process of being demolished by those in the room. “Hey,” he said when Drew went for a second slice, having wolfed down one while Felix watched.
The other male looked at him with narrowed blue eyes, the brighter light in this room picking up fine glints of copper in the thick brown of his hair. “I’ll fight you for it.” He held out a fisted hand for a game of rock, paper, scissors.
Snorting, Lara swept away the last slice and handed it to Felix, the soft black of her corkscrew curls bouncing around her fine-boned face, her eyes a clear tawny brown and her skin a natural dark tan. “Eat it before he decides to pounce.”
“Please.” Drew tugged at one of her curls, the golden skin of his arm marked by thin scratches that meant he’d probably been playing rough-and-tumble games with the pups. “I have manners.”
“Of a leopard,” another soldier said with a sly grin, the crumbs on his T-shirt telling Felix he’d successfully navigated the cake free-for-all.
“Leopards are nice!” Ben said loyally, having two very good—and equally mischievous—friends in DarkRiver.
Sighing, Drew shook his head. “So young and already corrupted.”
“I’m going to mention you said that to Mercy,” Felix threatened and took a seat at the table with Ben in his lap.
“Mercy doesn’t count. She’s an honorary wolf.” Drew sprawled in the chair across from him, smiling his thanks when Ben’s mom, Ava, brought them some coffee, having gone across to top up her own and Lara’s cups.
“Spence have baby duty?” Felix asked the maternal female, whose dark eyes and hair were identical to that of her son.
Ava’s smile held love, affection, and pride in equal measures. “He’s showing her off to a couple of his photographer friends who’re visiting from the other side of the territory.”
“Mercy’s not a wolf!” Ben said suddenly, his frown deep and his small face scrunched up in thought. “She’s a leopard. I saw her. She’s all golden with spots.”
Felix suddenly wondered what Desiree looked like in her leopard form. She was so sleek and dangerously sensual in her human form that she’d no doubt be gorgeous as a cat. “Here,” he whispered to Ben, sneaking him a bite of cake.
Giggling, the little boy totally gave himself away to his mom, but Ava just smiled and reached over to pluck him into her lap. “What are you doing, my little cake fiend?” A snuggle, a kiss, Ben’s laughter filling the air.
Felix grinned, his wolf watching through his eyes. This was what he wanted. A mate, cubs to protect and love, a woman who’d see value in him, not simply a body she wanted to fuck. Losing his taste for cake at that harsh reminder, he nudged the remainder of the slice over to Drew. The other man gave him a frowning look but didn’t say anything. Not then.
It was twenty minutes later, the two of them now alone in the common room, that Drew leaned forward. “What’s up?”
Felix chewed the bite of lasagna he’d taken. It was divine, deserved his full concentration. Pity then that his taste buds had gone into rebellion and everything suddenly tasted like dust. “I’m an idiot.”
“About anything in particular?”
It was hard to remember that Drew was a dominant at times like this—not only a dominant, but the pack’s tracker, tasked with hunting down and executing rogue SnowDancers. It was one of the most dangerous positions in the pack.
“Women,” Felix muttered, hoping that’d be the end of it.
Drew’s smile was smug. “Ah.”
“Oh, shut up.” The other male was so happily mated that Felix wanted to throw something at him at times.
Grinning, his eyes wolf, Drew jerked up his head. “Desiree, huh?”
Felix’s mouth fell open. “How did you . . . ?”
“Oh, please, Felix. It’s a pack; we’re nosy.”
Obviously, one of the SnowDancer soldiers on security patrol had seen Desiree approach him last night. “She’s a dominant.”
“So?”
Yeah, Drew would say that. He’d gone hell-for-leather for a lieutenant older and more dominant than him. There was one critical difference, however. Drew wasn’t, and never would be, a submissive. When Indigo snarled at him, he snarled back. In the same situation, Felix’s wolf instincts would urge him to bare his neck, submit to the lethal predator in the room.
His hand tightened on the fork and he took another big bite to shut himself up before he said something stupid. Drew didn’t take the hint. “Look,” he said, “if you’re worried she’s with someone, she’s not. Far as I know, Dezi hasn’t been dating anyone