“I came home,” Riaz growled. “Not exactly lone-wolfing it.”
“I call bullshit.” Cooper held his gaze, his wolf apparent in the ring of yellow that now encircled his irises. “You fucking pick up the phone when things get too dark, or I swear to God, I will tie you up and ship you to my territory.”
Riaz’s claws slid out. “I’m not a juvenile, so back off.”
“No, you’re my hardheaded idiot of a friend.” He glanced up. “Grace is coming over, so let me just say this —the pack needs you whole and stable. Keep that in mind before you let whatever it is that’s messing with your head swallow you up.”
SLIDING her fingers around the cup of coffee Inés handed her, Adria took a seat around the laz-fire one of the other senior soldiers had set up far enough away from the main party that no one would stumble upon them by accident. It was a few minutes after midnight, and not a single SnowDancer was even close to ready for the celebration to end. Even the pups were trying valiantly to keep their eyes open—no one had the heart to send them off to bed, so they’d been snuggled into sleeping bags around the Pack Circle, watched over by elders who preferred to rest their bones.
“I didn’t realize you were doing this,” she said to Inés, not wanting to step on any toes since she hadn’t officially been invited. Sam was the one who’d brought her along.
Inés shook her head. “It wasn’t planned. Elias has some good news to give, decided tonight was the right night for it. He mentioned it to Simran, who mentioned it to me, I mentioned it to Sam, told him to grab you —”
“—and presto.” Adria grinned. This kind of thing had happened in Matthias’s sector, too, different parts of the pack breaking off to have their own informal gatherings during the course of a larger event. “Good idea to ask everyone to bring along some food from the Circle.”
Several purloined plates of cookies, cakes, and sandwiches, along with a bowl of corn chips with a side of guacamole, were being passed around, as was the thermos of coffee. Someone had also brought in beers and champagne for those who had already finished their assigned shifts on watch. Adria had one coming up, so she’d stick to coffee.
“That was Eli,” Inés said, stretching out her legs as they sat side by side on a fallen log. “He thinks of everything.”
“And the good news?” Adria asked.
Inés had just opened her mouth to reply when Sam, who’d gone to grab a sandwich, reappeared at Adria’s side without food, a concerned look on his face. “Inés, am I crashing a party for the senior soldiers?”
“Would it worry you if you were?” A dry response.
“I thought you might have a secret ritual you were about to do or something.”
“Like dance naked around the fire?” Inés raised an eyebrow. “I bet.”
Dimple flashing, Sam leaned his back against the log, one arm hooked companionably over Adria’s knee. “Fine, I’m staying until someone kicks me out.”
Now that he’d pointed it out, Adria realized Sam was the only soldier of lower rank here. And since Inés had specifically invited him …
Her hand tightened on the coffee cup, her skin tingling from the heat.
These were her peers, the packmates she’d be working most closely with over the coming months and years, and though they were relative strangers yet, she liked their energy as a group. Temperate and stable for the most part, senior soldiers were the workhorses of the pack, people you could count on to get a task done.
Inés, she thought, had the potential to become a close friend—the fleet-of-foot woman had a snarky sense of humor that made Adria’s own wolf chuckle.
Right on the heels of that thought, Inés said, “Me and Simran”—she nodded at where the more reticent soldier sat talking to Brody about something—“have a bad movie night once a month. You should come.”
Her wolf stretched out, back bowed. “Thanks.”
“Am I invited to this movie night,” Sam interrupted to say, “or were you planning to ignore me sitting
“The ignore one,” Inés answered, quick as a shot.
“My heart is broken.”
“I bleed for you.”
“Cruel.”
“It wasn’t my best effort.”
Elias stood and clapped his hands, cutting off the pithy dialogue. Once he had everyone’s attention, he said, “It’s time for the secret ceremony,” with a straight face.
Chapter 20
SAM SNICKERED … AND sobered when he realized everyone was staring at him, not a giggle to be heard. “Um, sorry.”
Adria was trying so hard not to burst out laughing, she had to fake a coughing fit. Several people seemed to have been struck with the same affliction—though Inés managed to keep it together, slapping Adria helpfully on the back. “Must be the pollen in the air,” she murmured in faux concern.
Adria would’ve kicked the other woman if Sam hadn’t been sitting in front of her.
“As I was saying,” Elias continued, a rare strand of silver glinting in the rich brown of his hair, “it’s time for the ceremony. But since we appear to have an intruder, we’ll have to deal with him first.”
Sam rose to his feet, dusting off his jeans. “Look, hey, I can book if you guys—”
Elias raised a hand for silence, moving to stand in front of Sam.
“Sam Baker,” he said, his face solemn, “according to those witnesses who weren’t unconscious at the time, you ran onto the field of battle time and time again to rescue injured packmates, though you’d been hit with a bullet yourself.”
“It was what any one of us would’ve done.” Sam’s words were quiet, the playful soldier replaced by the courageous man who’d fought with all his heart, even when surrounded by blood and agony and an enemy devoid of mercy.
“Yes,” Elias said, reaching out to pin something on Sam’s stone gray shirt, “and we’re proud to call you one of our own.”
Adria saw the instant it hit Sam. His fingers trembled as he touched the regal form of the small silver wolf on his shirt collar. None of the senior soldiers wore the pins in daily life, but each one did so tonight—her top too light to hold it, Adria had attached hers to a thin silver bracelet on her left wrist. That tiny badge was a source of enormous pride, not being simply an indication of promotion from soldier to senior, but of acceptance within the rank.
Slapping a still-stunned Sam on the back, Elias raised his glass, “To Sam!”
“To Sam!” Adria cried with the rest of the group, and right then, she knew she’d make it. Maybe her unhealthy and untenable attraction to Riaz showed no signs of abating, the clawing need tearing at her gut, but she was more than the primal urges of her body. She was part of this strong, loyal group, a woman who had built a new life, new friendships from the cold ashes of the old.
Her wolf’s body thrummed with defiant, determined pride. And when the newest senior soldier in the den threw back his head and celebrated with wild abandon, she lent her voice to his song alongside those of her
