The Ladder

POV: James

I wanted to know exactly what the buzz about Trishelle was all about. Curiosity alone would've justified stepping outside. But that wasn't what had me on edge. It was my wolf, pacing restless circles in the back of my skull, growing louder and more insistent by the minute. The animal clawed at my composure in a way I hadn't felt in years, some primal thread pulled tight, refusing to slacken no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.

I tried to push through the last of my paperwork, pen hovering over the same line for the tenth time, but the pacing wouldn't quit. Eventually I gave up pretending I could focus through it.

Just going to check what the noise is about. Settle the wolf down. That's all this is.

I repeated it like a promise I didn't quite believe.

I headed for the backyard and found it transformed. Balloons bobbed in the breeze, lights strung through every tree in sight, the whole yard humming with energy my pack hadn't felt in longer than I cared to admit. Laughter rose above the low buzz of conversation, and for a second I just stood there, struck by how long it had been since the pack felt this alive. I sent a quick link to border patrol, splitting them into two hour shifts so everyone got a real shot at enjoying the night without leaving the territory exposed. Distracted or not, I wasn't about to let my guard all the way down.

Can't even enjoy a damn party without running numbers in my head.

I wove through pups who kept slamming into my legs at full speed, small bodies shrieking with delight as they chased each other in wild loops, and scanned the crowd for one face. My wolf sharpened its focus the second I started looking, like nothing else in the yard mattered.

I found her on a ladder, hanging the last string of lights, one of the pregnant she-wolves calling up directions from below. Something in my chest pulled tight just watching her balance up there, sleeves shoved up, hair slipping loose from its tie.

That ladder's not stable. Why isn't anybody spotting her?

My heart actually stopped for a beat when it wobbled beneath her, every instinct screaming at me to close the distance and steady it myself. Then she turned to answer the woman below, and my heart slammed back to life so hard it nearly knocked the wind out of me. The smile on her face was one I'd never seen her wear. It transformed her completely, softened every guarded line I'd grown used to.

There she is. That's her, the real one, and God help me I want to see it again.

For one suspended second the whole party disappeared. The lights, the noise, the pups, all of it faded until nothing existed but her, messy and glowing and completely unguarded. I wanted, stupidly, to memorize the exact curve of that smile before it vanished.

Then a different voice called her name.

Warm. Familiar. Too comfortable.

Something in me went rigid at the sound of it, my wolf bristling before I even understood why. Trishelle's eyes lifted, and impossibly her smile got brighter. She waved toward the voice, the motion sending the ladder wobbling hard enough that my whole body lurched forward before my brain caught up.

Who the hell is that, and why does she look at him like that.

But she was already climbing down on her own, quick and sure, and took off running before I reached her. I stood there, pulse still racing, a question forming at the edge of my mind that I didn't want to look at too closely.