgan.
Morgan smirks as they walk over. “You remember Callum and Lynx, right, Ash?”
Ash flashes him a murderous look before schooling his expression into something flat and expressionless. I prefer the former. “Yep,” he says. He doesn’t offer up any form of greeting and neither do we.
It’s obvious he wants to be here about as much as we want him here.
“Jesus Christ.” Morgan glares at each of us in turn. “Would it kill any of you to make an actual effort?”
There’s a good chance it might if this all goes tits up, but what do I know?
I smile, big and wide, letting my fangs lengthen the tiniest amount before pulling them back in. “We didn’t scare you off the first time then?” From the scents coming off him now, I suspect he’s regretting ever setting foot in here.
“I came to see Morgan. That’s all.”
Despite the stench of fear clouding the air, Ash squares his shoulders and looks Lynx, then me, right in the eye. Got to respect the guy a little for that.
“Really?” Morgan hisses, and there’s that fucking guilt again.
I like Morgan, I do, and I’m fucking ecstatic that he and Lynx have each other now. My best friend has never been so happy and settled, despite all the chaos surrounding us. And I know I should make more of an effort for his best friend, but all I see when I look at Ash Norton is trouble.
With a capital fucking T.
We have enough of that in our lives at the moment. We don’t need to invite more.
“Please,” Morgan whispers, so quietly it’s more like a breath than a word, but I hear him all the same. Then Lynx nudges me with his thigh and I groan inwardly.
Fine.
I scrub a hand over my face, then plaster on what I hope is a less feral-looking smile this time. “Don’t mind me; it’s been a rough week.”
Ash stares at me, hazel eyes boring into mine like he can work me out if he tries hard enough.
Good luck with that.
I jump to my feet, startling him. Colour rises to his cheeks and I smile at the way he obviously forces himself to remain where he is and not step back.
His scent hits me again as the wind shifts direction, spicy and sweet, full of so many emotions it’s tempting to linger long enough to weed them all out.
Which is exactly the push I need to walk away.
“You coming?” I direct this to Lynx, who nods, then hops off the table.
I wait for him to give Morgan a filthy kiss goodbye, then go inside the house.
“He might as well have pissed on you,” Ash hisses before the door closes behind us, cutting them off.
I playfully shove Lynx as he passes me. “He has a point. What the fuck was that?”
“Don’t start.”
“Seriously though, if he hasn’t already, he’s going to be warning Morgan that you’re a possessive arsehole.”
Lynx shrugs. “I am a possessive arsehole where Morgan’s concerned.”
“And he’s almost as bad, but Ash doesn’t know why you’re like that. He doesn’t understand. All he’s going to think is you’re a controlling dick, and that’s a massive red flag.”
“I’ll try and rein it in.”
“Only when Ash’s here. You know the rest of us don’t give a fuck.”
He nods in answer and I consider the matter sorted for now. Fuck knows what Ash’ll think if and when he finds out the truth about us.