Awkward. Sometimes it was easier to handle all the exhilarating, terrifying, adrenaline-soaked times in my life than it was to keep my chin up through the vast quantities of awkward.

  I quickly changed into jeans and a pink-and-blue-striped sweater, stepping into navy ballet flats. There was a bag from Mac, a hairbrush and a toothbrush in there too, so I quickly got ready for the day and swiped some mascara and lip gloss on. Feeling better than I had since my maybe-kidnapping the day before, I emerged into the bedroom…

  To find Seb and Finn engaged in a heated conversation of whispers. They stopped when I came in, and Finn flashed me a smile.

  “What?” I demanded.

  “Everything’s fine,” Finn said smoothly.

  “I thought we weren’t going to lie to each other,” I said.

  He pulled a face. “Wish us luck.”

  He was so sweet, and I was so worried about him, and I couldn’t resist the desire to bob onto my tiptoes, catching his arm with mine, and brushing my lips over the sharp curve of his cheekbone. He ducked his head, welcoming my kiss, and his lips quirked up.

  “Good luck,” I whispered.

  “A kiss for good luck,” he said. “I’m filled with confidence.”

  “Isn’t that what gets you in trouble?” I questioned, but I couldn’t hide a smile at the way his face had brightened.

  “And back out again.” He winked. He was definitely a sexy winker.

  “We’ll see,” Sebastian grumbled.

  “Do you need a kiss for luck too?” I asked, teasing, and even at the same time as he shook his head, there was a distinct flash of interest in his eyes.

  “I think we need all the luck we can get,” Finn said lightly.

  “Probably true,” Sebastian grumbled, and he leaned forward, settling his hands on my hips.

  His kissable lips were near mine, but I couldn’t resist poking him. “That’s the least enthusiastic invitation to kiss someone I ever heard.”

  “Sorry I’m not as much of a cheerful moron as my twin,” he muttered.

  My lips parted, about to defend Finn, and Sebastian’s lips came down against mine. My fingers tightened against his shoulders, holding him close to me, as his lips parted against mine. He kissed me with exquisite competence.

  When he pulled back, he said, “There. You didn’t need the perfect invitation because I kissed you.”

  “I wouldn’t have thought you’d have it in you,” I teased.

  “Me either.” Finn flashed us a look that was half playful, and half just plain jealous.

  “See you later,” I said, patting Sebastian’s shoulders and turning away, even though that kiss had left me half-reeling.

  “Hopefully,” Seb muttered, just before I closed the door softly behind me.

  Chapter 25

  Logan inclined his head, half-curtly, toward me. It felt like things were suddenly tense between the two of us. Did he blame me for Seb and Finn? Was it just because he was worried about him?

  “We’re having breakfast in the library,” he said, which made hope rise in my chest until he added, “with Arthur.”

  “I was hoping we’d be able to look through the books.” I had so many questions.

  Logan shook his head, as if the weight of all these secrets from Arthur was too much to him, and I wondered what Arthur had done to earn this kind of loyalty. I didn’t think it was just because he was the alpha. There was something personal there, something deep.

  But I glanced up at the set case of Logan’s big jaw, and I knew asking him today was going to get me nowhere.

  Logan pulled ahead of me as we reached the stairs and clattered down them. I watched his big shoulders bob as he left me behind…as much as he could right now. We’d had a moment of connection before, but he was back to being a jerk.

  “Just so you know,” I said to his stiff shoulders, “I’m reminiscing right now about hitting you with my car.”

  “Good,” he said.

  “Good?” I frowned at the back of his head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Blondie, since I’ve met you, nothing has made sense.” He reached the bottom of the stairs and turned back to look at me. “Come on. Arthur’s waiting.”

  The two of us walked into the library, an enormous, sun-soaked room with two stories of bookshelves and a ladder that slid around the room. I stared around the gorgeous room, curious about all these books—thinking about all the secrets to what and who we were that they might contain—before my gaze was drawn to the table by the windows, covered in a white tablecloth and set for three.

  “Of course he isn’t here yet,” Logan muttered. Despite everything, he pulled my chair out for me before he sat down across from me. The aroma in the room was all bacon and fresh coffee, and Logan lifted a glass jug of orange juice. “May I pour you a cup?”

  I held my glass out to him. “Yes, please. You’re a gentleman even when you don’t like me very much, aren’t you?”

  “Because that’s exactly the problem,” he said, his voice low. “That I don’t like you very much.”

  My brows arched, and he held my gaze, his expression challenging.

  I was saved from our stare-down as the door opened and Arthur came in. It was impossible not to look up when Arthur came into a room; his commanding presence, no matter how quiet he was, drew my gaze. Logan sat back, relaxing, pretending as if nothing had ever happened between us.

  “After we eat, you can call your alpha,” Arthur said abruptly, taking his seat beside me. When his shoulder brushed mine as he settled in, the faintest rush of electricity ran across my skin. He glanced at me, his gaze briefly lingering on my face, and as he glanced away he said, “I hope you find the clothes to your taste.”

  “A little bit preppie,” Logan commented.

  “I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Arthur grumbled, but he didn’t sound genuinely put out. “That’s what happens when you send Fiona to the mainland.”

  “Fiona picked these out?” I asked. That meant she must have gone out after all that champagne… “Wait, was she drunk at the time?”

  “They’re not to your liking?”

  “No, they’re fine. Just….”

  “She has a hard time,” Arthur said. “I thought she would enjoy the mission.”

  Then, just as my heart was softening a little, he added, “And you will certainly never be allowed to leave this island except to return to your own pack.”

  “Lord knows I want to avoid malls,” I shot back. “They turned out to be filled with all kinds of unsavory characters.”

  Arthur bared his teeth at me in a rough approximation of a smile.

  In silence, the three of us served ourselves eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast from family-style white bowls.

  “You’ll take me to see Maddie’s mother this morning?” I asked.

  “Are you asking me or telling me?” Arthur questioned.

  “Whichever one will make you happy,” I said.

  “I think you know the answer to that.” Arthur cocked his head to one side, as if he was thinking about something. Then, abruptly, he pushed back his chair and began to search the shelves as if he was looking for a book.

  “What is it?” Logan asked.

  “Nothing,” Arthur said, even though his fingers were rapidly skimming the leather-bound titles. It was obviously not nothing. He pulled a book out and began to flip through it, reading as he swaggered back toward the table.

  Logan and I exchanged a loaded glance across the table. What the hell was going on in Arthur’s head?

  Finally, absently, he said, “Piper’s little attempt to order me around reminded me that she had that note of command in her voice when she told me to call off my wolves.”

  I remembered that. Arthur’s eyes and mine had met across the battlefield. And he’d mocked me for the edge of command he heard in my voice.

  “Yeah?” Logan asked, raising an eyebrow. His gaze flickered to mine. “You think there’s something surprising about a bossy princess?”

  “It’s not just that she’s bossy.” Arthur glanced up from the page, his stern-jawed expression considering. “I could fix bossy.”

  I rolled my eyes, and yet I couldn’t help shifting slightly on my chair, as my body betrayed me, curious about his threats. Somehow I couldn’t imagine Arthur actually hurting me. There was something about the sexy smolder in his eyes and the low huskiness in his voice that my body responded to helplessly.

  “I think there was a note there of true compulsion,” he said.

  The memory of being compelled by Eli, who had bound me with magic and pretty jewelry, made me jump forward. “No. I’d never do that to anyone.”

  Arthur raised his hand to placate me. “I don’t think you did it on purpose. Relax.” He stabbed his big index finger against the open page. “It’s been a long time since our pack has had a princess. I hadn’t met one before. I hadn’t expected…”

  I waited for him to go on, but he had trailed off.

  “What?” I asked.

  “It’s new territory to me,” he said. “Maddie was taken before I was alpha, and she was just a child…she hadn’t grown into any of her powers.”

  “She still hasn’t,” I said, my voice coming out tight. “She’s still just a child.”

  Arthur nodded. “Who needs her parents.”

  My lips tightened. I knew that, I agreed with it, and yet every time someone reminded me in that barbed way—as if I was standing between Maddie and her parents—it made me feel defensive and irritated. I was just trying to take care of my little sister, one last time.

  I crumpled my napkin up into a ball, setting it alongside my plate. Priorities. “So you’ve got a book there about pack princesses?”

  That could be just what I needed.

  “Ridiculous term,” he muttered.

  “I didn’t choose it,” I said. Just like my first name. Curiosity drew me to push back from the table and close the distance between us. I brushed against Arthur’s elbow as I tried to look over his shoulder.

  The damn book was written in Latin.

  Arthur’s lips quirked up. He closed the book and handed it over to me. “Happy reading, Piper.”

  I took it, folding my arms across it against my chest. “You can read Latin?”

  “I’m not as much of an idiot as you think I am.”

  “I’ve got plenty of names to call you, Arthur, but I don’t think idiot has been on the list. Yet.”

  “She’s so charming,” Arthur said to Logan.

  “Do you mind,” I asked, “if I look through the library? On my own?”

  “Sure,” Arthur said. “Maybe you’ll find something you can read. It’ll have to wait til later, though. I promised you could call your pack.”

  I remembered, a second too late, that I should be desperate to talk to them still. “Thank you.”

  Arthur’s eyes lingered on my face, but he pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll speak to Callum first.”

  I groaned. “That should go well.”

  “Why wouldn’t it?” Arthur raised his eyebrows at me, and I didn’t want to answer, so I pursed my lips at him in response. Logan, still seated at the table, sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Right; Logan knew one of Sebastian and Finn’s secrets, but not that I’d been in touch with my pack. It was hard to keep track of the lies.

  Arthur dialed then waited, his gaze still on me, which made me uncomfortable. I had the sense he was trying to read me.

  “Hey, it’s Arthur,” he said. “I’ve got your princess here. She’s been worried about you.”

  Whatever Callum said, Arthur’s lips twisted in response. “I’ll be here,” he promised, reminding Callum he’d be listening. Then he handed the phone to me. “Be good,” he mouthed.

  I widened my eyes at him innocently and took the cell, my fingers brushing against his calloused ones. If only he knew.

  “Is everyone okay?” I demanded.

  “Everyone is fine,” Callum assured me. His warm, low voice sent a thrill of comfort and desire through me, and I sighed, forgetting myself. “Kai’s made a full recovery already.”

  I wondered if he’d made a recovery from our phone conversation yet. “Good.”

  “And typical Josh, can’t stop talking—he can’t stop talking about you,” Callum said. “How brave you are. How you should trust yourself.”

  My heart froze in my chest. Was Callum trying to talk to me about what I’d told Kai and Josh, about the unsettling feelings I had here in the Atlantic pack? Because I’d thought Callum would be furious. Instead, Callum sounded understanding.

  “I think I’m in over my head,” I said carefully, and Arthur snorted, as if he agreed with that.

  “I don’t think so,” Callum said. “Follow your instincts. You’ve never let any of us down before.”

  I exhaled slowly. “I’m worried I will.”

  “Nothing doing, kiddo,” he said, and that word took me back to the day he drove my father’s Mustang up in front of the school. I’d been agonized by how he saw me as just a kid while I had my hopeless crush on him. It turned out I’d been all wrong about how he saw me. “I’ve got faith in you, and in us. We can work out anything together.”

  “Pretty touching for a pack that came this close to being torn apart yesterday,” Arthur said tartly, holding out his hand. “Time to say goodbye.”

  “Nothing’s ever going to tear us apart,” I said, hoping it was true.

  “Nope,” Callum said. “Because we’ve got you.”

  “How’s Maddie doing?”

  “She misses you like crazy, but she’s fine. She’s resilient, just like you. Do you think it’s safe for her there?”

  I bit my lip. “Yes? It’s complicated here though.”

  Arthur rolled his eyes. “I can take care of her.”

  “Complicated how?” Callum asked, but before I could answer, Arthur took the phone out of my hand.

  He raised the phone to his own ear. “Your pack’s got trouble enough of its own. You don’t need to worry about mine.”

  From here, I could hear Callum’s irritated tone. “Well, you might have abandoned our pack when we needed you, after everything, but I still care—”

  “I wasn’t the one who abandoned you,” Arthur said. “Whatever. Your pack was no loss.”

  I stared at him, my jaw setting, but whatever Callum began to say was lost as Arthur hung up the phone. He slid it into his pocket, leaving his hand there as he turned to me. There was a stiffness in his always-perfect posture, as if he was tense after speaking with Callum.

  “My pack was no loss?” I began.

  He was already walking toward the door as if he’d leave me behind. “Did you want to meet Maddie’s mother or not?”

  “You know I do,” I said.

  “Then hurry up.”

  I followed him, but turned back to look at Logan. He rose from the table.

  “Are you coming?” I asked him, because we were always to the doorway.

  “Why?” Arthur whipped back. “Do you need him? Scared to be alone with me?”

  Maybe I wanted Logan with me. But it wasn’t because I was afraid of Arthur. At least, I might be wary of what cutting comment he might make next, but I had no fear I was in real danger when I was with him.

  Logan held his hand out to me. “Piper.” His voice was sharp. “The book. The texts stay in the library.”

  Of course. Feeling stupid, I came back to him, holding the book out to him. “Sorry.”

  Logan winked at me, a quick flicker of his lashes that even Arthur, turning back at the doorway now, wouldn’t notice. His hand overlapped mine, just for a second, when he took the book from me.

  “See you later,” he said.

  It was a promise, and I felt lighter—more hopeful—as I followed Arthur.

  Chapter 26

  As Arthur and I walked across the porch, I asked him, “Why would you say that about my pack?”

  “I shouldn’t have said that in front of you,” he said gruffly. “I understand why you would be attached to the idea of your pack. Your parents.”

  “Did you know them?” I asked, and there was a traitorous eagerness in my voice.

  “Not really,” he said.

  I tilted my head to one side. “How do you know my pack at all? How do you know Callum?”

  Arthur shook his head, rejecting the entire topic of conversation. “Maddie’s mother Joan lives in one of the cottages on the other side of the island. I hope you’re ready for a walk.”

  I was wearing the Tieks he’d paid for, so I guessed I was. I was grateful for the gifts, but I’d be more grateful to be treated as an equal. “I thought honor was a big thing for the alphas.”

  “It is,” he growled, pointing to a narrow sandy lane stretching away from the yard in front of the house. On the grass, a handful of young wolves were grappling, testing their strength against each other. Some of them were in their teens and twenties, but the youngest was only ten or so, and I wondered if he might potentially be one of Maddie’s matches.

  As I tried to match his pace along the trail—despite the unfair difference between the length of his legs and mine—I caught glimpses of the glimmering blue water beyond the trees. The air was sweetly scented, smelling like rain and greenery, with a note of eucalyptus hanging in the air.

  “Really?” I asked. “Because you’ve promised me answers, and you don’t seem to be keeping that promise.”

  He stopped abruptly, whirling on me, but I’d expected that. I folded my arms over my chest, meeting his gaze evenly.

  “I promised to tell you anything you needed to know to stay safe,” Arthur said. “You’ll stay safe if you stay in your room and do as you’re told.”

  “If that’s what it takes to be safe here, how can I bring my sister here in good conscience?” I demanded.

 

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