“What’s so special about Target?”
Oli gasps as if I’ve just asked what’s so special about oxygen. “What’s so special about—? It’s only the greatest store ever created! They have everything. And Hudson says you need clothes.”
I look down at my current outfit—old leggings and yet another of Axel’s T-shirts. “I guess I can’t keep stealing Axel’s clothes for the next three years.”
“Axel doesn’t mind,” Oli says with a knowing smirk. “He practically preens when you wear his stuff.”
I nod, watching the dense forest roll by.
We’ve been driving for nearly an hour, and I haven’t seen another vehicle or building—just miles of wilderness and the occasional dirt road disappearing into the trees.
“This is really the middle of nowhere, huh?” I muse.
Oli grins. “That’s kind of the point. Privacy.”
“For what exactly?” I ask, then immediately regret it when Oli wags his eyebrows suggestively.
“Well, when a male and a female—”
“I meant the pack,” I interrupt, feeling my cheeks heat. “Why choose somewhere so isolated?”
Ethan glances at me, “Safety, mostly. The same laws don’t govern shifters here; we’re more… independent.”
“What does that mean exactly?” I ask, curiously.
Ethan’s fingers drum against the steering wheel. “It means we make our own rules. No Alpha President dictatorship.” His voice drops slightly. “You’ll find out more soon enough.”
But before I can press for details, Oli interrupts.
“Tell her how you all met!” he exclaims, bouncing slightly in his seat. “Ethan tells the best stories.”
I nod eagerly. “Actually, yeah. How did you all end up together?”
Ethan chuckles, adjusting his grip on the steering wheel. “We all grew up together, on the same street, actually. A small shifter neighborhood in the south. Hudson’s family was well-respected—his father held a prominent position in the community.”
“And you?” I ask.
“I was the weird kid,” Ethan admits with a self-deprecating laugh. “Korean mom, no dad in the picture. Brought kimchi and kimbap to school when everyone else had sandwiches. Got teased a lot for that.”
“That’s awful,” I say, frowning.
He shrugs. “Kids can be cruel. But Hudson, Axel, and Damien never cared about that stuff. They saw another wolf who could run fast and climb trees better than anyone else.”
Oli leans forward. “Damien and I lived a few houses down from Hudson. I was always tagging behind them, even though I was too young to keep up.”
“And Damien let you?” I ask, imagining the surly male being patient with a younger sibling.
Oli snorts. “Are you kidding? He was the most overprotective brother ever. Still is. If I scraped my knee, he’d threaten to tear apart whoever owned the ground I fell on.”
I try to picture a younger, less brooding Damien, standing guard over little Oli. It’s hard to reconcile with the hostile male who can barely stand to look at me.
“It’s hard to picture Damien caring about anyone,” I admit.
“He wasn’t always like this,” Ethan says quietly. “There was a time when—”
“Look!” Oli interrupts, pointing excitedly through the windshield. “Civilization!”
I follow Oli’s pointing finger and see buildings on the horizon. My heart races with excitement as we approach the outskirts of what looks like a decent-sized town. After weeks in the wilderness, even these ordinary strip malls and gas stations seem fascinating.
