Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Louis
My apartment was small, but it had a spare room that I could give to Hailey for the time being. Eric could bunk with me in the master suite or sleep on the couch, but given the kiss I saw earlier, perhaps they would be sharing a bed sooner rather than later.
That made my more primal instincts sit up and pant.
It was hard to pinpoint the exact moment when the wolf wanted them, but over the last couple of days, I’d started to think of them less as a job and more like friends.
Maybe helping Eric through his clan sickness had tugged at my own wolf’s isolation from the pack.
I needed to spend more time running on pack land, but honestly, I lived in the city and felt more disconnected from the pack than I should.
The solution would be to take a few months off and spend it in my wolfskin among my people, but the work I did was important.
I didn’t want to leave Otis and team one high and dry because my wolf felt a little lonely.
Well, it had been feeling lonely. Now he felt so content, it was like he was belly up and chuffing inside my chest, especially as I led Hailey into a room that smelled like me and would soon be drenched in her sweet, floral scent, like violets and vanilla.
“This room is yours. The house should only take a few weeks to go through escrow, but feel free to make it yours however you want. I want you to be comfortable here.”
I moved the box in my arms to the corner of her room.
We put some of her stuff in my garage, but she wanted this box in the house.
Her whole life had fit in three boxes. She hadn’t kept any of her furniture, for which I was thankful, because I was trying to work out how to tell her that there was a family of roaches living in her couch lining, and that there was black mold in the corners of the room.
No matter how clean she was, the apartment building was filled with holes, moisture, and poor construction.
She could spend all day cleaning, and it wouldn’t be enough.
I was glad she was going to live in the house beside my pack in the fresh air and safety.
She put her suitcase on the bed, and I smiled at her. “I’ll let you settle in.”
Chewing on her lip, she gave me a crooked smile. She was so brave, and she’d taken all this upheaval in stride. I wanted to know more about her. I wanted to know everything. Ah fuck, this was bad. “Thanks, Louis.”
I closed the door gently behind me and strode down the hall to the kitchen. I needed something cold.
I was chugging milk directly from the bottle when my phone rang. I looked at Rory’s name on the screen and frowned. Not that it was unusual for Rory to call me—we often hung out after work—it was just odd for him to call me so early in the day.
Was there something wrong with the pack?
Answering, I walked into the living room. “Rory, is everything okay?”
It was noisy wherever Rory was. “Hey, man. Yeah, everything is fine, just wanted to say hi. One sec, I’m just going somewhere quieter.” There were muffled sounds then silence. “You still there, man?”
“Yeah.” What the hell?
“Sorry, just wanted to let you know about that case you and Syke picked up last week. Well, a disappearance case just launched, and I thought you might want to know about it.”
“For Hailey?” Did one of her family members declare her missing? She seemed reluctant to call anyone, and maybe it was because she was on the run.
“No, a man by the name of Graham Sawyer. Last seen in Southside at a diner he likes to frequent.”
Fuck, it was the guy Syke ashed. I was kind of hoping he was so miserable in the rest of his daily life that no one would ever report him missing.
“I see. Well, I hope they find him,” I replied airily, like the news didn’t matter.
You never knew who was listening, especially with shifter hearing.
“I’m thinking about bringing Hailey and Eric to the cookout on Saturday.
Maybe the other guys too, if they want to come. ”
Rory was silent, and then he hummed his agreement. “Sure. I’ll let Puck know.” Someone yelled something at him, and he shouted something muffled back. “Gotta go, Louie, see you Saturday.”
He hung up, and I hit the speed dial for Otis almost immediately. With both Eric and Hailey out of the center, we’d all been set free for our normally scheduled time off. Well, until Sunday, anyway, and then we went back on rotation.
“What’s up?” Otis said by way of greeting. In comparison to the cacophony of Rory’s police station, the only sound coming from Otis’s end of the phone was a bird chirping obnoxiously in the background.
“How’s the frolicking?”
He huffed, and it made me grin. Otis was the kindest person you’d ever meet, but he kept it hidden deep down behind an ironclad sense of right and wrong, and he had no sense of humor. “My cabin is lovely, as always. What can I do for you, Louis?”
His footsteps sounded kind of heavy as he walked through the forest. “I had a call from Rory down at the precinct. They’ve opened up a missing person case about the guy who attacked Hailey at the diner.
” I kept it vague—not because I thought the phones were tapped or anything, but because sometimes the walls had ears, and the less you said shit out loud, the better.
“Any leads?” Otis asked, like the conversation about one of our own murdering a human was run-of-the-mill.
“None mentioned.”
“Hmmph,” he grunted, and I could hear the huff of his bull nose. Obviously I was right. He was frolicking in his minotaur form. “We’ll keep abreast of the situation.”
“Speaking of abreasts, Hailey is settling in well.”
“Louis!” His indignation was always so funny. No sense of humor, yet still hilarious. “You are on your best behavior, right?”
Rolling my eyes, even though he couldn’t see me, I slumped down onto my couch. “Of course. I’m going to ask them if they want to come to the cookout on Saturday. Do you and the guys want to come too? Puck asked about you last weekend and wanted me to remind you the invite is always open.”
I invited them regularly, but we tended to guard our time off vehemently, which was why I was surprised when Otis said, “I’d enjoy that. Thank you. I can’t speak for the others though. They may be elsewhere.”
Huh. I wondered if it was because Otis also wanted to spend more time with our adopted clan members too. “I’ll let the pack know. Enjoy your frolicking, boss.”
He grunted and hung up, and I stifled a laugh. Walking into the kitchen, I thought about what I was going to cook for my new housemates, or why I felt it was so important to ensure they were fed and well, even though they were no longer a job.
That was a lie, and I wasn’t one for lying to myself.
I wanted them. The wolf wanted them. Separately, they were both attractive people, and they both had a kindness that sung to the moon in a chorus with my own.
I wanted to protect their tender hearts at all costs.
Together, they smelled like heaven, like running through fields of wildflowers in spring—woodsy and floral and sweet.
Maybe I could suggest that we have a little fun while they were here.
Sex for wolves was a lot like running under the moon—necessary for our happiness and good health.
I knew humans were a lot more uptight about intercourse, and orcs…
well, orcs didn’t have great reputations as sexual partners, but I knew Eric was different.
Maybe I’d make beef wellington. Nothing said let’s fuck like an overly fussy slab of meat and pastry.
I was glazing it with egg wash when Eric arrived home from work. He knocked on the door, and I raced over to answer it like an overly enthusiastic labrador. He looked impossibly handsome in his three-piece suit, his briefcase held loosely at his side.
Stepping aside, I let him in. “How was work?”
He placed his briefcase and shoes by the door, right next to my boots. I liked how they looked. Fuck, I was getting really attached already.
“Backed up. Took me all day to sort through the backlog of cases I needed to review. How did moving Hailey’s stuff go? Any problems?”
“Easy. Not going to lie, I didn’t like the way some of those humans eyed her as we left, like she was a missed opportunity, and not in a good way.”
Letting out a rumbling growl, Eric nodded. “I’m glad she’s away from there. It’ll also be nice not to get mugged at knifepoint while walking home from work.”
Shaking my head, I walked to the fridge and grabbed him a beer. “She’s been settling in, but I haven’t heard her moving around in a while. I might check if she’s okay.”
“I’ll come too,” Eric said too quickly, and I’d bet his mate bond had been riding him hard all day. We moved through my apartment to the spare room currently acting as Hailey’s space. The door was slightly ajar, and I knocked lightly. When there was no sound, I pushed it open a little more.
Eric chuckled softly beside me. Hailey was curled up in the center of her bed with piles of her clothes spread around her. She looked cute as hell, like she’d made herself a little nest out of her possessions.
“I think I might love her,” Eric voiced more to himself than me.
Shaking my head, I shut the door again. “Obviously, man. A mate bond is more than love. It’s everything.” Werewolves took mate bonds very seriously. They were forever, and your bond mate became your entire world.
Jealousy climbed up between my ribs to wrap around my heart. I wanted a mate, someone I could love with every piece of me.
I looked over at Eric, a soft smile curling his lips. Maybe a couple of mates.