Shadows (Book 2 of the Zara's Wolf Trilogy) BWWM

11. Secrets

Walking into our bedroom, Keith snags a pillow off his bed and hits the back of Evan's head with it. "Get up, lazy bones. Your turn to patrol the border."

Poor Evan jumps when the pillow hits him. He rolls over and receives a second hit, this time to the face. "Hey, cut it out Keith!"

Keith tosses the pillow at him with a satisfied grin on his face, which earns him a glare from Evan.

I clear my throat. "Can I go on patrol with Evan?"

The idea of joining my mate for something as generic as patrolling sounds like a great excuse to spend time with him, while also giving me something to do that can prove that I'm not a useless member of the pack.

Keith shrugs. "Ask Rick. I'm going to shower before I hit the sack. Don't get into trouble while I'm in there."

I flush, looking away from him as he walks to the door.

Rick will probably say no.

"Oh hey, Evan," Keith adds over his shoulder. "Make sure she gets some breakfast before you do go out there. Not everyone here is as sweet as me." I look up with bulging eyes just in time to see him wink before stepping out to use one of the two bathrooms in the hallway.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Evan mutters, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, completely unaware of the wink Keith gave me. "I'm not stupid. I know how rowdy some of the guys are in this pack."

My eyes dart around the room before I decide to distract myself by looking out the window. I rest my hands on the sill to avoid twisting my locs or T-shirt between my fingers.

Evan gets up from the bed with a groan. I hear him digging through his backpack for clean clothes to put on. "See? He's fine. Back to his usual annoying self."

My nails dig into the wooden frame. "Yeah."

The sun is peaking over the horizon now. A thin blanket of cloud cover turns the sky orange. The house next door blocks my view of the forest and mountains that surrounds the village. It would have been nice to see the nature that surrounds this place. I always seem to catch it when it's too dark out to be able to see anything well.

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath in an attempt to compose myself and forget about Burk and Keith. "Do you think Rick will let me help patrol the border?"

Pressing my lips together, I look over my shoulder and see Evan shrug. He's wearing a pair of jeans and holding his T-shirt in one hand. My eyes can't help but run up and down his lean figure. My little speed demon. The thought makes me grin.

He perks an eyebrow. "What?"

Still grinning, I shrug as I turn around and lean back against the sill. "What? Can't I check out my mate every now and then?"

His lips pull up in a smirk. "Ogle all you want, but we need to get going, especially if you want to ask Rick to join us on patrol. Clyde said to be ready by seven o'clock sharp. And if I know Clyde, he doesn't like slackers."

Evan pulls the T-shirt over his head and down his torso. I can't help but pout when my view is obstructed.

Chuckling at my response, he reaches his hand out to me. "Come on. Let's go."

Taking his hand in mine, I lean in to give him a peck on the cheek, as well as take a whiff of his scent to calm my nerves and gear me up for the proposition.

While I have gotten to know everyone in the pack, Rick is the one person I know virtually nothing about. His stone-cold face still puts me on edge. I can never tell what he's thinking or feeling. How can Alicia put up with him as her mate?