BRIAR: IT HAD BEEN TOO LONG SINCE I HAD BEEN ABLE TO RUN FREE LIKE THIS, EVEN LONGER SINCE I RAN WITH MY PACK BROTHERS.

I was careful to stay near Peter, who seemed equally keen on running near me.

When we heard the call for lunch I realized we must have been out much longer than I thought we were. When Jacob began howling it was easy to fall in line with him, I heard Grant join, then the boys. Signaling back home that we heard, and would be back soon.

Home. I hadn’t thought of this place as home in a long time.

Setting aside those thoughts became easy when Pete suddenly got distracted, darting off between the trees after a furry creature, likely a rabbit or squirrel. I had to run back and in front of him, interrupting his path. I crowded against him, herding him back toward home. He gave a gruff of attitude, but followed. I would have laughed, had I been able.

Breaking through the clearing and running up the hill, my wolf side rejoiced at the sight of my mate smiling at our arrival. I resisted the urge to barrel him over as I got close, instead choosing to nose at his thighs and wag my tail until he gave my head a pat with a jovial laugh.

Behind me, I could hear Diane scolding Micheal for trying to eat without shifting.

“Uh-uh. You get back in human form and wash your hands and you can eat.” She shoved his nose away from the table. He gave an impatient ruff, then trotted back to the car while she passed Sam a plate with macaroni and a couple slices of watermelon.

I followed suit, shifting back over where I had dropped my clothes facing away from the rest of the group. Clarice came over from around the backside of the house, alongside Jeanette. I decided not to approach, with Jeanette looking upset as she was.

Instead I went inside for the moment, washing my hands and arms of the dirt covering them, before returning to my Liam’s side.

“Have you already eaten?” I asked him as I arrived.

“Some, here and there.” He answered, looking after Pete who still remained shifted.

“I’ll help Pete come back to us, then I’ll get you something.” I offered, rubbing his shoulder before walking back over to Pete.

“C’mon buddy, let's head back to my car.” I said, Pete didn’t need to be asked twice, hopping into the backseat when I opened the door for him. I picked up his clothes off the ground and put them on the seat beside him.

Pete whined. He smelled of fear.

“I know it’s scary, Petey. You can do it though, it works the same as getting to the wolf. It’s gonna be so much easier than the first time. You can do it.”

He whined again then groaned. I made sure to give him privacy, facing away as I heard the struggling within the car.

It took a couple of minutes, but as predicted, he emerged from the car moments later.

“That sucked.” He groaned, not bothering putting his shoes back on with how dirty they were.

“It’ll be even easier next time.” I tried to console him, giving him a hearty pat on the shoulder. “C’mon, I’ll show you to the bathroom.”

Shortly after, I was watching Pete officially introduce himself to Daniel and Micheal. The boys seemed to hit it off in wolf form, I hoped that meant they’d get along now, as well.

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I grabbed us some food, and finally returned to my Liam, passing him a plate.

“This is so much.” He scoffed, but accepted it anyway. He was hungrier than he let on, because he ate almost all of it. I chuckled, before parting to go find us something to drink, going back into the house.

It was like my worst fear coming back, though. At the hands of Jacob, no less. He had his arm wrapped around Liam’s shoulder, who stood tensely beside him. He was holding a plate of his own and talking about something or other relating to the kids, gesturing to the yard in front of him while Liam nodded and smiled patiently.

I growled, loud enough for Liam to hear. He jumped slightly, looking over his shoulder to give me a relieved stare. Jacob let go of him.

“Hey Briar.” Jacob said.

“Don’t ‘hey’ me, knock it off.” I bit.

“Knock what off?” He asked, but he knew damn well what he was doing.

I growled again, knowing anything I said would make him sound like the bad guy. Except maybe one thing.

“You were making him uncomfortable.” I said.

Jacob looked back to Liam for a second, before meeting my eyes. “Sorry man, my bad.” He apologized to Liam, but I didn’t let him stick around, lightly shoving him off.

Jacob gave me a sour expression, but walked away, getting the hint.

“So growly.” Liam commented. “What was that?”

I sighed. “He was messing with me?”

“By talking to me?”

“By holding you. He knows I like you, he knows why I brought you here.” He blushed at my words.

“And why did you bring me here?” Liam asked, giving me a look like he knew. He didn’t, but it did things to me anyway. I chuckled.

“Patience.”

He tutted, shaking his head. He was about to give an answer of his own when Pete interrupted.

“Liam?” He asked, drawing his attention away from me.

“Yeah, Pete?”

“Can I spend the night here?”

“What?” he was surprised. I noticed them talking about it a minute ago, so I wasn’t particularly shocked.

“Sleepover. Here. Is that okay?”

“Um… here, here? Or at Micheal and Daniel’s?” He asked.

“Here here. They said it would be okay.” Pete pointed at the ground while he spoke.

“I dunno honey. What do Grant and Diane say?” He frowned, I hated that look. I wanted to fix it.

“They said to ask you.” He said a little impatiently.

“It would give us an opportunity to have that conversation.” I noted, looking at Liam. “Diane and Grant would keep him safe.”

“I know I know… I’m just not sure, just the day before yesterday you were sick in bed.”

“Please?” Pete asked again. I didn’t want to seem like I was intruding on his authority, so I simply remained quiet and let him come to his own decision.

“Okay, fine. One night, then we come to get you. Okay?”

“Yessss.” Pete hissed, turning around to run back to the other two boys.

“We’ll keep ‘im safe, don’t worry.” Grant gave Liam a pat on the shoulder.

“I’m not, I know you’ll watch over him.” Liam smiled. A gesture I returned.

We spent a couple more hours spending time at the estate, before finally clamoring back into my SUV. Peter waved us goodbye, giving Liam a hug before running back toward the house and saying something indecipherable to the boys. All three ran inside, and I could only imagine the chaos they’d be getting up to. I hoped Clarice wasn’t too bothered by tomorrow.

I peeled out into the dirt road, and eventually on the main road.

“So…” Liam began. “You gonna tell me that secret yet?”

I laughed. “You’re dead set on finding out, aren’t you?”

He laughed as well. “I can’t help it, I don’t like being left in the dark.”

“Well, I’ll shed a little light on it tonight. How about after dinner?”

“Deal, but I’m holding you to it.”

“I’m counting on it.” I chuckled a little more, before finally falling back into normal conversation topics.

Tonight, I would tell him.