Page 30 of The Wolfing Hour

The thing about shifters is they don’t make any noise if they don’t want to. It was startling, and Ronan sometimes did it without any consideration for the level of iced tea in my bladder.

“Why are you so on edge?” He slung the dish towel over his shoulder and relaxed against the door frame. “Wait a sec. What were you doing? Looking for Bloody Mary?”

“More like Bloody Betty,” I muttered. “Before Sexton chided me about the knee bending thing, he told me to expect more of that stuff while my earth magic figured out how to mesh with my—” Gods, I didn’t want to saydemonmagic, but that was what it was.

“Father’s magic,” Ronan filled in.

I smiled a little. “Yeah.”

He drew me into his arms. He smelled like spiced meat and dish soap, a weird combination, but it worked for him. I rested my head against his chest and blew out all the air in my lungs so I could take a fresh breath of Ronan.

“Mmm.” My muscles relaxed and my body melted into his. The comfort this man lent me nearly had me in tears. He met needs I didn’t even know I had.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Normally, this is where I’d say I’m fine.” I sniffed. “But we agreed not to lie about that anymore, so I’ll say that I’m coping. I think as long as you keep handing out hugs and good food, I’ll be okay.”

His laugh bounced my head off his chest. “Is thatallyou need, Lennox?”

I tipped my head back and gave him a saucy look. “Not nearly, Williams. But it’s a good start.”

I’d stopped calling him Pallás, his birth name, because he’d asked me to. He went by Williams, his stepfather’s name, everywhere but Smokethorn. There was a reason behind that, but the gist of it was that he’d only adopted his birth surname to ingratiate himself to Floyd and the pack. He’d had revenge plans back then, but that was before he’d met his little sister. Rory had changed his mind about a lot of things.

“How about you?” I asked. “What do you need?”

“You,” he said, and dropped a kiss on my lips. “I need to know the people I care about are okay. My wolf isn’t dealing well with my human side being separate from the pack. It feels like I’m being torn in half from the inside out.”

“How can we fix it?” I slung my arms around his waist. “Would checking in with your people help? I can make some phone calls, stop by the Desert Oasis senior apartments, or talk to allies outside the pack if you think it’ll help.”

He kissed me again, this time a little slower. “Thank you.”

“You’d do it for me,” I said. “Why don’t you call your sister’s security and make sure all is well?”

“I’d just be bothering her. They’d call if there was an issue.”

“Sure, sure. And is waiting for that call making your wolf feel better?” I let him kiss me again. “No? Well, duh. He needs to hear that she’s okay, not sit on his ass twiddling his furry toes while he waits to get a distress call.”

“Twiddlinghis furry toes?” He shook his head. Grinned. “Lennox, you say the nicest things in the meanest way. I swear, it’s as if the gods peered directly into my skull before crafting you in the image of my perfect woman.”

“I feel the same about you.” I kissed him one last time then shoved him toward the bathroom door. “My burner phone is charging on the dresser. Go call your sister.”

He strolled into the bedroom to make his call, and I went into the kitchen to dry and put away the lunch dishes. I’d just wiped down the table when there was a piercing whine followed by a loud crash. The whole house shook from the unseen impact.

I ran into the bedroom and found Ronan propped against the dresser in hybrid form, panting heavily.

“Are you okay?” My voice was rough with fear and panic. “What’s wrong?”

“Not me. One of my—the pack’s—wolves.” His jaw shifted from human to wolf and back again. “Hurt. Badly.”

“Who?”

He squeezed his eyes shut and unzipped his jeans, kicking them off. “Have to shift to find out.”

I’d seen him change into wolf form more than once, and I was always surprised at how fast he managed to do it. One second, he was three quarters human, the next an eight-foot wolf with yellow, red, gray, and black fur was shaking off the shredded remains of Ronan’s black cotton T-shirt.

He growled and head-butted my leg, urging me toward the door.

“All right. Let me grab my bag and the boys and we’ll go find your hurt wolf, okay?”