Addie’s territory too, things changed. If the call was too strong even for them to resist, then I knew Herrick had to be wrong. Our animals are digging in instead of retreating, and that fact alone lets me know that this isn’t an accidental thing brought on by just sex or over-eager animals. There’s something deeper going on here.
I trust my animal, and if he decided to choose Addie as his mate, then who the fuck am I to doubt him? Besides, one of the reasons we left our old pack was to find mates.
Granted, we didn’t exactly expect for all of us to choose the same one, but…hey, it’s not like we haven’t shared before. And just because she isn’t what we expected, doesn’t mean that she isn’t worthy.
I’m pissed at myself that I let her walk away and that I played any part in her being hurt. I’m going to hate myself forever if I don’t fix this. But maybe, with how Herrick is acting today, I won’t have to worry about choosing her or them. Maybe we can still salvage this.
I have hope that they want to. Penn found Addie’s old phone under the seat of the car the day after our fight. He slipped it into his pocket, and I haven’t seen it since. Nosy son of a bitch probably went through her pictures and messages. And yeah, I wanted to go through it, too. I want to know everything about her. The only thing stopping me from asking to see her phone was that I was positive he wouldn’t give it to me. He might hide it better, but he’s feeling just as possessive of her as I am.
“Ready?”
I look over at Penn as he comes walking into the living room.
“No,” I say tersely.
Penn shoots me a look and runs a frustrated hand through his blond hair. “We have to join a pack, Lafe, and we already had this meeting set up. We can’t back out now or it’ll look bad. Besides, this is just a meet and greet.”
He knows I don’t agree with going through with our application to join Pack Rockhead. Penn and Herrick might doubt that they’re the ones responsible for attacking Addie, but I believe her.
“Come on, or we’re gonna be late,” Penn says.
Part of me wants to say fuck this and refuse to go. But we’ve acted as our own mini-pack since we were kids. We made an oath to each other a long time ago to stick together. So that’s what I’ve been doing. Sticking with them. But I’m only biding my time, waiting for them to pull their heads out of their asses and realize that Addie is exactly what we need.
“I don’t want any part of this. I’ve been patient. I’ve listened to your fucking side,” I tell Herrick. “I’m not joining a pack that our mate hates.”
Penn and Herrick share a look that instantly makes me go on alert. “What?”
“Look, we heard what you said. You think Addie was right about Pack Rockhead. Which is another reason why we’re going.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well...I was there that day at the bank robbery. I might recognize a scent or see someone. Addie believes it was them, and you believe Addie, so…” he trails off, looking at me expectantly.
“So you’re actually going to see if we can find anything out?” I ask, flabbergasted.
Penn shrugs. “Yeah. We were obviously wrong about the bond. So maybe we’re wrong about this too.”
I get to my feet with a clap. “Ducking hell, finally! Took you assholes long enough.”
“Yeah, well, she probably wants nothing to do with us now. But maybe if we can find out something for her…”
I grin. “Oh. So you’re gonna bribe her with info on Pack Rockhead so that she’ll talk to us again?”
Penn looks a bit sheepish but doesn’t deny it. “You got any better ideas?”
“Nope,” I say, clapping him on the shoulder as we walk out. “Lead the way, boss.”
“Fuck off.”
My grin just gets wider. Penn is our unofficial leader, so he’s always throwing his weight around and getting the last word, but he hates when I call him boss.
“They could still be innocent,” Herrick points out on our way to the car. “There’s no harm in meeting them.”
I shake my head at him because that’s just it. There’s plenty of harm in it. We might be meeting with the pack who attacked Addie, and if that’s the case, my mate bond instincts might go berserk.
We’re quiet on