Page 53 of Cold Moon

Without another word, he dragged Aspen over to sit next to my bed, and sat on his lap. Was he worried Aspen was going to run off and pick a fight with the Sterling people?

But no, Aspen didn’t look like he was going to do that. He was tense, sure. His jaw clenched. He didn’t say a word to me, just inclined his head in my direction and pressed his forehead against Brook’s hair.

I drew my brows together and shot Brook a questioning glance, and he sighed. “We’re all kind of useless right now, huh? The whole pack, except for Dante, Ridge, and maybe Linden, a little.”

It was fair. It reminded me of the ridiculous omegas-as-soft stereotypes—something the Grove pack didn’t really go in for ever. I frowned. “Because we can’t be involved. I mean, we shouldn’t even be in that room. Colt’s only going because he’s, you know, Colt.”

Brook gave a laugh at that and nodded. “He sure is.” He glanced back at the clinic door, shaking his head, before turning back to me. “I’ve never had anything like the Condition, not a single time in my life. But you couldn’t pay me to go in that place, where they’re testing for whatever it is making us sick. It’s like walking into a poison factory. Colt has nerves of steel.”

Of that, I had no doubt.

Still, I was more worried about Dante. Sweet, kind Dante, who had brought me breakfast, who had been attacked and beaten down by every villain I could think of, and who was at that very moment, trying to convince a multinational corporation to stop trying to murder me.

Beautiful Dante, with the permanently ruffled hair and stubbled jaw and... I sighed and stared at the remains of my breakfast sandwich. He’d come to see me, even sick and pitiful in the clinic. He’d provided for me, been providing for me, and as ridiculous as it was, something about it made me feel more secure, even with monsters roaming the valley.

Dante with his enormous white wolf, so strong and—

“Skye?” Brook asked, pulling himself off Aspen’s lap and reaching over to cup my cheek. “This might be a silly question, but um... How long since you’ve had a heat?”

The flush that rushed to my cheeks, I realized, wasn’t just because of the fact that we were discussing heats in front of an alpha. Damn it all. It was because I was on the cusp of one.

31

Dante

Perfectly healthy, Mr. Sterling said, as if we could just ignore decades of suffering, disease, and death for the people we cared about most—our children and parents and mates.

I was angry, that alpha buzz sparking in my head, making it hard to think. My wolf said it was time to defend the pack.

But I hadn’t spent every year since puberty shoving down my worst instincts for nothing. I had seen firsthand how little alpha instincts could serve a modern pack, and if I wanted to make my case, I needed to keep my head on straight.

“This is it?” Archer Sterling asked as he got out of the imposing black SUV at the Hills’ farm. He slammed the door behind him, and incredibly, he found the vitriol to drag his glare across the beautiful landscape and find it wanting.

Colt Doherty beamed straight at him, completely unbothered. “Sure is. Our state-of-the-art barn, full of wolves smarter, faster, and stronger than the best scientists you could provide.”

The alpha’s mate turned his grin on me then, and it struck me that he and Linden might have talked about me. Together. When I wasn’t around.

I was important enough to slip into Linden Grove’s thoughts, even when I wasn’t there.

My heart convulsed in my chest, squeezing all the air out of my lungs at once. Colt gave me a brief nod, so subtle I doubted anyone else had caught it, and he swept his arm toward the barn.

“If you’ll follow me, gentleman,” he said.

Sterling and his cohorts fell in behind Colt. Linden Grove took up the rear, with me. For a pack alpha, he was all too willing to let his omega mate step forward and take charge of this situation.

“If you don’t want to talk to them, you don’t have to,” Linden offered, his hand settling heavily on my shoulder.

But my thoughts strayed to Skye, trapped back in the clinic because he’d had the audacity to drink from a water bottle at a movie theater.

I couldn’t let him down.

“No, Alpha. I’ve got this.”

Linden’s lips barely twitched. “Okay, but you look like you want to tear their throats out. Try and take a deep breath.”

A shiver worked down my spine. The last thing I wanted was to lose my head and let him down. “I’m fine. Swear.”

We followed the Sterlings and their lawyers into the barn, and my stomach clenched around my breakfast.

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