Page 95 of Shrouded in the Dark

Wyn was passed out, his tongue out. If he wasn’t so injured, I’d say he looked cute. I touched the fur by his ear. It was fuzzy and soft. I wondered if he’d let me pet him like Cody had.

“Axel, give me a hand will you?” Seth gestured at Wyn. “Let’s get him into a bathtub. When he wakes up and shifts, he can clean up right away.”

“Righto, boss man.” Axel’s big shadow blocked out the sun for a moment. He bent, grabbed Wyn on his uninjured side and carried him over his shoulder like he had done with me before.

I followed behind him, making sure that Wyn didn’t wake up and freak out. Seth walked with Jasper and Cody ahead of us.

“Cody, if you try to pinch my ass, I’ll have you over my knee and you won’t walk for days.” Seth didn’t even look back when Cody had raised his arm.

“Promises, promises.” Cody glanced back at me and grinned. “Would you want to watch, beautiful?”

I giggled, almost tripping as we went inside. “Cody!”

Seth turned to go upstairs with Axel. “I’ll be right back after a shower.”

That just left Jasper, Cody, and I.

“I’m going to clean up the kitchen.” Cody’s expression was gleeful. “This means we have a new pack member since Seth didn’t kill him!”

“They weren’t going to kill each other.” I glanced between Jasper and Cody. “Wyn is my mate, too.”

“We know.” Jasper pushed our shoulders together. “It’s just Cody being Cody. It’s going to take some time for us to adjust. I think it’s going to be just as big of one for Wyn. If not bigger.”

“What do you mean?”

Jasper gestured to the couch near the back door. “Wyn’s been on his own since he transformed. No pack. He’s going to be like you, Becca, experiencing what it means for the first time.”

I leaned into his side. “What does that mean, exactly?”

“Shifter packs have hierarchies. I’m sure you’ve read books about them, yes?” His lip twitched in a smirk at my nod. “Books get some things right sometimes.” He started counting off his fingers as he spoke. “Each pack has an alpha that is our leader. He has power, magic if you will, that he gains from being the leader of the pack.”

I shifted when his arm went around my shoulders pulling me practically into his lap.

“I’m sure you’ve already figured it out, but touch is essential in a pack. It brings us closer together and bonds our animals. Most shifters can’t function without that fundamental part of a pack. There are some loners who survive without a pack, but it’s not ideal for our animals.”

“Do all packs mate, like you guys have?” I laid my head on his shoulder, my fingers tracing the wrinkles in his shirt.

His chest moved with his silent laughter. “No. At least, not most. I’m sure there are others out there that do, but it is not the norm.” His hands stroked my back now. “Our animals bonded as we did and it progressed into a sexual relationship.”

“So, if none of you liked Felicity, except for Axel, why wasn’t there more push back from your animals?” I sighed at his hands.

“We wanted him to be happy. He was adamant that what he felt was it for him, we couldn’t possibly say no. We figured after she knew about us, we would get to know her.” His shoulders shrugged. “It doesn’t mean we weren’t happy with it, we just decided that we had to give it a try, for him.”

Burying my nose in his neck, I kissed his skin. “You all are way too good to be true.”

Jasper’s chest rumbled. I could hear his purr and I chuckled. My animal stretched confidently. She brushed against me, urging me to claim our fox mate. I reminded her of our earlier conversation and she huffed, but backed off.

“I know that Wyn said he was a loner and doesn’t need a pack, but with him being my mate, will he resent me? The rest of you?” I hoped not.

“Becs,” he shifted. “If he’s experiencing half of the feelings that I have begun having for you, there’s no way that he’ll be able to stay away from you.”

I guess only time would tell. I looked up at the ceiling, my thoughts on the unconscious shifter upstairs.

Chapter 22

Wyn

The splash of cold water jerked me into consciousness. I groaned as I stretched out my paws and yawned. I was in a very large bathtub with the shower head raining down on me.