Diesel dropped the pack from his mouth, shifted, and was soon pulling black jeans on and a T-shirt. He shook his hairand then grinned at me. “The power of those boundary spells is lacking some punch,” he told me, stepping forward and clasping my forearm in greeting. “Good to see you, Alpha. Met the missus.” He gave me a knowing look. “She’s not a fan.”
What did you do?I groaned.
Stopped her shift. Might have had her off the ground when I did it. Feisty though. Good luck with that.
“You had her in a chokehold?” I asked him in surprise. “You couldn’t have met her for more than an hour!”
Diesel shrugged and took a pack of cigarettes from his pack. “She makes an impression.”Not a good one, he added with a speculative look.
“Thank Luna you’re separated,” I muttered. “Come on, the pack’s this way. And I’d better let you insult the druid and get it over with.”
It didn’t help that he laughed at my moment of forecasting trouble.
Too many of the pack stopped to stare at him, and he didn’t look back at any of them. He just walked through the trails, taking stock of everything and giving off his “don’t fuck with me” vibes.
“You could try to blend,” I muttered after a moment.
“Why?” He finished his cigarette, snubbed it out on the back of his hand, and pocketed the stub. “Won’t be here long enough.”
We arrived at the druid’s tent, and I contemplated chickening out. The choice was taken from me when the druid came out of their tent and pulled up short to see me and my beta staring at him.
“Alpha,” the druid greeted me, their eyes on Diesel. “Anotherally?”
“This is my beta, Diesel,” I introduced. “He’s just arrived from Stonefang.”
The druid took Diesel in with one glance and then looked at me. “You’ve been keeping secrets, Alpha.” They stepped back to their tent. “We should discuss inside.”
Diesel grunted. “Not walking into that,” he said. “Wolfe and I both go in there, and it’ll collapse. Where’s your shelter?” he asked me.
“Druid, will you walk with us?” I asked.
“I’ll meet you there.” They ducked back into their tent, and I shared a look with Diesel.
Well, that was fun, Diesel said with a snort.
Try not to piss them off,I grumbled.You get to leave; they’re my druid now.
They’ve got a stick up their butt about me being here.
Because they think you’re a magic user.I looked at my beta.I’m still not convinced you aren’t.
Diesel grunted but said nothing as we started to walk away. “They’re in their deerskin right now, making every potion of warding they know.”
Yeah, well, we expected that.
“D!” We both turned to see Axel approach us with a huge smile. “Good to see you. When did you get here?”
“Five minutes, already making friends.” Diesel slapped Axel’s shoulder.
“And he’s already pissed off Rowen,” I added dryly.
“Yeah, she punched me,” Diesel told Axel with a gleam in his eye.
Axel laughed, and Diesel huffed in amusement. I felt my eyes widen at the fact that Rowen had been brought to violence so quickly, but I said nothing. There was little I could do about that now, but I made a mental note to ask Killian what the hell happened in such a short period of time.
“We’re heading to the house. The druid is joining us,” I told Axel, and it was my turn to laugh as he made his excuses and vanished up a path.
Diesel is here,I sent to Brand and felt his acknowledgment through the bond. He wouldn’t rush to meet him. They’d been packmates for a long time and were used to each other’s ways.
