Cooking. Fates, I loved feeding a crowd. It fulfilled something in me to know I was caring for and nourishing so many pack members.
“Wren!” I heard the excited squeal a moment before its owner launched at me, throwing her arms around my neck. Archer’s hand tightened slightly on my hip, a growl reverberating low in his chest.
“Relax, caveman. Can I not hug my own cousin?,” I said over my shoulder, shooting him a mischievous grin.
“I’d rather you didn’t,” he muttered, though his eyes glittered with amusement.
“So, you must be Sadie?” I laughed, pulling back to look at the young she-wolf who was staring at me in awe. Warmth emanated from her every pore. If she wasn’t a Luna, I’d eat my shoe.
“I am. It’s so nice to finally meet you, Wren. Grams has talked so much about you,” Sadie gushed. Not in an eager to please way, but with all the confidence and effusiveness of a protective, dominant wolf.
“It’s true, she’s talked about almost nothing else,” a male voice added, sidling up next to her. Seeing them side-by-side, there was no denying they were twins. Their dark brown hair with honey-colored streaks was the same shade — Sadie’s was long and worn in two thick braids that made her look even younger than she was. Alec’s was longish too, curling around his ears and the collar of his shirt. Their eyes were a matching shade of warm brown, and they both had olive complexions.
“Alec, right? I’m Archer.” My mate leaned around me to shake Alec’s hand. To my surprise, Alec’s gaze instantly dropped to the floor.
“Nice to meet you, Archer. I’ve heard a lot about you.” He was by no means a submissive wolf — that was clear by his size alone — but he wasn’t an Alpha in the making either.
“Hi Archer,” Sadie greeted him cheerfully, though there was something in the way she examined him that pricked uncomfortably at my wolf. She didn’t look at him like she wanted him, it was more like a look of nervous curiosity. I didn’t think my mate had that much of a reputation. I shook off the weirdness, I was probably imagining things.
“Alec, I’m Wren,” I greeted him, pulling him into a quick one-armed hug, awkwardly dragging Archer along behind me. I already liked Sadie, but I felt protective of Alec. He was pinging on my Luna radar.
“Do you have to hug other people so much?” Archer grumbled. “I could easily fill your daily hug quotient.”
“Fates, I barely hug anyone, don’t be such a baby,” I reprimanded, swatting his forearm. “Shall we get some lunch?” I asked, turning my attention back to Alec and Sadie. “Our packmate, Miles, is around here… somewhere.” I actually didn’t know where he’d gone, he’d been acting strange since we arrived this morning.
We found a table in the hotel restaurant, placing our orders with the human waitress. I ordered a burger and fries for Miles, just in case.
“So you guys are planning on attending the college in the fall, right? What do you want to study?” I asked, popping a fry in my mouth.
“Music,” Sadie answered instantly.
“Really?” I asked, failing to keep the surprise out of my voice.
“I play piano. I enjoy writing music and entertaining the pack.” She shrugged a little sheepishly. Interesting. Maybe music was her love language, like food was mine.
“How about you?” Archer asked Alec, looking across the table at him.
“My dad wants me to study business,” Alec replied uncomfortably, before deflecting with a question to Archer about school sports. Poor kid.
Miles slid into the seat next to Archer, shooting me a small half smile at the cold plate of food I pushed towards him. That was practically a beaming grin by Miles’ standards.
Sadie was a beautiful young woman, but Miles didn’t spare her a second glance. He’d confided in me once — after the three of us polished off a bottle of whiskey my grandparents sent us to commemorate Archer and my official mating — that the girl in his dream was blonde. Really blonde. And petite.
With her dark hair and tall, lean frame, Sadie held no interest to Miles. I’d also never seen a short shifter though, which made me wonder about the accuracy of his vision.
“This is our packmate, Miles Rubio. His parents are the Beta pair of the Audax Pack. Miles, these are my cousins, Alec and Sadie Calvin.”
“We don’t have any events scheduled until tomorrow and I could really use a beer,” Miles said, shooting us a pleading look. Archer’s brow furrowed, Miles was usually the cool and collected one.
“I’m alway game for a beer,” Archer said eventually, studying Miles.
“Great, I’ll get us drinks,” Miles suggested. Alec immediately volunteered to help him. Strangely happy to help for a dominant wolf.
They returned shortly with beers for all of us, and I raised my brow pointedly at Alec and Sadie.
“I feel like I probably shouldn’t condone your underage drinking.”
“We drink beer at home,” Sadie said with a shrug. Shifters had a higher tolerance for alcohol than humans, and it’s not like I could judge them. I’d happily made the most of the human bartenders who were too enthralled to ID me.
“Did your dad help organize this event? He’s on the Council, right?” I asked Sadie, sensing Alec’s discomfort at being asked questions.
“Oh yeah, he’s all about inter-pack relations,” Sadie said enthusiastically. “I wasn’t supposed to be here, but Grams nagged him into letting me come along when you said you’d be here too.”
“You should definitely be here,” I said, baffled. Everything about Sadie screamed Luna.
“He wanted to send me on my own as Alpha heir,” Alec mumbled, fidgeting in his seat. I kicked Archer hard under the table as his eyebrows shot into his hairline. Then did the same to Miles.
Zero freaking poker faces.
Sadie rubbed her brother’s arm, comforting him. I was dying to learn more about the story, but it seemed too soon to dig into the family politics. We were pretty much strangers to each other, after all.
“Well, I’m glad you’re both here and we finally got to meet,” I offered, smiling to ease the tension at the table. “Maybe you’ll meet your mate here,” I said to Miles, waggling my eyebrows at him. I was adamant that my first act as Luna would be to find Miles’ fated mate. He’d never be happy until he did.
Miles said nothing, staring determinedly down at his plate of food. I frowned. He was pretty stoic, but he was generally good humored. Weird.
“I can’t believe we’re here,” I admitted, babbling to fill in the silence. “Archer didn’t strike me as a big city boy, I thought for sure he’d put up a fight.”
“He still hates the city,” Miles said wryly, “but you asked, so he said yes.” Archer nodded sagely, making Sadie giggle.
“Will you come visit us soon?” Sadie asked hopefully. “My mom is so excited to meet you.”
“Not your dad?” I asked, quirking a brow.
“He’s not not excited,” Sadie clarified, eyes widening. “Grams has said how much you look like your mom and I think it makes my dad upset. I don’t even know how I’d cope if Alec left the pack.” Alec cleared his throat and gave Sadie a tight smile.
“Well, if the Alpha is fine with it, I’m sure we can arrange a visit,” I said diplomatically.
Sadie twisted her fingers nervously, cheeks pinkening. “I hope this doesn’t come out weird, but, uh, do you have a brother?” she asked Archer.
Archer’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline and I could see the beginning of a shit-eating grin forming on his face.
“Yes, he does,” I interjected, giving him a pointed look. “Why do you ask?”
“Please don’t rip my throat out,” Sadie replied, giving me a tense smile. “I’m not attracted to Archer’s scent — obviously — there’s just something about it that seems… I don’t even know how to describe it. My wolf finds it comforting.”
Down, girl, I told my wolf, whose ears had flattened, teeth slightly bared. I’d found Archer’s scent comforting before I knew
who he was to me, and Sadie knew what to look out for. Siblings smelled similar — Flynn smelled like a knock-off version of Archer to my nose, but would probably smell like sex on legs to his fated mate.
“He’ll be starting at Carson the same time as you,” Archer said casually, “though I’m sure we could arrange a meeting before then. Maybe I could convince him to join us here. He didn’t bother because he assumes Alpha and Beta will be filled by Miles and I.”
“Oh no, we should wait,” Sadie replied, looking stricken. “It’ll be so embarrassing if I’m wrong, please don’t tell him.”
“We won’t,” I assured her. “We won’t,” I reiterated, elbowing Archer hard in the ribs.
I took a long pull on my beer, watching Alec out of the corner of my eye. Flynn was a dominant wolf, a few years away from being strong enough to challenge Archer for the role of Alpha heir. But maybe he wouldn’t have to. Maybe Flynn would be an Alpha after all, just not of the Audax Pack.
“I have to go,” Miles said abruptly, pushing away from the table and his barely eaten plate of food.
“What? Why?” Archer asked, surprised.
“She’s here. My fated mate is here.”
“How exciting!” Sadie squealed.
“Um, fuck yeah it is. Come on,” I stood, tugging at Archer’s bicep. “Let’s go see.”
“Definitely not,” he chuckled. “Give the man some space, Fates.”
“We were going to go meet some friends who have flown in from Texas now, you guys are more than welcome to come?” Sadie suggested.
“No thanks, we have enough friends,” Archer said jovially, not caring in the least at how rude he sounded. “I’m about at my limit of sharing my mate today, time to head back upstairs, little bird.” He shot me a lustful look that had me blushing and Sadie giggling as she dramatically fanned her face.
“Fine, let’s go,” I agreed readily, before the whole restaurant got a whiff of how much I wanted my mate. No secrets among shifters.
“See you later, guys!” I called over my shoulder to my laughing cousins as Archer tugged me along impatiently behind him, taking the stairs two a time.
It was almost frightening how quickly six months with Archer had passed. I wanted to grab Father Time by the collar and tell him to slow the fuck down. I was enjoying myself.
The lock on the door had barely clicked shut when Archer hoisted me up against it, his hands working underneath my denim shorts to cup my ass.
“I swear you wore these just to torture me,” he growled against my mouth, sinking his teeth into my lower lip hard enough to leave an indent. I snaked my hands into his hair and wiggled against him.
“What are you going to do about it?”
“I’m pretty keen on leaving some handprints right… here.” He punctuated his words with a firm squeeze. “Then if your shorts ride up, everyone will know this ass is taken.”
“Caveman.” I rolled my eyes, though my core clenched with need and my nipples rubbed uncomfortably against the lace of my bra.
“You like that about me,” Archer said with a slow grin, inhaling deeply as the scent of my need filled the room.
“I like everything about you, Archer Ellery,” I breathed, leaning forward to bite his earlobe and rolling my hips slowly against the bulge in his shorts. “Let me show you how much.”
Hello!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read Wren and Archer’s story. It came to me while I was doing the dishes (where all of my best ideas happen) and I couldn’t get it out of my head. Miles’ story will be the next one for the Audax Pack, and then Flynn, who will kick off the Fortis Pack series. Keep up with me on Facebook or Instagram for the latest news and release dates.
If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review. Aside from being essential to new authors building their profile, I’m a nosy AF and I want to hear your opinions.
Colette x
coletterhodes.com
books by colette rhodes
Empath Found Series:
The Terrible Gift
The Unwanted Challenge
The Reluctant Keeper
My Name is Saffir (novella)
Audax Pack Series:
Fire & Gasoline
Fire & Gasoline: A Shifter Romance (Audax Pack Book 1) Page 27