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“You’re stuck with him for life,” Connor warns. “So, the sooner you can smooth things out with him, the better.”

I scowl, but it’s hard to stay frustrated with Connor’s purr resonating throughout my system.

I don’t know how he manages to do it, since our mating bond is chaotic and painful right now, but he finds the strength to purr for me.

My pumpkin is strong for me even when I can’t be strong for him.

There’s a knock at the door, and I down the rest of the whiskey while Connor watches me with a raised eyebrow.

“Really?” he mutters.

“It’s been a hard week. Don’t you want me on my best behavior?”

He huffs, then goes to answer the door. I hear a brief greeting; then Connor returns with our packmate. Ben sits on the opposite section of the L-shaped couch, and I get a good look at him.

Shit.

He looks worsethan we do.

He’s lost weight, his cheeks are sunken in, and his eyes look more black than brown.

There’s also a gnarly green bruise on his cheekbone.

He meets my eyes and nods in greeting.

“Hey,” I say, motioning to his face. “That looks like it hurts.”

Connor slowly turns to me, his expression incredulous.

But Ben simply shrugs. “I’ve had worse. At least you weren’t wearing brass knuckles.”

“Has that happened to you?” Connor asks, turning his attention to Ben.

Ben nods. “Yeah. It’s not a regular occurrence, though.”

I raise an eyebrow. I haven’t bonded much with Ben—besides our actual mating bond. Sure, we played video games together, but I haven’t truly gotten to know him the way I have Connor or Devyn.

“I would love to hear that story one day,” I say.

Ben shrugs, then looks around our living room. “So, just so I’m clear, you bought a new house just to be closer to her?”

“There was no other option,” Connor says.

“You could have rented a hotel,” he points out.

Connor shakes his head. “This was the more practical option. We don’t have any plans to leave Isleton anytime soon.”

This is probably the least practical thing Connor has done in his lifetime, but I don’t argue with him.

“I owe you an apology,” Ben adds, looking at both of us. “For my behavior the last time the three of us were together.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? What for?”

“For not organizing this better,” Ben sighs. “For not doing what’s best forherand putting us all in this situation.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? What do you mean organizing this better?” I look at him like he’s grown a second head.

“I should have told you about the conversations I had with Devyn about finding a pack,” he says, grimacing. “I thought we had time. We should have all been on the same page, but we weren’t.”