“What do you think about the new pack they’re talking about?” Lucan asked as he toweled himself off.
Maz dabbed his chin with some water, then spread out shaving gel around his beard. “I think it’s all very early stages. Nothing certain yet. Hell, they’d have to find someone to lead it first.”
Lucan sighed. “Yeah. I’m just hoping it won’t be Bray.”
Maz met his eyes through the mirror, his hand freezing right before he touched his face with the razor. “You think they’d ask him?”
“It’s not like we have a surplus of suitable alphas. Bray, Sean, and their men, that’s it. You’re needed in the clinic, and I’m pretty sure no one would want Naran to lead.”
“He’s changing.”
Lucan raised an eyebrow as he hung out his towel. “He is?”
“Sivney is good for him. I’m not sure if Naran realizes it himself, but he’s becoming more social and communicative.”
“But enough to lead a pack?”
Maz hesitated, then continued shaving around his beard. “No, but that’s also because he doesn’t strike me as that kind of leader. He’s smart, and his instincts are great, but he’s not a people person.”
Lucan leaned against the wall, which was still damp from their shower. He loved watching Maz shave. It seemed like such an ordinary thing, and yet it felt so intimate and special. “Regardless of who they’d choose to lead, would you want to join?” he asked.
Maz met his eyes in the mirror again. “It sounds like you would.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to putting a little more distance between me and both my father and brother. Watching my dad get all gooey-eyed with his boys was bad enough, but seeing Bray fawn over his men as well is a lot to take. It’s like it’s contagious, what with Sean, Felix, and Gia also completely lovey-dovey.”
Maz was silent as he finished shaving, then wiped the remnants of the shaving gel off with a wet towel. He didn’t speak until he’d turned around and faced Lucan. “It makes you feel even more what you’re missing.”
Cold pain stabbed Lucan’s heart, a sensation he should be familiar with by now, but it still took his breath away every single time. “It’s been over a month since we told him, Maz. Over a month since I laid my heart bare and told him he belonged with us…and nothing has changed. We still barely see him, and he’s not responded to my words in any way.”
“I know, habibi.”
Lucan sighed. Of course Maz knew. He wasn’t telling him anything the alpha didn’t know. And really, he should stop talking about it. Stop whining about it, more accurately, because it wasn’t Maz’s fault, and by now, the man had to be sick and tired of seeing Lucan mope and hearing him bitch. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop.”
Maz crooked his index finger and gestured him closer. Once Lucan did, the alpha pulled him against his furry chest, holding him close. “What did we just do in the shower, habibi?”
Lucan smiled, nuzzling the soft hair that matted Maz’s chest. “You made love to me…very thoroughly, I might add.”
His ass still stung from the way Maz had filled him up, that thick cock stretching him wide.
“Did that feel like the actions of someone who is growing tired of you? Because I see how you look every time you express your hurt over Sando’s lack of action, like you’re expecting me to get frustrated and annoyed. I’m not. I don’t feel that particular pain the same way you do, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand or sympathize. You get to share that with me. In fact, I want you to.”
Lucan closed his eyes, letting Maz’s love envelop him. “Thank you. I love you.”
Maz kissed his hair, then his ear, his neck, his breath warm and comforting on Lucan’s skin. “I love you too, habibi.”
Later, in bed, Maz brought up the subject Lucan had raised earlier. “Are you serious about wanting to join the second pack if that ever materializes?”
Lucan turned onto his side and faced him, resting his head on his hand. “Yes, but only if it’s what you want as well.”
“But you’d still want to work in the clinic.”
“God, yes. I wouldn’t miss that for the world. But I’m assuming that wherever they establish it, it would be close enough to the clinic to travel, either by foot or by horse or something.”
“I love horse riding…” Maz said wistfully.
“You do? I didn’t know.”
Maz smiled at him, his eyes even darker in the soft light from his night lamp.