Wolf's Call (Wolves Next Door #2) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,68

getting to me, and in the very best way. She really was perfect for us. For all of us, which was the only reason I wasn't trying to seduce her. Because if we wanted this to work, Trent needed to get his head out of his ass, and stop worrying about his bruised pride.

Fuck Karen, and fuck the wedge she'd driven between my friends and our mate. Luckily, I knew exactly how to fix this.

CHAPTER 20

Seth messaged me a couple of hours after dark, asking me to come look at something by the trails. When I arrived, he was finishing up the last few bricks on what appeared to be a fire pit. A five-gallon bucket was beside him, clearly filled with half-frozen mortar, and the fat flakes of snow had turned the back of his coat wet.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He looked up. "Well, I'm hoping that this will cure even in the cold," he said. "Elena's coming to hang out on the full moon, and she thought maybe a fire pit would be nice."

"So you made her a fire pit?" I was actually a little impressed - and ticked that I hadn't thought of it myself. "Looks good, man. And yeah, it'll cure. Just have to make sure it doesn't get knocked over tonight."

He gestured to the spiral of bricks around the pit. "Think that's a big enough space to keep any embers from catching?"

I tried to imagine the height of the fire and how far sparks would float. "Should be. We can get some split wood tomorrow, and Wednesday, one of us will start the fire early enough for it to be burning well before the moon rises. That way, when Elena shows up, it'll already be warm."

Seth ducked his head and chuckled. "Just Elena, huh?"

"Elena's the only one who happens to be my mate." But my words didn't make his smirk go away. "What?" I demanded.

"Would you stop avoiding her already?" Seth asked. "Trent, she thinks you're sick of her."

"Fuck," I groaned, turning with every intention of heading back to my truck, but I stopped. "You know I'm not."

"I do," he agreed. "She doesn't, and you're acting like a fucking pussy, shutting her out like this."

"I fucked Karen!" I snapped.

"Me too. So did Pax. Know what? She's ok with it. She's fucking told you she's ok with it."

"And for weeks, that bitch has been trying to run off our mate because of where I stuck my dick," I said, storming back toward him. "This is my fucking fault."

Because it was. I'd been the one to convince Pax to give in that first time. I'd said there was nothing wrong with fucking her. Since we weren't dating her, it didn't count. I'd never even considered the repercussions to the pack, let alone our future mate. Seth had questioned it. In the early days, Pax had once suggested we shouldn't give her the wrong impression. Me? I'd liked having a willing piece of ass around, so I'd ignored all the potential problems. I'd made visiting her into an easy habit for us.

"Oh, just your fault?" Seth pushed to his feet, lifting his chin in a taunt. "Because I was never in on those foursomes. Nope." His voice was heavy with sarcasm. "And I'm sure Pax never mentioned needing to pump a load into her. But you're right. It was all just you, and you somehow should've known that your mate was about to appear in our lives without any warning, right?"

I grumbled in my throat, the closest thing to a growl I could make in my human body. "You know it's more complicated than that."

"I know that Karen was a bitch. We knew she was shallow, but we had no idea that she'd go full crazy! She was willing. She was horny. So were we, and to Elena, it's all in the past. I mean, it's not like we had a kid with her, right?"

I just closed my eyes and shook my head. "We were careful."

"I was talking about Gabby, you dumb shit!" He threw up his hands. "Hey, Elena fucked before us too. Know what? Her ex is also pretty crazy. Guess she shouldn't ever talk to us again, right?"

"It's different," I said.

"You're ashamed," he countered. "Your fucking balls hurt because your new girl knows your dick went in someone else. You feel like your image of being the perfect guy just got shattered and you don't know how you're going to look her in the