赤裸裸的滑稽故事

Alice scoffed.

“Such a cold greeting,” she replied in mock offense.

Peter tilted his head and raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

Alice sighed. “You’re no fun.”

“So, I’ve heard,” Peter replied, stepping aside to let Alice into his home. “So, again, what are you doing here?”

“Ya know, Petey,” Alice smiled, noting the clenched jaw on Peter. “You’re a straight shooter. I like that.”

“What’s going on?” Bell asked as she got up from her place on the couch.

“Alice is about to tell me why she’s knocking at my door,” Peter replied, looking back at Alice.

“Petey, I’m going to be very honest with you,” Alice smiled. “I have exactly four people in this world that I care about. There are others I take care of by extension of those people… but really, truly, there are only four. So, if someone hurts one of those four, I will come knocking on someone’s door.”

Alice’s smile suddenly looked quite cold to Peter. He found himself swallowing and taking a step back.

Alice took a step forward.

“So, perhaps, you can tell me why as I escorted Myka to the border this morning, he couldn’t even muster a smile?” she whispered.

Peter’s eyes widened, and then his brows furrowed.

“You know Myka?” he asked.

Bell quickly moved between them. Standing to block Peter from Alice.

“Ok, let’s all just back up a little bit. This is starting to feel a little tense,” she said. “Alice, just so you know, Myka is the one that jumped on Peter, ok? Peter hasn’t done anything wrong.”

Alice’s gaze did not shift or move. Her eyes focused entirely on Peter.

“Is that true, Peter?” she asked, a soft growl in her voice. “You didn’t do anything wrong?”

Peter swallowed.

Bell looked back over her shoulder at Peter.

“Tell her, Peter,” she whispered.

Peter looked away from Bell.

“Did he really leave?” Peter asked.

Alice nodded.

“Alpha Caleb rushed back home to Summer. There was an issue with Ashleigh,” Alice replied. “The other nomads were struggling to make any decisions, and Myka was completely useless.”

Peter looked at the ground, wondering just how distracted Myka had been.

“What happened to Ash?” Bell asked.

“I’m not sure,” Alice shook her head. “All Caleb told Axel was that there was something wrong, and he needed to get back to make sure she was all right.”

Bell nodded and looked away.

“I don’t think Galen knows anything about it or is in any kind of danger,” Alice added. “From what I understand, it was something that only Caleb would have known through their bond.”

Bell nodded and smiled, appreciating that Alice was trying to help calm her nerves about a potential threat to her best friend and husband.

Alice looked back at Peter.

“The point is, Axel called for a recess in order for Caleb to get his situation sorted while the nomads are given a chance to get their thoughts in order. Myka was the first out the door, saying he had no reason to stick around.”

Another soft growl hung at the center of her words; Peter swallowed.

“Rather strange for someone that begged for the opportunity to come here,” she added.

“How do you know Myka?” Peter asked.

“He’s my little brother,” Alice said.

Peter’s eyes went wide.

Bell’s brows furrowed.

“Wait, what? How?” she asked. “You look nothing alike, and he certainly doesn’t look like Holden.”

Alice chuckled.

“The same way Axel is your brother,” she replied.

“Oh…” Bell replied.

“I have known Myka for a very long time. He is family to me,” Alice said, looking back at Peter once more. “So, again… why has Myka stopped smiling?”

Bell moved to catch Alice’s gaze. Giving her own angry look.

She had a healthy fear and respect for Alice, but she also was Peter’s friend, and she wasn’t going to allow anyone to try and force him into a relationship he had no interest in.

“He’s probably upset because Peter rejected him,” Bell replied, standing taller before Peter. “Something he had every right to do. You can’t force him to accept Myka as a mate, even if he is your brother.”

Bell clenched her jaw and stared back at Alice, prepared to defend Peter.

But Peter touched her shoulder gently. Bell looked back at him.

“Do you really think that she, of all people, would try to force someone to accept a binding they didn’t want?” Peter asked softly.

Bell glanced back at Alice.

Alice gave her a soft smile and a slight raise of the brow but said nothing. Instead, she just shifted her gaze back to Peter, still waiting for his answer.

Peter took a deep breath.

“Let’s all go have a seat in the living room,” he said, walking past both women to grab himself a glass of water.

They all made themselves comfortable. Peter took his spot curled up inside his blanket, Bell sat on the other side of the couch, while Alice sat down in the recliner.

“What’s going on, Peter?” Bell asked.

He sighed.

“You want to know what the deal is with Myka and me,” he said to Bell and then turned to Alice. “And you want to know what happened yesterday, right?”

Alice nodded.

“Yesterday?” Bell asked.

Peter nodded.

“I didn’t know there was a yesterday,” Bell whispered, glancing at Alice.

Alice smirked.

“All right,” Peter sighed. “I’m feeling… open to sharing today.”

Bell tried to hide her excitement.

Though it was apparent that something bad had happened between them, she couldn’t help the curiosity she felt about the story of Peter and Myka.

In the years she and Peter had been friends, he had hardly shown any interest in anyone for more than a day or two. Even those encounters, being frowned upon in the traditions of Winter, were few and far between.

Bell smiled to herself as a thought occurred to her.

Peter was not a Winter wolf, so the traditions didn’t affect him the way they did most others. Ashleigh was the Alpha of Winter’s daughter; tradition was everything to her.

Very different personalities and values, but both rejected their true mate for one reason or another, even though they clearly loved them very much.

It was infuriating, while also very funny.

‘Ashleigh,’ Bell whispered in her thoughts. ‘What happened?’

Bell sighed.

“Why do you look more nervous than me?” Peter laughed.

Bell smiled and took a breath.

“I’m a little worried about Ashleigh,” she replied honestly. “Sorry. I just can’t help but wonder what happened that would make Caleb rush home so quickly.”