Wolf's Pack (Wolves Next Door #3) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,73

knew that Lane needed to be close to her. That man literally lived for her now. Oh, he tried to play it off as no big deal, but I'd known him long enough to know better. If anything, he was worse than me.

Never mind Seth! He'd sworn that he wouldn't have a problem sharing a mate when he'd become Ian's beta so long ago. I was pretty sure that none of us had expected him to fall for an older woman - and to do it so completely. The simple fact that he was trying so hard to become a father figure for Gabby? It spoke volumes. It also made me respect the guy that much more.

Then there was Trent. Thursday night, while Lane and Ian spent the night with Elena, the pair of us retreated to my room to watch a movie. Seth was watching one of his shows downstairs, so we let him have the larger screen. The problem was that Trent and I never even managed to start one. Instead, we ended up sitting on the bed staring at the selection screen, and talking all about her. About how easily she accepted the pair of us with her. About how she never tried to convince us to be with her alone. About how she made us both feel like we were the most important man in her life, even though we knew she did the exact same to all the others.

"We need a date," Trent told me, flicking down on the remote without really caring about what he was flipping through. "Me, you, and her. It doesn't feel official until we have an actual date, you know?"

"Feels pretty official to me," I countered. "Trent, I'm completely obsessed with her."

"Then fuck her on your own."

The fact that his eyes never left the screen made me grumble a warning. His lips just curled, daring me to follow through on that, but we both knew I wouldn't. He was just pushing my buttons, but the problem was that it kept working.

"I'm not fucking her," I told him.

"No? More for me." This time, he glanced at me, but only for a second.

I just sighed. "I'm sleeping with her, ok? Fucking sounds... I dunno, like what we did with Karen."

"Making love?" he offered.

Yeah, that was the issue. That one word was a very heavy one. It also felt right. It felt like this crazy feeling that hung in my chest when she wasn't around, making me smile like a boy when she was. Yet there was only one simple problem with that word.

"Doesn't feel right to say that until you're ready," I mumbled.

He gave up on the TV and turned it off. "I want a date with her," he said again, but this time I could tell he was completely serious. "Just the three of us, and not here. Not trying to juggle the pack, our kid, or any of that. I want at least an hour of the three of us alone, dressed, and talking before I'll say I'm there."

"Why?" I asked. "You can't tell me you don't feel something for her."

"I do," he insisted. "But I also feel my dick getting hard and my responsibilities. I like her, Pax. A lot. I like that woman enough that I do not want to toss out that word like it means nothing. I want a fucking date, and that means you need to agree to it."

I reached up to rub at both of my eyes with one hand. "I agree. I will definitely go, so you can stop worrying. I just... They're all there. Hearing her tell Ian that she loved him? Man, I fucking want that too."

"Yeah, but do you just want the empty words, or do you want to know you can believe it?" he countered. "Because I know you well enough. You'll profess your feelings, she'll say she feels the same, and you'll spend the next month trying to figure out if she meant it or was just being nice. You'll talk yourself in circles, overthinking what exactly it means to love Ian's mate and how this is supposed to work for us." He let his head flop over so he could see me. "I know because I'll do the exact same. That's why I want a date before I'll say it."

"And then?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Then we'll worry about the next step."

My eyes narrowed. "What step comes after loving someone? She already said she's not having more kids."

He