Wolf's Call (Wolves Next Door #2) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,6

leaned closer. "We haven't. None of us have been with her since you moved here, prior to anything between us. Doesn't matter to her, though. She wants you to think we're cheating."

I had to bite my lips together to keep from grinning at the way he said that. No, it wasn't funny. It shouldn't be. And yet, here I was with five different boyfriends, and they were the ones worried about cheating. Using the pronoun "we" with cheating just didn't make sense in my head. It was just as unreal as the idea of werewolves, but this was my life now.

Granted, my heart completely understood what he was talking about. These were my boyfriends. My "mates." We had a relationship, and we were committed to it. Anything outside of that was technically cheating, and it made my chest tighten to think about any of these guys sleeping with someone else. It made me feel less important - the same way my ex-husband had.

"But it's all a lie, right?" I asked, hoping he'd say it was.

Lane nodded. "I won't say that nothing happened between them, but I can say that nothing has happened since you became a part of our lives."

I had to know, so I asked, "When was the last time?"

Lane sighed deeply. "The weekend you moved in was a full moon." He paused to lick his lips, and his eyes dropped to the surface of my desk. "One of us celebrated the run with her. That Saturday."

Literally the night I moved in. The day before the cookout. I didn't even know their names at the time, and they hadn't known a thing about me. I'd assumed they were young college guys. They'd probably thought I was some old hag. I hadn't even really been their neighbor yet. I was simply the human who was still unpacking and waking them up with my broken lawnmower.

So I nodded to show I'd heard him. "Why'd it end?"

Lane grunted and straightened up, only to pace halfway across the office. "Elena..."

"Why, Lane?" Because that made me think he was trying to hide something.

And I didn't like this feeling. I didn't enjoy the nauseous twisting of my gut or the way my heart felt like it kept hanging. The tingling in my fingers while I waited for the other shoe to drop and my newly perfect life to be proven a lie. I hated thinking that they'd used me, or that these feelings they claimed were fake. I just wanted him to tell me it was ok.

"Because I smelled you," he said. "That first time I met you in the kitchen, I immediately knew I was fated to be with you. I scared you, and I didn't mean to, and it drove me crazy. Ian noticed I was acting like an idiot, and while you were drinking wine with Ashley and Henry, I told them I was fated to be with you, so we all agreed."

"Agreed what?" I pressed.

"To try," he said. "Ian had talked to you earlier, and he wanted to protect you. Pax and Trent thought you were beautiful. I was fated for you. Seth?" He shrugged. "He said that everyone wants to find the person of their dreams, so he was willing to try, but he'd only seen you across the lawn. He broke it off with her before the food was even served."

Because it had been Seth, I realized. The "one" who'd spent the night before with her had been the youngest of the group and the last one for me to get to know. The guy who'd been the most adamant about telling me. The converted wolf who understood why I was worried about this.

Which led to another question. "Did he want to do this, or did the rest of you force him to be with me?"

"Elena." Lane turned back to look at me. "That's not a fair question. Was he forced? Yes, to a point, but that point was before we knew you existed. That's the deal a beta makes. We give up everything to serve our alpha. We get back power and prestige. We serve our pack, but our alpha shares everything of his with us. It didn't matter who Ian mated, Seth had already agreed to respect that relationship. Once Ian was mated, we were all committed. That doesn't mean Seth had to date you too. It doesn't mean he has to spend the night at your house. He could've chosen to just be polite and basically