Page 13 of Cold Moon

“Okay. Cool. I can do it. No problem.” It wasn’t like I had anything else on my plate. I could spend some time working off my debt to Alpha Grove and his pack.

“You don’t even know what it is yet.”

“I pay off my debts,” I said stubbornly, though the Doherty Foundation might’ve laughed at that. “Sir.”

“You can call me Linden if you want.”

I swallowed hard. I wasn’t sure I’d ever manage that after my own father had been Alpha Reid for my whole life.

Alpha Grove didn’t press this either. “We have a farmer here, studied chemistry, farming tech, that kind of thing.”

“Okay...” Already, I was imagining barnyards and shoveling poop. That wouldn’t be so bad, compared to bleeding out in the woods.

“His name is Ridge. He’s recently discovered that some chemical the Sterling Corporation uses on their farms is toxic to omegas. Thinks it might even play a part in the Condition, but, well, he hasn’t had time to really figure out what it is. He’s busy with the farm, and figuring out the properties of that solution is a whole other job.”

“Okay.” That did sound like a lot for one person.

“Right now, what we need is proof. Everything we’ve got so far is anecdotal, but if you’re interested in science, biology, maybe you could be a second set of hands—you know, help him figure it out.”

“Oh. Um, yeah. I’m—I’d be happy to help with that.” If Alpha Grove was asking me for something, I was there.

“It’d be a huge load off. Honestly, I’ve been meaning to get to it myself, but with rounds...”

This was an awful lot of trust to give a guy with a third of a quasi-relevant degree, but I didn’t get the impression that reminding Alpha Grove of how useless I was would get us anywhere.

“Of course. If there’s any way I can help, especially with that, I’d like to.” What I couldn’t say was that my mother had died of the Condition, that losing all our pack omegas was what’d ruined the Reids.

I wasn’t sure I could really do much, but maybe this Ridge guy was some kind of prodigy and could point me in the right direction. I wasn’t too bad with a test tube and a lab, really.

The alpha clicked his tongue. “But I don’t know where you’d stay.”

“I’m a werewolf, sir. I can find somewhere.”

He scowled at me—not meanly, but like he might’ve if a kid had called him a jerk. “We’re not going to make you sleep out in the woods, Dante. Anyway, the weather’s turning cold. I know! Let me talk to Isaac. He runs the grocery store downtown, but also owns a couple properties. Brook and Aspen are staying at one of his duplexes while they build their new house, and I think Asp said the other half was vacant. Would that work?”

“Oh, um—” I wasn’t sure Brook would want me around all the time, considering how we’d met. Sure, he saved my life, but that was just because he was kind.

“Yeah.” Like he could read my mind, he said, “I’m sure Brook would love that. He’s been asking about you every day.”

That had to be a pretty big exaggeration. Brook had come to see me at the clinic once or twice, but his mate was always at his side, big and scowling and clearly unhappy to be there.

Hell, maybe Alpha Grove just wanted an excuse to have his intimidatingly enormous brother keep an eye on me.

“So, I’ll talk to Isaac about it, check in with Brook and Aspen, and we’ll get you checked out of here on Friday. Sound good?”

I wasn’t sure what else to say, so I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Wonderful. See you in the morning.” Alpha Grove straightened the knit blanket over my legs and left me, locking up the clinic behind himself and leaving me feeling like I’d just been hit by the most well-intentioned hurricane ever.

8

Skye

Thursday morning, Dante was nervous.

Not like he thought I was a threat or anything—no one would ever see me as a threat—but he’d struggled to meet my eye when I’d handed over his breakfast. Then every time I’d put a steadying hand on him while we’d done our circuits of the room, he’d frozen like a man who had found himself unexpectedly under a spotlight. Every time, his eyes would dart over to Linden’s desk, whether the man himself was present in the office or not, and then away, his cheeks flushing lightly.

It looked cute, the pink stain on those high cheekbones, just enough to be seen through his natural tan. Probably, an alpha wouldn’t be thrilled to be called cute, but there wasn’t a better term. Yes, sure, he was handsome or whatever, but the bashful way he reacted to everything was much more puppy than wolf.

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