Wolf's Pack (Wolves Next Door #3) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,10

the Alpha Mate are the positions. Alpha Male for him and Alpha Female to her, but could be any gender, and Alpha Mate is a genderless term. Both leaders of the pack are simply called Alpha - for short - as a sign of respect."

"Elena is fine," I assured him.

Scott smiled at me in appreciation. "Yeah, cuz that whole thing is kinda confusing. Well, if you have any questions, I put our numbers at the bottom. Talk it over. Ask us anything you want. And we can also pass as humans, due to our darker eye color. Yeah, we just want to help out."

"No," Vic said. "We want a place where we can live safely. A lot of us do, and with that video going around, Wolf's Run is the talk of the shifter world. I would've assumed a lot more of us would've come forward."

"They have," Ian admitted. "We just haven't had the chance to come to a decision."

Vic licked his lips even as his eyes darted between the three of us. "Please?" he breathed. "We're dying out there, and I don't know what else to do. Just... consider it?"

"We will," I said, "but I can't promise more than that."

"It's a start," Vic decided, but something in his tone sounded defeated, and it grabbed my heart and twisted it in a way I really didn't like.

CHAPTER 4

* * *

The three bears stood to leave, so I pushed to my feet and offered them my hand. I was a little ashamed that my mate had been brave enough to do it when I hadn't, so I was correcting that now. Still, the size of these men was more intimidating than I wanted to admit. The smallest of the lot was only an inch shorter than me, and the guy probably had a good fifty pounds or more of muscle on him.

In other words, one of them could kick my ass without trying. All three of them together? Myself and my betas combined wouldn't stand a chance. I didn't like that. The idea of allowing other shifters to live in Wolf's Run sounded nice in theory, but seeing those guys made me realize how easy it would be for them to simply take over.

And yet, the fact that Elena was invested made me want to find a way to make this work. Still, they'd terrified her. Granted, she'd never smelled a bear before, let alone anything else. Her enhanced senses were still new. She should be home, sitting in front of the TV, being spoiled for a few more days - which was my biggest issue. Every protective urge in my body was telling me to keep those threats as far as possible from my vulnerable mate.

"I'm trying to be rational," I admitted once the bears were truly gone, "but I don't think we can do this."

"We have to," Elena said before Ashley could even talk.

My sister's mouth hung open, making it clear her best friend had stolen the words from her mouth. So she tried a new line. "Ian, Vic's a good guy. He found a way to make living with two other bears work, so I think he's a great trial for our idea of integrating other shifters."

"So..." Elena turned her full attention on Ashley. "Anything else we should know about them?"

"Not with my brother sitting beside you, nope."

My eyes narrowed. "What did you do, Ash?"

"Nothing!" she insisted. "Look, you're the one who keeps telling me I need to meet someone. So I went to a bar to meet someone. And when I went to buy myself a shot, a man paid for it. I turned around, thinking I was going to tell him off, and I got a faceful of bear. Vic made it clear that he was just happy to see another shifter, and then we ended up talking."

"Uh huh," Elena teased, a little smile twisting her lips like she was fighting it.

"Just talk?" I asked.

Ashley shrugged that off. "He asked where the local wolf pack was. I told him there are two. Wolf's Run in town, and Hidden Forest just outside. He asked which one I was with, so I told him I ran the office here. That was almost a month ago. Maybe more, and well before the video came out. He's nice, Ian. A lot calmer than you are, and that says a lot."

"He terrified Elena," I snapped.

My mate dropped her hand on my arm. "Ian, I'm fine. I was having a panic attack