She reached over and squeezed his wrist. “You already are.”
He squirmed at that. “Not strong enough.”
“Plenty strong,” she countered. “For your age.”
“She’s right, Daniel,” Eli intoned. “Best not to run before you can walk.”
He eyed Eli, studying him with a gravitas I understood. Sometimes, Daniel had a way of looking at Eli with pure hero worship in his eyes, and it always made me want to laugh. Eli was so repressed, the last thing we needed was Daniel to emulate him.
Not that I was much better as a role model.
The best of us all was Austin. At least he knew how to let his hair down.
“Okay, Eli, I won’t walk before I can run,” he repeated carefully, like he didn’t want to mess up before he messed it up. Then, he cleared his throat. “Eli?”
“Yes, Daniel?”
“I can walk already.”
Eli’s lips curved. “I know. It’s just a saying. You need to get used to walking as a wolf, before you can run as one. You see what I mean?”
Daniel took a big bite of his burger as he contemplated that. “I think I do,” he said, with his face now covered in ketchup to the extent where he looked like he was eating rare, bloody steak.
I had to admit, whatever I’d expected for a birthday meal, it wasn’t this.
Something quiet, something small.
Just us.
With Daniel.
Who didn’t really count, because he fit in.
It was weird how he did.
How right it felt to have him here.
I’d figured he’d cramp our style, but he didn’t. Even though his alpha was strong enough to rub our wolves the wrong way, it didn’t seem to matter.
I was glad for his sake though.
The meal ended with a massive sundae that had more toppings and candy on it than I could imagine, served with a slice of cake that had more buttercream frosting on it than actual cake, and it was then it hit me.
This was what every kid would want for a birthday meal.
Just looking at Daniel told me that. He was in a catatonic state of bliss as he scooped up the mountains of ice cream, syrup, candy, and brownie bites…
This was for the kids in us.
The kids who hadn’t been allowed to be that for too long before our culture had started to batter us.
Mother blessed, we were lucky men.
Lucky, lucky men to have a mate like this at our side.
And I’d never forget that.
Not as long as we lived.
Sixteen
Ethan
When I plunged into her, she was slick and hot, full of a fire that branded me. It filled me with a heat that melted the ice that took up such a large part of my soul and spilled out of my pores, enabling me to be me when I was around her.
The true me.
A side of myself that I only recognized around her.
A side that was free from the pack’s prejudices, that was uncaring over whether I was liked or disliked. That was liberated from a lifetime of being ostracized.
Knowing who I was, that we were tied to Eli, that we were mated to this glorious woman, was all I needed to know—that my past had caught up with me in the best way imaginable.
I blew out a breath as I settled in deep, and I wasn’t, I’d admit, surprised when I heard footsteps padding toward us.
Sabina’s bedroom was a communal space. Over the past two weeks since we’d been mated, we’d taken turns sleeping with her. I wasn’t sure when that would change. Didn’t know if it even would.
We were all alphas. All used to having our own dens, our own areas that weren’t tainted with others, so maybe this would always be how it worked…for Eli in particular.
Austin and I were a little different.
I’d wondered when he’d come to us, and I wasn’t surprised it was tonight on our birthday.
Not because he wanted a birthday gift in Sabina’s body too, but because he was as messed up over things as me.
She twisted her head to look at him, and her cheeks instantly heated up in a way that had me burrowing my face in her throat, hiding a laugh as I sucked on her there, wanting to mark her for all to see.
“Austin?” she squeaked, making me laugh a little more, so much so that I couldn’t control my shaking shoulders.
Sabina slapped my back. “Stop giggling, you.”
“I’m an alpha,” I countered, though the words were muffled. “I don’t giggle.”
She sniffed. “I say you do.” She cleared her throat, which had her body