Page 10 of Bound to the Wolf
Hugh looked at him and rolled his eyes from time to time, but Aya wasn’t paying attention to either of them. Her straight, black hair was tucked tightly behind her ears, and she’d pulled out her reading glasses to get a better look at whatever fascinated her.
Looking around, Delainey realized Elise was standing right next to Nico, which meant Serena could have been laughing at Elise’s joke rather than being a traitor and laughing with Nico.
Everyone was on their best behavior.
Delainey checked her watch. She’d been here for fifteen minutes, and she had to put in at least an hour and a half to be a good friend… unless someone else was kind enough to leave before she did.
She could make it. It was fine. Shejusthad to survive a little bit longer.
And then there was Reece.
Much like her, he wasn’t standing by anyone else. He was leaning against the far wall, arms crossed, shoulders broad. His hair was so dark it was almost hard to tell it was red, but the overhead light illuminated those undertones until there was no doubt. The waviness to it had to be natural because he did not look like a man who spent much time concerned about hair care. And it was long enough that it would be so satisfying to run her fingers through it, which she was not going to do.
God damn it. Why was her brain going crazy?
He looked like he would rather eat glass than stay at this party for one second longer than he had to.
She hated how much she related to that feeling.
She should have let her eyes skate over him like she had with all the others. But they snagged and they caught. And she looked her fill.
He wore a dark henley with the sleeves pushed to his elbows, exposing forearms that were corded with muscle and dusted with fine reddish hair that she shouldn’t be paying any attention to. His jeans were faded at the knees, and his boots had dried mud on them. He had a jaw like he’d been carved out of something stubborn, and freckles scattered across his cheekbones that had no business being so cute on a man that large.
He was the biggest of the betas. Tall too. He could lift her up like it was nothing and carry her around like the queen she was—not that she would ever let him. Delainey didn’t normally go for tall guys. She didn’t like feeling short. But even in the midst of battle, Reece hadn’t made her feel small.
She’d felt like a warrior standing beside him, his equal.
Not that she savored that memory all that often.
His eyes were always dark and intense, except when they glowed with the wolf that lived within him. That reminder should have been enough to turn her gaze anywhere else.
So why couldn’t she look away?
Reece tilted his head, and their eyes met. And that was enough to make Delainey jerk her gaze away from him.
Damn it. She hadn’t wanted to be caught staring, but it wasn’t like she had anything else to do. She looked at her watch again.
It had been exactly four minutes since the last time check.
Okay, she needed to do something other than stand awkwardly in the corner and let the party happen around her. She got a beer from the sink, fishing it out of the ice water and wiping the wet can on her jeans, and approached Briana and Cole. That seemed the safest bet.
The three of them chatted about the weather and the construction on the highway between pack territory and the city for over ten minutes before the conversation petered out and Cole drifted away.
“Should we be encouraging this?” Delainey asked Briana.
Briana shrugged. “Elise is a grown woman. She gets to make her own choices.”
Delainey traced the edge of her beer can. “So who’s going to be brave enough to tell that to her parents?”
Briana shook her head. “Yeah, we’re gonna have to figure that out soon, because I don’t like the idea of them messing around with our business.”
“I feel like it’s all going to explode in our faces,” Delainey said, lowering her voice and leaning closer.
“Something like that. I had hoped that all that drama with Austin LaSalle was the last of it,” Briana admitted.
Delainey’s mind flashed to that night.
She remembered reaching deep within herself and summoning more fire than she had ever summoned in her entire life, nearly burning her magic reserves down to embers and almost killing herself in the process. She remembered Reecebeside her every step of the way, fighting together like they’d been born to it. She remembered the way he had pulled her out of danger and probably saved her life. Her heartbeat kicked up and sweat beaded on her palms.
