Wolf's Pack (Wolves Next Door #3) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,27

of his emotions.

I just looked over at my Alpha. "What made up your mind, Ian?"

He shrugged. "All of my converts think this is a great idea. Pax stopped pushing against it. You and Lane don't seem opposed. No one at this table is trying to say it's a bad idea, and this is what we've always wanted. Someone has to go first, and these bears seem honestly willing to make an effort. Now, let's just make sure this all works out."

CHAPTER 9

* * *

Vic hadn't headed toward the bathroom. He hadn't gone out back. We'd all seen the look on his face, so we'd let him go, but when he didn't come back after a couple of minutes, I excused myself to follow. It wasn't exactly hard to find the guy - he did smell like sweet grass and the dirt after it rained. My nose led me right to the front door.

Vic stood there with a hand over his mouth, staring out the little window at the side. "Hey?" I said softly as I moved closer.

He cleared his throat before turning to face me. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude."

"We have some chairs out back and plenty of beer," I offered.

"Probably don't need to drink much more," he told me. "I just..."

So I leaned around him to open the front door. "Fresh air?" I offered, gesturing for him to go first. The man chuckled once, but he went. I followed, easing the door closed behind us. "Hopefully that wasn't as bad as you'd feared?"

"No," he admitted. "I honestly expected this to turn into a screaming match, which is why I agreed to come alone. I knew Ashley wouldn't let me be ambushed, and someone has to trust first, right?" Then he paused, turning to me with a look of confusion on his face. "And why are you ok with me?"

"Convert?" I guessed. "I honestly don't know. Can I tell that you're big and scary? Yep. I think the same thing about Lane, and he saved my life."

"When you ran or something?" Vic asked.

"No, when I was attacked. The alpha of another pack - well, he wasn't the alpha at the time, just another guy going to college with us. Anyways, I was a dick, and he paid me back by jumping me with a few of his wolf friends, as wolves. I had no idea any of this was real. I thought they were big feral dogs. And then Lane tore into them - also as a wolf."

"So, about as bad as my conversion." Vic chuckled. "Does anyone get turned without trauma?"

"Elena and Gabby." I shrugged. "Gabby found out about wolves and had her boyfriend bite her. Took a bit, but Elena decided that since she's already a part of the pack then she might as well turn too. Lane's fated for her, and she asked him to bite her."

"And today was her first day back on her feet." He nodded to show he knew that much. "Impressive lady."

"More than you can imagine." I canted my head, indicating he should follow. "So, she lives next door, right there." I pointed. "And that's the leasing office, which also doubles as the central hub of our pack. Ashley and Elena are there all day long, and they can get any of the pack leadership with a call." Then I pointed up the street toward the back of the community. "And at the very end of this road is the start of the nature trails. There are a few streets that branch off, and we have a little more room to build more houses. If everything fills up, Henry wants to buy the land behind us and make a bigger space to run, but we'd have to plant trees and let it grow up."

"Wow," Vic breathed. "And it's all surrounded by walls?"

"Yep." I gestured to the gates. "The gate guard? Yeah, it's a wolf. We can lock those down, and we have a community text group for any emergencies - like when Gabby was turning. Gates are closed and locked, cars are parked, and we come together to help. Might be a little overwhelming for a bear, though."

He moved to the end of the lawn and looked up toward where his new house would be. "I think we can cope with that, actually. I mean, isolation is no longer an option. And Ashley said you have an African Wild Dog in the pack?"

"Jesse." I just sighed. "Yeah, um, he went to