Page 68 of Power Shift

“You’ve been busy, then?” Dash asks after swallowing a bite of pizza.

I stare down at mine and poke at the golden crust as my stomach swirls. I’ve hardly eaten these last couple of weeks, and apparently, that isn’t changing tonight.

“Very. Clover, my best friend and business partner, has been keeping us on our toes with a new patient. I think she’s trying to shove our friendship down her throat, but Sadie’s been a real trooper about it. We made her a truly awful chicken casserole the other night, and she swallowed it down without a single cough.”

“Sounds like when Dash makes a friend and Ronan attempts to cook,” Jasper teases.

Dash pinches his pizza and shakes it in Jasper’s direction. “Don’t take shots at me because I’m the only one in this pack who knows how to have a conversation with someone new instead of just grunting at them.”

“Why am I catching strays?” Ronan asks around the rim of his beer bottle.

“I never said you were the one doing the grunting. You guessed that all on your own,” Dash sings.

Briar’s giggle has everyone falling silent. Jasper grins wide enough to show both rows of his teeth while Ronan stares bluntly at her, his eyes all but twinkling.

Dash is the only one of them who tries to hide his reaction. He glances at me and offers a wince-like smile that I immediately look away from.

“What about you, Landon? Do you cook?” she asks.

It takes me a moment to realize I’m the Landon she’s talking to.

“Not often,” I reply bluntly.

“Who does, then?”

“If anyone, Jasper does.”

She tips her chin, ripping a piece of her crust off. I stare at her plate, a brow sliding up as I examine her food. The cheese is gone, along with the majority of the crust, while the actual pizza remains intact, uneaten.

Dropping her eyes to where she can see me looking, she freezes with the crust hanging between her fingers.

“I’ve always eaten pizza like this,” she tells me.

“Why?”

She cocks her head, examining my plate. “Why aren’t you eating at all?”

Jasper clears his throat, frowning at me for a beat. “Landon hasn’t been feeling well recently.”

“In what way?” The alarm in her tone makes my alpha preen, the smug bastard.

“Don’t worry about it,” I grumble.

Dash keeps pushing. “What did the doc say today?”

“To sleep more.”

And to start taking care of my body before it gives out on me. His warning was grim, and I’m not up for repeating it. The only thing that’ll do for me is make the rest of them hover.

“That’s incredible medical advice if I do say so myself,” Dash mutters, sarcastic as fuck.

I feel Briar’s eyes on me, forcing mine to lift to meet them. Something shifts in my chest at her concern, a piece of me that aches for her attention and care. From across the table, I feel the ghost of her touch on my skin lingering from that night three weeks ago. My nails dig into my thigh, the pain doing nothing to faze me.

I inhale through my mouth to avoid her scent, but I taste it instead. It’s thick, intoxicating. My chest begins to rumble as I stiffen, cock throbbing so intensely it’s painful.

“Is there anything anyone can do to help you, Landon?” she asks, her voice a purr stroking around my swelling knot.

“No,” I croak.

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