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making him seem older than he actually was.
    I pulled a bowl of peanuts in front of me and offered him an apologetic glance. “Beer is fine.”
    He wagged his finger at me. “I’m going to look that up when I go home. Next time you come in, order it.”
    I looked over my shoulder toward the back of the room, behind all the tables. Wheeler was racking up the balls at the pool table while Austin, Lexi, and Naya chalked their sticks. They were playing in teams, though I couldn’t tell if it was couples or men against women. A few men standing nearby caught sight of Austin’s tattoos and backed up a step. In the surrounding territories, those who didn’t know Packmasters by their faces knew them by their markings.
    William stole the seat to my left and pulled the bowl of peanuts toward him. “It’s a good thing you traveled young. I’m sure it was difficult to be away, but it becomes harder to do the older you get.”
    “Why is that?”
    He licked the salt from his fingers. “Older things tend to grow roots.”
    “Mom planted the idea in my head pretty young. It wasn’t easy to leave as a teen, but I guess at the time it seemed like a big adventure and a whole lot of freedom. I’m fortunate; I can’t thank her and the pack enough for paying for my education.”
    William ate another handful of peanuts. “Life is an education, perhaps the most important one you’ll ever receive. Just look at my situation with how I came into this pack.”
    “I was young when that happened with Ivy.”
    “Indeed. But it worked out for the best. Caleb moved to second-in-command, and I found a pack much like the one I grew up in. Like you, I traveled young. Common for young wolves after going through their first change. It’s important for us to get out and experience life, because those experiences are going to come into play when we finally return home.”
    “How so?”
    William ate another peanut and then pushed the bowl away. “Austin was once a bounty hunter, and that groomed him for a leadership position. He learned patience, authority, independence, but also how not to lead a pack based on the lowlifes he caught. Same with Reno.”
    I laughed and sipped the beer Frank had set down. “And Jericho with his music career?”
    “I think it taught him who he didn’t want to be, what’s important in life, and who matters. We glean a little from our experiences—especially the blunders.”
    “A valid argument, but I don’t think it applies to me. I didn’t have anything exciting happen while I was away.”
    He turned to face the room, his elbows on the bar. “Maybe that was your lesson.”
    Yeah, I learned how alone I felt in the world no matter where I was, but I didn’t tell William that. He probably already knew. Just sitting there in the bar, smelling different colognes and perfumes mingling, hearing an old Aerosmith song, and listening to the laughter of people I’d known all my life filled me with so many conflicting feelings. I didn’t have a father, and the only reason the pack had taken us in was because of Lexi. I’d never met my older brother, Wes, who died before I was born. I knew my pack had a sense of love and obligation to me, but my mom was right. What kind of life could I have living with them? I was a girl with one foot in the human world and the other in the Breed world, and neither one wanted me. What would happen if I met a nice human guy and brought him home to meet the Cole brothers? It was unavoidable that no matter whom I chose, I’d have to tell him my sister was a wolf. Grounds for divorce?
    William snapped his fingers in front of my face. “You moved back home and you’re still a million miles away.”
    I clutched his shoulder and rested my head on it. “I’m sorry. It’s just overwhelming to be back home.”
    He kissed the top of my head. “If you need anyone to talk to…”
    “Thanks.”
    I could never confide in William. I loved him to bits and he gave sound advice, but we’d