Wolf's Call (Wolves Next Door #2) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,17

I followed. "Ian commanded me to give you space. It helped. I wasn't supposed to be around you without one of the guys. Things like that. Most of all, they kept reminding me that if I pushed too fast, I'd scare you. I can't stand the idea of hurting you in any way, so it helped."

She wrapped a towel around her body and passed me another, then headed back into her bedroom. "So, this thing doesn't make you jealous?"

And there was the big problem. "Well, it does," I admitted. "But being a wolf means there are some rules to that. I am Ian's beta. I vowed to give up everything to become an extension of him. Of his authority, basically. In exchange, he shares everything he has with me. Doesn't work that way for most wolves, but the pack alpha? His responsibilities are too intense for one person, so this is how we handle it. Almost every wolf pack does the same, and it fits with our virus-altered instincts."

She nodded, but her hands were drying herself off. Then she tossed the towel into the hamper and crawled into bed, aware that I was watching. She also didn't bother putting on clothes. Not even one of those short little nightgowns she liked so much. Damn, but my dick was stirring again.

"Turn off the lights when you're done?" she asked. "And keep talking. I'm listening, but it's getting cold."

Immediately, I headed to the light, flicked the switch, and then moved to the other side of the bed to join her. As soon as I was under the covers, I pulled her up against my side, then I dragged her leg over mine, giving her as much body heat as I could. My arm naturally curled around her back, and she pillowed her head against my shoulder, her face looking up at mine.

"This is the part where we get in trouble," I admitted. "Elena, Ian wanted to chase you off that first day. You were a threat to the safety of the pack. Humans find out what we are, and they try to kill us. If the world even knew we existed? We'd be studied, locked away, or worse. But even then, he still thought you were beautiful. So did the others. The problem was that you were human."

"Ok?" The confusion was obvious in her voice.

"But Ashley insisted. You're her best friend. You're her family, in a way. She was willing to fight the alpha for you, and Ian listened. He agreed to try, so we made up the cookout. The pack was told you were human. We wanted them to see you so they'd know who to be careful around. And Ian wanted to find your downsides. The vulnerabilities, I suppose. But you just kept being nice. Not fake, but honestly nice. And then I smelled you."

"I remember that pretty clearly," she admitted.

Yeah, but it hadn't happened quite like she thought, and I was braced for her rage. "When Ian made me step away from you and took me inside? That's when I told them I'm fated. I mean, it's impossible to miss. And, um, Ian had two options. He could drop me as a beta, or he could consider mating you himself. He chose the second option because he wanted to give me the chance. To make it possible for me to be with you."

She sat up and twisted to face me. "What?"

"He said you were beautiful, but you're also human. He wasn't opposed to it, but he made us all try so that I'd have a chance. So I didn't have to pick between you and the man who is basically my brother. And, well, they all like you. That's not the right word, but any I use is going to sound stupid. One by one, the guys all realized that you're amazing, but they tried because of me. Ian chased you so that I could have you, and in the process, he fell in love with you."

She huffed. "Lane, I don't know how I feel about that."

"It's no different than meeting someone at work," I pointed out. "They look good, you smile, they flirt, and before you know it, you've learned enough about them to have feelings. Same idea, but the 'work' part was leading the pack. We never lied to you. We just didn't tell you everything because we couldn't figure out how. I can't count the number of times we talked about it, either. About how it