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we had before we settled here. I’d like to enjoy it.”
    “You’ve been here for more than six months.”
    “Yep. I think it’ll take a little while longer to make up for a lifetime of shit-tastic situations. I’ve lived out of vehicles for the better part of my adult life, and left my birthpack when I was sixteen. That’s when my father got challenged. He lost. He was perfectly willing to stick around and be some guy’s ass-sniffing lieutenant, but I didn’t get to choose. I got sent away. Adam collected me after my mother sent him out to find me, and here I am. So, yeah, I’m enjoying this sofa and my television and my free time very much.”
    She sighed and closed her eyes. Goddammit. He just had to go and have a sob story. Still, that doesn’t excuse bad behavior. She had a fucking sob story. Thanks to her ex-alpha’s mishandling of pack funds, her family had nearly been homeless more times than she cared to recount. They’d always had to dig themselves out. The odds were stacked against them, and she hadn’t let that stop her. She sighed. “You should want more.”
    “Okay, maybe I’m an asshole. I freely and under no duress—beyond the blue balls you inflicted me with—can admit that. But that doesn’t mean I’m lazy.”
    “I never said you were lazy.”
    “You were getting there, I’m sure. My nickname is Idler, by the way, because I don’t volunteer for extra. I don’t do the above and beyond thing.”
    “Because you don’t care?”
    He gave his head a slow shake and let out a bark of laughter. “I care plenty. I just don’t think this is going to last, so I’m enjoying it while I can.”
    “You don’t think what’s going to last?”
    He swept his arm at the room. “This— domesticity thing. We’re not used to it. We’re the castoff wolves that our old packs couldn’t trust to let stay, but that’s our culture, isn’t it? No one can get too comfortable. Little boys with any power at all get sent away before they grow into it. Girls answer mate calls hoping to find something better than the shit puddle they’re living in.”
    Lisa groaned and rubbed her eyes. She couldn’t really debate that. She’d done it, after all. Twice .
    “Alphas get overthrown,” Colt continued, “and there’s chaos. So much fucking chaos. There’s no stability.”
    “And you don’t think it’s possible here, is what you’re saying?”
    He shrugged. “Maybe it’s possible. Alpha sure hopes it is. He’s so damned optimistic that he’s already got our hosts partitioning off lots for newcomers. He wants to make us a legitimate pack, I guess. Not just a roving band of mercenary nomads.”
    “You think that’s a bad thing?”
    He pursed his lips and made a waffling hand gesture. “Nice thing if you can get it, but it’s just going to be more of the same. The pack will get too big, and have too many little boys, and we’ll start sending them away because we’re afraid of them.”
    “It doesn’t have to be that way. There are ways for people to lead without them being the alpha in charge. I’ve seen it in other groups. If you structure the pack the right way at the beginning, align people’s expectations, you can give people a chance to do it a new way. A democratic way.”
    “If I had a little flag, I’d wave it at you right now. Nice speech, princess.”
    “I told you not to call me princess.” She stalked across the room, slammed her hand between his thighs, and grabbed his nuts.
    The sound he made was as much moan as it was a hiss. His eyes rolled behind fluttering eyelids, and she pushed up an eyebrow, in awe.
    “You like that, don’t you?”
    He swallowed audibly and pushed up his heavy-looking eyelids. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    “You do. You’re prodding me, just like you do with your packmates. But from me, you’re not expecting a cranky retort. You want me to put you in your place, don’t you?”
    He dragged his tongue across his lips. “As