Head Above Water (Gemini: A Black Dog #2) Read Online Free

desk. “Graeson is the beta.” The wheels kept spinning. “Initiating the pack bond is an intimate act. Inclusion of a new member, I would imagine, must be sanctioned by the alpha.”
    I read the blossoming dread on Dell’s face and knew I was headed in the right direction. “Unless another type of intimate bond was formed that might supersede that of a wolf to his alpha like a—”
    “—mate,” she finished for me when my mouth and brain got disconnected.
    “Bessemer thinks I connected with the pack bond because I’m Graeson’s mate.” The idea sent shivers cascading down my arms. “Graeson is beta… That makes me beta too?”
    No wonder Bessemer had his fur britches in a wad. Betas answered only to their alphas, and his beta had brought home a fae of undetermined strength and origin, one who might jeopardize the running of his pack by weakening his second or sowing discord in the ranks.
    Dell twisted hair around her finger and tugged until I was amazed it remained attached. “Yes?”
    “We’re in trouble, aren’t we?” This might not have been the us Graeson had hoped for, but I would stand by him in this. The mate thing was big. Huge. Neither of us had signed up for it. Graeson was…confused…about me, and my gift was to blame for that. The same gift that had apparently incensed his alpha. “From what Graeson’s told me, your alpha is an eye-for-an-eye kind of guy.”
    Meaning if he viewed our bond as legitimate, he would also view it as a slap in the face that he was shut out of such a huge decision when I wasn’t a warg and therefore couldn’t be Graeson’s lifemate. Also meaning all the poking and prodding Bessemer would have done to test my fitness prior to welcoming me into the pack would now occur post-bond.
    “Bessemer is a hard man.” Dell worried the hem of her borrowed shirt. “He has to be.”
    A wolflike growl rumbled through my chest upon hearing the fear in her voice. Must be the dregs of Aisha’s blood yet to be flushed from my system. The fact remained I didn’t like how subdued Dell had been acting, as if someone had burst her usually bubbly personality. Her eyes widened at the guttural sound, as if it carried a message she understood. I cleared the tightness from my throat. “So it’s fair to say that Bessemer wouldn’t mind seeing his beta brought down a few notches.”
    “More than,” she agreed.
    Again the silent wolves drew my eye. Too bad the pack bond wasn’t a thing I could tap into at will. I would give a lot to know what those two were discussing. Without asking I knew Dell wouldn’t tip me off about the content, assuming she could pick up reception for their conversation.
    This whole interlude made me wonder if, under normal circumstances, there were distinct channels you could tune into to converse with specific wolves. That would come in handy.
    In the clearing, the standoff was ending. Not a drop of blood had been spilled. That was progress, right?
    The alpha pair turned and left, the subtext clear: they weren’t afraid of turning their backs on Graeson.
    I, however, had no trouble admitting my unease. I wasn’t taking my eyes off them, not even long enough to retreat inside the trailer. The tip of Graeson’s tail flicked my calf as he trotted past, but I kept my stare fixed until Aisha and Bessemer were gone and not so much as a tree limb swayed to betray their passage.
    A nasally chuff sounding suspiciously like a snort drew my attention to Dell, who was staring at a point beyond my shoulder. I finally turned away from the woods just as Graeson ducked around the side of my home. He reared up on the steps and scratched at the door with a pathetic whine in his throat. Dell laughed at his antics, but I resisted his charm. At least until he flopped on the grass, rolled over and showed me his fuzzy white belly just begging for rubs. I opened the door—like a sucker—and he leapt to his paws, darted in and trotted to the rear of the trailer. The jerk