To do that, I needed to get the dark fae out of the human world. Figuring out how to make gateways was step one of my plan.
I perked up when I sensed James heading in our direction. Our pack security expert was even more grouchy than usual. All of our teams of wolves had pulled in from their outposts around Virginia to stay directly on our pack lands. By being together like this, we risked discovery from the humans. But having our teams scattered around and isolated around the state made us all vulnerable. Austin wanted everyone close so we could fight together if we needed to.
James strode out of the forest in his human form, which was unusual. He usually patrolled in his wolf form with his midnight black coat so that he could remain unseen. My eyes flicked over his tall, lean form in appreciation. James was dressed in black fatigues, a black long-sleeved shirt, and combat boots. The scowl on his face and the weapons strapped to his body only added to the deadly mercenary vibe he radiated. He walked with the grace of a stalking predator toward me, the intensity of his gaze making me lick my lips.
“James,” I said with a sweet smile. “What has you in such a good mood?”
Jason chuckled under his breath, and James shot him a weighted glare. Jason took half a step back from James’s dark eyes and shrugged apologetically.
“I have her,” James growled at my twins. “Go inspect quadrant three.”
I sighed and let Mason and Jason go with a regretful look. James was never the warm and fuzzy type, but the stress of the situation had made his moods even more thorny.
I waited until the twins were out of sight before wrapping my arms around James. He wasn’t comfortable with displays of affection in front of anyone but me. I usually tried to respect that. Usually.
His body was stiff against mine, but I just squeezed him tighter until he returned my embrace. James let out a heavy breath that ruffled the top of my hair, and I felt his hard muscles relax against me.
“Is Blaze acting up?” I murmured as I laid my head on his chest to feel his heart beat.
“No more than usual,” James grumbled.
While several teams of Seaside wolves had been overseas on security jobs for the military, Blaze led those wolves under Austin’s authority. When Austin brought everyone back stateside, there had been a rough period of adjustment. Blaze wasn’t prepared to find me here, and he wasn’t pleased that I’d inadvertently drawn Austin and the others into a potential war with the fae. He’d recognized that I wasn’t ‘just’ a wolf and quickly, but falsely, concluded that I was dangerous to the rest of the pack. He testified against me in front of the council – something I don’t think any of my guys would ever forgive him for.
When the chaos of “The Reveal,” as the humans called it, hit us around the same time that the dark fae were released from prison, we’d all decided that a civil war within the pack would be stupid. Blaze led a group of our most powerful warriors, and we needed them to defeat the dark fae. However, emotions still ran hot, and the truce was delicate and uneasy. Blaze wasn’t forgiven, he still didn’t trust me, and tension was high whenever the guys were around each other. It felt like we were sitting on a powder keg with a long fuse, just waiting for it to finally explode.
“Blaze should be busy with all the construction we have going up right now,” I told James as I looked up to meet his brown eyes so dark they were almost black.
James grunted. “That won’t last forever.”
The pack house wasn’t big enough for fifty wolves to live there full-time, and everyone confined under one roof wasn’t a good idea. Austin’s construction company had paused all the jobs they had been working on – for obvious reasons. That left plenty of work materials, tools, and wolves to build additional housing on the land Austin owned directly.
Having our guys work alongside Blaze’s team was part of my plan to get everyone to forgive each other and move on. Blaze may have turned me in, but he’d done it to protect everyone in the pack from what he perceived as a dangerous threat – me. I needed to prove to him that I was an ally, not an enemy, in time for