Page 28 of Cold Moon

Case in point, those stitches. Not too long ago, he’d almost died of having his insides on the outside, and Linden had had to stitch them back in.

So we went.

The Grille was perfect, as always. Dante even pulled out my chair for me, and I didnotalmost die of the blood rushing to my cheeks when people turned and looked at us.

Conversation was surprisingly easy between us, given how hesitant he was, and how terrified of rejection I always was. We talked about the run, and how beautiful the Grove valley was, and avoided discussing the incident with his clothes.

I kinda felt like a jerk about it, since someone had wronged him, and I wasn’t urging him to do something about it. Maybe I should buy him some new clothes... but no, then he’d just start back into the notion that he owed me something.

When we finished, he even walked me over to the hardware store and waited downstairs with Cliff while I went up and changed.

Given how quiet the two of them were, I was astounded when I returned to find them chatting amiably.

“I’m sure I could order it in,” Cliff was saying. “Might take a few days, but I know just the place that’d have ’em.”

“That would be amazing,” Dante said, a smile on his lips that lit up his whole face. “Let me talk to Alpha Grove about it, and I’ll come back.”

“Of course. Or you can call if you’re busy.” Cliff plucked a card out of the holder on the counter, but instead of just handing it to Dante, he grabbed a pen and wrote something on it. “That’s my cell, in case I’m not in the shop. Call whenever. And if there’s anything else, let me know. We can find just about anything.”

“Thank you so much,” Dante answered, clutching the card to his chest, looking like someone had handed him the key to the city. “I’ll call, for sure.”

They waved to each other as we left, and I felt a little like a pleased mama bear whose baby had just had a successful playdate.

“What was that about?” I asked Dante.

He flushed. “Oh, just, um, the lab work Alpha Grove wants me to do. I’m not sure anyone in town really has a setup for it, so I was asking him about where in town someone might find a few things, and he offered to hunt them down for me.”

What I knew about lab work fit into the tiny, very specifically purposed machines we had in the clinic, and I couldn’t imagine X-rays were going to do Dante much good in looking for chemicals.

Were X-rays even really lab work? Yeah, that was the extent of my knowledge: zero.

So I smiled and bumped our shoulders lightly together. “That’s awesome. Cliff’s a pretty great guy. He’s dating the alpha’s brother.”

I glanced up then to see Linden himself unlocking the door to the clinic. Darn. We’d taken long enough that he’d arrived first. That almost never happened anymore.

When we came in after him, he didn’t frown, though. There was none of the hesitation there had been at first, no looking Dante over like he might be a threat, or worrying over me because I was useless and helpless. He simply smiled at us and said, “Good morning!”

“Hey, boss.”

“Alpha,” Dante answered with a deferential nod.

That, Linden liked less than he’d liked our showing up together. He didn’t frown, exactly, but his eyebrows drew down and together, forming a little line between them, flinching a little. He was still getting used to being called “Alpha,” but I didn’t think that was the problem.

There were very few people in Grovetown who had gotten to know Dante well enough to recognize the way he closed into himself. Fewer still who had done any kind of studying to know what it might mean. Mostly just Linden and me. Well, and maybe Brook, who could have seen in person how Dante was treated by the Reid pack.

Linden wasn’t worried about Dante hurting me anymore. I was as sure of it as I could be. Finally, he’d gotten on board my train. Next stop: dote on this sweet boy until he knows what he’s worth.

He smiled at Dante, waving him over to one of the beds and patting it. “Hop up, and we’ll get those stitches out once and for all.”

Dante went and sat, pulling his shirt off and laying back when Linden told him to.

I wanted to jump in, to bring up the conversation with Cliff, just to make sure Dante advocated for himself, but the door swung open with more force than usual, and I turned to find... oh jeez.

“Hi, Mom.”

Her jaw clenched and she pointed back outside. “I need to speak to you. Alone.”

17

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