Page 133 of Warlords, Witches & Wolves

“We both have secrets.”

“Is it because of her?”

“No. I’ve been thinking about this for years. It’s now or never.”

Zach nodded. “Okay. How many do you have?”

“Just us at the moment.” Hardly a great start, but then, he had to start somewhere. And getting Zach would be a coup. “You are interested?”

Zach stared up at the sun. “I can’t keep doing this, so yes. Who else will you approach?”

“I don’t know yet.” Most of his friends were sons of leaders who were more traditional than they liked to admit. “I’m keeping an ear out. You do the same, but I’ll do the approach.”

“Of course.” Zach tilted his head as though accepting the order and they were already pack. “I won’t tell either of your secrets if you keep mine.”

“I won’t say a word.”

“You’ll need at least two blood drinkers.” Zach grinned. “But that shouldn’t be hard.”

The lake glittered before them. There were already wolves out on the water making the most of their down time. There would be informal talks over the next few days so wolves could arrange moves before the official meeting. Moving wasn’t taken lightly, usually it was only approved for marriage, more rarely for work, even though in theory wolves could move whenever they wanted. Approval was required from their current pack leader and the one they intended to move to. As a firefighter, he’d be able to find work anywhere, but he was trapped.

His father rarely approved requests to leave and accepted only very select new members—those that were also heavily into tradition. Owen hated it. It was suffocating. As much as he’d like to find members from his own pack to leave with him it was too risky.

He scanned the shore looking for a place to set up. Zach walked with him. They passed Ben and his loud buddies, including Owen’s brother, and kept moving with little more than a chin tilt in their direction. If Macey’s scent was still on his skin, he needed to get into the lake before every wolf around him realized something was going on.

They passed a woman lying in the sun on her stomach reading. She wore a bikini that barely covered her butt. Owen’s gaze drifted up her spine. The scent of hot metal and honey hit him hard.Macey.

The woman glanced up; her eyes widened for a moment in recognition before she snapped her attention back to her book. The other woman next to her let her gaze linger longer. They were clearly sisters from the hair and the shape of their lips. Owen moved on as fast as he could without greeting either.

He'd said it was only one night…but he was a liar.

“Smooth, man. Guess I know who now.” Zach laughed.

“Shut up.”

“I never thought—”

“What, you thought I’d follow blindly forever?” He’d tried that. Really tried but the last gathering had opened his eyes and for the last five years he’d battled with himself about what he should do. His loyalty to the pack versus his desire to be a selfish prick who wanted freedom.

“You did last gathering,” Zach said. “In fact you were quite the traditional asshole in public.”

“I thought I had to be.” He’d tried to fit and failed.

Zach dropped his towel. “Better stop here, that way you can still see her.”

“It might be best to move on.”

“Nah, I’m enjoying this. Though in future you might want to be more careful when returning to camp after your own little run. You don’t smell of her. I saw you. That’s when I knew for sure, you aren’t like your father.”

Owen didn’t know whether to be relieved he didn’t smell or worried that he’d been seen with Macey. If Zach had seen them, who else had?

* * *

Macey didher best not to look at Owen as he stripped off his shirt and made his way into the lake wearing only a pair of board shorts that rode too low on his hips. She kept the book in front of her like she was reading, but she had no idea what was written on the page.

It had been a onetime thing. They both knew that.

While it wasn’t forbidden in most packs, it was frowned upon by all. Wolves were supposed to stick with wolves, and vampires with vampires. Many packs strictly enforced that. She’d never seen the two mixing, beyond the normal family things in her pack and she wasn’t about to ask why those rules existed as that would draw attention. But she hated the growing distance between her and her family. It would be easier if she wasn’t part of the same pack, then the changes wouldn’t be so obvious.

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