I hesitated. “Oh…no breakfast?”
Cody looked over his shoulder, almost like he was checking no one could hear him. “Thalia is on breakfast duty this morning,” he told me in a low whisper. “You’re going to want to pass on that.”
They were both looking at me in earnest. “She can’t cook?”
“Burns everything, and not in a good way,” Killian said with a straight face. “We’ll hunt on the way and hope the rest of the pack left enough game nearby for us to eat.”
I went back into the shelter and came out with three protein bars, handing one to each of them. “Found them in Wolfe’s trunk.”
“Nice,” Cody said, eating his in two bites. “Thanks, Rowen. See you at training later. Good luck with that turn.”
Killian finished chewing, pocketed the wrapper, and then rolled his neck on his shoulders. “Same route or do you want to try another?”
“Same, I want to make sure I have the same fluidity as you do, and then we can test me elsewhere.”
“Agreed.”
My body felt twice as beaten by the end of the day, but I had eventually smoothed out the turn, and I’d gotten Cody on his back once in the sparring ring. Killian joined us for the evening meal, and while it wasn’t as relaxed as I was with my own pack, it was still a pleasant day.
That’s how I spent the next week with Stonefang. Killian and I ran and trained as my wolf in the morning, and then Cody did his best not to beat me into an early grave every afternoon. Any questions I had about the Hollow went unanswered, and I soon learned not to ask.
On my way back to Wolfe’s house one late afternoon, with the same firm instruction not to shift, I paused when Thalia called for me to wait.
“Everything okay?” I asked her when she caught up.
She pressed a small hard rectangle into my palm, glancing over her shoulder. “It’s been almost two weeks,” she whispered quickly. “I’d be climbing the walls if I didn’t speak to Cody. Keep it short, and tell him not to out me to my husband.” She started to turn away but paused. “Um…anything sexual, make sure you delete those messages. I don’t want to have to talk Cody off the ledge if he thinks I’m sexting the alpha.”
“Wh-what?” I looked at the cell phone in my hand. “I don’t know how to use this,” I whispered back, but we heard Cody and Killian walking up the hill.
“You’re smart, you’ll figure it out.” She hurried away from me.
“Thalia!” I hissed after her, but it was no use, she didn’t look back.
A few minutes later, I sat on Wolfe’s bed, staring at the phone with a sense of trepidation. Did I want to talk to him?Yes.I pressed a button that looked like a speech bubble. Thalia had said delete messages. Was this a message?
A list of names I didn’t recognize appeared, with Cody at the top. I looked down the list, realizing that touching the screen made it scroll up and down, until I saw “alpha.”
My finger hovered over it, and then I pressed it, surprising myself. I read the last message sent some time ago, confirming a supply order had been made.
I saw the blank box with the faint word message in it. I pressed it, and a small gray block of letters appeared. Tentatively, I typed outhello.
An arrow appeared at the end of the box. I touched it.
I let out a small sound of surprise when I saw the word “sent.”
I watched, fascinated, as three dots appeared, each one pulsing in rhythm, and then I read the message.
Alpha:Is Rowen okay?
My heart skipped a beat that his first question was about me. Did that mean something? Slowly, I pressed the letters, thrilled at the ease of it.
Me:It’s me thalia gave me this she thought we might miss each other
I pressed the blue arrow.
Me:dont tell cody
There were no three dots, and I frowned. Had I done something wrong? I jumped when the phone rang, andAlphaappeared on the screen. I saw the options to accept or decline.
