Cyrus growled. Beaux better watch his damn mouth. Hours from the full moon, even he got twitchy. “In addition to her being my sister, she’s my Healer and a member of my pack.”
“Do you monitor the personal life of every member of your pack? Paid a lot of attention to Lake’s life in the past? Or is it bothering you because, this time, it might be me that she has something going on with?”
“Forget that I asked. I need to figure out the full-moon politics with you. If we’re all going to shift here together, there have to be rules.”
Beaux laughed. “You keep your rules back in Manhattan where they belong. Tonight we all get to be wolves. Understand what that means anymore? Even Betsy will shift, and when she does, she’ll heal completely. We’ll be the part of ourselves that we only get to be once a month.”
“Oh for the love of the moon.” Sometimes he really wanted to break Beaux’s stupid neck. “We’re not pack, Beaux. When rival packs get together on full moons, there is violence unless the Alphas speak up ahead of time. The time Travis’ pack came to New York, I told my people not to touch them. We need to do that for each other.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be necessary. You and me, we’re connected. Our pack isn’t going to hurt each other.”
“Bullshit. We’re not connected.” What the fuck was he talking about? “If you want to risk it, go ahead. We can kill each other and see who is still left in the morning.”
“We’re all children of the moon. We’ll all be fine in the morning.” Beaux sauntered away like a man who thought he knew what he was talking about.
They were leaving Montana in a few days. Cyrus had to put up with this for a few more days, and then he’d be back among the concrete jungle he’d missed more than he thought he would. Give him noise, 3 a.m. takeout, and honking horns.
Betsy walked behind him, placing her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry we can’t leave tonight.”
“It would be a big disaster. We’d all shift on the airplane. Or if we did make, we’d land in New York, and it would be too late to get to safety. One more night here and then we’re out.”
She nodded, and he leaned over to kiss the spot on her neck that met her shoulder blade. Alone time would be a great thing about returning home as well.
“When are you going to tell the pack?”
He turned his gaze to the sky. . Maybe another hour until her first shift. “Tell them what, princess?”
“That you’re going to let them all choose their own careers. That they don’t have to work for you anymore if they don’t want to.”
“When we get back.” He paused. “How did you know that?”
She smiled. “Still think I had a hell of a dream?”
Cyrus shook his head. He didn’t know what he thought anymore, but if the moon or Lucian or a bunch of giant two-headed rats had something to do with her returning to him, then he was grateful.
“I need to keep you safe tonight, and when we get back home, forever. And I’m not sure I can do that and be Alpha in this time of war. The longer we go without an Alpha Prime, the more I think it will come to that.” He kissed her forehead. “How would you feel about me stepping down?”
“I think that would be the stupidest thing you could ever do.”
Well, he hadn’t expected that reaction. “What?”
“You’re Alpha. Stop questioning it. I can keep myself safe. If I’d paid better attention to the fact that my hands kept shifting as an instinctual warning instead of a weird phenomena, then I wouldn’t have gotten shot. I’ll learn as time goes on. And you’ll keep the pack safe until someone worthy, someone you think you can follow, steps into the role. Until then, don’t waste time worrying about things you can’t change.”
He grinned. No one but Betsy would ever speak to him like that. “Yes, my mate. Whatever you say.”
“That’s right, my Alpha. It’s whatever I say. Don’t forget that.”
He kissed her soft lips. Cyrus was Betsy’s. And thank the moon for that.
Epilogue
His sister fiddled with the totem around her neck. She stared out the window and bit her nails. Had she suddenly gotten horribly afraid of flying? They were still on the tarmac. What was the problem? He sniffed the air. Sure enough, the pungent aroma of fear crept through his nostrils. Lake was terrified.
Cyrus stroked Betsy’s leg, not caring if anyone noticed. Another day of being so completely desperate to make love to her and he might decide to take her in public. Screw anyone who wanted to watch. He’d make sure they got a good show.