Wolf's Pack (Wolves Next Door #3) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,109

in her step.

Damn, but I liked these new shifters. My whole life, I'd been led to believe that our kinds would never work well together, but that was a lie. We did. Beneath the creature we could change into, all of us were just humans with a little something extra. That humanity was our common bond, and kindness brought it to the surface.

Which was what Gabby had been trying to tell me. Diversity would make Wolf's Run better. Not for some vague ethical reason, but because it brought more to the table. Foxes were small and fast. Bears were strong and powerful. Tigers were agile and terrifying. Wolves? We knew how to bring all of that together to work as a whole.

I thought about that throughout the rest of the day, trying to think of ways I could make this place more alluring to shifters besides the ones we already had. We'd figured out how to market to wolves. When I was over at Dad's the other night, we'd made plans to look into buying the land out back to increase the nature trails. Yeah, it would mean building more and moving the back wall - not necessarily in that order - but I had a feeling the pack would love a little more space to run.

And Ashley had mentioned the lot beside us. I had no idea what kind of price tag we were looking at, or if the company could even afford it, but another twenty houses would mean a lot more space for shifter diversity. If Gabby could hold off the Hidden Forest pack with just three bears, one tiger, two humans, and five wolves? I could only imagine how comfortable we'd be with lions, eagles, and more.

Thankfully, the day passed with nothing untoward happening. My phone stayed silent. Elena sent me a cute meme she'd found. Probably one Gabby had sent her, but I wasn't complaining. Lane claimed her lunch hour, and the whole day, not a single thing broke. I was as tense as could be, second-guessing everything, but the full moon was coming next week. That probably had something to do with it.

But just to be safe, I pulled up at the office just in time to take my mate home. On impulse, I decided that I'd claim her for the night. If Seth wanted to join me, that could be fun. Granted, I also wouldn't complain if Trent and Pax needed another round, but they had been with her last night. And if she just wanted to fall asleep? I could definitely deal with that.

"Hey," she said, climbing into my truck before I could even get out. "Gonna give me a ride?"

I just chuckled, aware I'd been caught. "I was thinking about inviting myself over tonight, if you're ok with that?"

"Always," she promised as I put my truck in reverse and aimed for our homes.

One day, that would be home, singular. I was pretty sure that my current place wouldn't be big enough, not with Gabby still living at home, but we could manage if we had to. Ideally, I'd get a bigger house built. One just for our crazy little family we were building - but I was still waiting on Trent and Pax, and those guys were trying so hard to make sure they got this right.

On impulse, I parked in her drive, deciding that I already had everything I needed at her house. Elena opened her door to get out, then hit me with one of those things that a man never wants to hear.

"Ian? I wanted to talk to you about something."

My balls crawled into my throat and my blood fell to my toes. "Please tell me it's nothing bad?" I asked as I got out.

The problem was that she didn't answer. Elena simply made her way around the truck and over to me. Evidently, we were going to do this here and now. Gabby was home, and this was bad enough that she didn't want her daughter to hear. My heart began to beat a little faster.

"Damon," she finally said, looking up to meet my eyes. "Ian, Ashley told me all about him. Your history with him, Seth's, hers, and more. She said he wants to challenge you."

"Yeah," I breathed.

"What if you don't win?" she asked.

I just pressed my palm against her cheek. "I'll win. I've been sparring with the guys, making sure I'm in shape for it. I will win this, Elena."

"But what if you don't?" she