Asher came out in a towel, his clothes in a tight bundle under his arm as he passed by to get to the laundry room. His flawless, tan skin called to me, making me ache to touch him. All of him. The man had no idea how dangerous he was in a towel. Damn.
The washer started in the other room, and he came back out, focused on Cole. “Thanks for sticking around.”
Cole got up and grabbed his medical bag. “No problem.” He came over to clasp Asher’s forearm in the traditional pack greeting—maybe the only tradition this pack would keep. Then his gaze cut over to me. “Talk to you soon, Naomi.”
“Thanks, Cole.”
Once he left, silence descended on the room, and I wasn’t sure where to look. Asher was my friend, and if he did become our Alpha, he’d have way too many demands on his time. I needed to focus on helping my friend, not fantasizing about what it would be like to lose myself in his arms.
I went to the cupboard and took down a glass, quickly filling it with ice and some freshly brewed tea from the fridge. “You’ve got to be thirsty.”
He took it with a distracted smile. “Thanks.” Taking a sip, he finally met my eyes. “I know it’s late, but do you have a minute to talk?”
“Sure.” I pulled out a stool and sat down. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah. I think so.” He finished off the tea while I tried not to watch his bicep lifting the glass.
Ugh. For so long after being bitten and finding out I was pregnant, I hated the entire male species, but somehow my bitterness had never been aimed at Asher. Lately, though, the little things he did, like always giving me the chance to say no, even to stupid things like if he could use the shower, were melting the iceberg around my heart.
He put the glass in the sink and came back over to sit on the stool beside me. His towel stayed firmly in place, luckily—or unluckily. I wasn’t really sure which at the moment.
He looked over at Chandler sleeping on the couch and back at me. “Having two jaguars surround you and the boys tonight, trapping you inside this house…” He shook his head. “It scared the shit out of me.” He paused and then added, “We can’t keep making mistakes like this. It’s going to cost us in blood soon, and I can’t let that happen.”
The honesty in his gaze, and his words, rattled me a little. Asher wore honor like a suit of armor, and it wasn’t diminished by any sign of pride. I wasn’t sure I knew any other shifter men who would admit to being afraid, and not only that, but Asher’s admission only seemed to add to his strength. I had no idea how he accomplished it.
Maybe he had some Alpha powers already.
“Cole told me he asked you to be our new Alpha,” I said.
He nodded, breaking eye contact. “I think he’s wrong.”
“Why?” I frowned.
He rested his arm on the counter, his hand only a few inches from mine, but I didn’t risk taking it. I couldn’t trust myself right now. Maybe it was the brush with death, or the fact that Asher was naked under that towel, but parts of me that had been dormant for the past two years were stirring again.
Asher sighed. “I met Adam Sloan, fought alongside him and his pack, and there are senses he has that are almost mystical, parts of being a werewolf I don’t have.” His dark eyes met mine. “I’m a wolf now, but I haven’t always been.” He balled his hand into a fist, clearly struggling for words. “I’ll always be an outsider. Gage, Ryker, and I are the only bitten werewolf males that Adam and his pack had ever heard of. How can I lead? Other packs won’t respect us.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who gives a shit about what they think?” I glanced over at Chandler. “There’s a bitten man on our couch right now. You’re not so rare.”
“And he walks alone, Naomi. He’s not part of the Reno Pack or any pack, and even the Nero jaguars won’t have him.”
An idea started to form in my head, a crazy idea. “Let’s invite him to join our pack.”
“What?” The confused look on Asher’s face almost made me smile. “We’ve already got bitten wolves and a skin walker in our group. Now you want to add a bitten jaguar shifter, too?”
“Why not? And while we’re at it, let’s see if Vance officially wants to join us, too. He’s a strong fighter; we’d be safer with him as part of our pack.” I raised a finger as his lips parted. “Wait, hear me out. The Reno Pack has three jaguar shifters now, so we wouldn’t even be that odd, right?”
He smiled, one of his rare unguarded-Asher smiles, the ones that gave me a glimpse of the man he’d been before we were sucked into this crazy world of shifters.
My pulse rate sped up. Knowing he could hear it pounding didn’t help.
His eyes sparkled. “You think we should be the diversity melting pot of shape-shifters?”
“Why not?” I grinned. “We live in the land of energy vortices and native mysticism. And for what it’s worth, I think you’d be the perfect leader.”
He raised a brow. “How do you figure that?”
“You’re a natural. You’re the one who patrols our territory every night. No one asks you to, but you do it. And when there’s trouble, you rally us. You’re already the hub binding all of us into a unit—a pack.” I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. “Why not make it official?”
He chuckled shaking his head. “I’m lucky to have a friend like you in my corner.”
Hearing him call me a friend shouldn’t have rubbed me the wrong way. We were friends. But being given that label out loud hurt a secret part of me, a part of me that I suddenly realized wanted to be more.
Worst timing ever.
