Wolf's Pack (Wolves Next Door #3) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,133

to ask her, that is. Or all. Might be safer if you deal with her as a group."

Scott ducked his head. "I thought the big brother was supposed to give the subtle threats, Alpha."

"Nah," Ian said. "She's the oldest of our bunch, so I had to learn how to keep up. Trust me, I'm not worried about Ashley taking care of herself, so no threats. You piss her off and you get to deal with her."

"Cute," Ashley said, but while she tried to sound offended, she was failing. Badly.

Then Lane cleared his throat. "We have someplace to be, ladies. Which one of you is running late?"

"Not me," I assured him as I grabbed my purse. Then I squeezed Ashley's arm so I could slip past. "Meet you there?"

"And everyone else," she reminded me. "Henry's bringing Bridget, just so we're not all cramped, so save room for them?"

"Can do," I promised.

On the way there, we talked about the girls, because Samantha had the leading role of Alice in this play. Gabby was the Cheshire Cat, who was probably the second most important character. All of us wondered who'd taken on the Jabberwocky. Mason had been cast to play it, but that boy was now in jail, awaiting his trial. Granted, it looked like his attorney was going to use an insanity defense.

We arrived to find the school entirely lit up and parents all making their way into the main doors. Some were dressed up like us. Others looked like they'd just gotten off work. Then there were the other kids. Gabby clearly wasn't the only one who had invited the people she knew to come watch.

We were almost at the doors when someone called my name. I turned to find Bridget hanging on Henry's arm and waving, but the commotion made someone on the other side notice us. That was David. He and Kim had their daughter, Julia, with them.

Inside the doors, Roman and Gabby's betas were all clustered at the side, looking at a poster. I tried to see, but couldn't quite make it out. There was a picture of a football player on it, and he was wearing the school colors.

"Who's that?" I asked when Roman moved to join us.

"Hm?" He sounded confused.

"The poster you're looking at," I explained. "Friend of yours?"

"No. He's one of the jocks. Ran away a few days ago. The school has those up all over trying to get his friends to rat him out. Evidently, we're not the only ones who can keep secrets. I mean, you haven't managed to see Gabby's costume yet." And he grinned.

I just rolled my eyes and reached out for Ian's arm. Together, we led our pack into the auditorium. The place was huge, but this was also a very well-funded school. The group of us headed down to the middle of the center section, and then carved out a healthy chunk of unclaimed seats. Ian and I went in the middle. Lane was on my other side, with Seth beside him. Trent and Pax flanked Ian.

Behind us was Henry and Bridget. Kim and her family sat to Bridget's right, saving four seats on Henry's left, most likely for Ashley. Then Heather and Lev arrived. A moment later, it was Jesse and another single man from the pack. Ashley got there soon enough, but I couldn't believe how many of us there were. Roman had moved the betas to a row just behind Henry, and it felt like the entire center block of seats was nothing but people from Wolf's Run.

"So," Henry asked, leaning forward toward me, "is this the big culmination?"

"Actually, no," Trent said, answering for me. "This is their first live performance. After this, they start doing school competitions. If they're scored well enough, then they'll advance. I can't remember what order it goes in, but there's a competition for district, regional, and state."

"Then I'm glad we paid for good props and costumes," Henry said. "I told that Mr. Bell to let me know if they needed any more funding, because my granddaughter deserved only the best."

"You aren't buying her way into next year's play, are you?" Bridget teased.

Henry just smiled. "Oh, no. I made sure he knows Samantha's one of my projects too. I bought both of them starring roles for as long as they want them."

"Henry..." Trent groaned.

Ian's dad waved him down. "Relax. I know better than that. I told him that we had some kids from the neighborhood in school here, and I felt