As he got closer to Park and Eli, he caught a bit of their conversation. “You can’t sleep in the zoo again,” Park was saying. “That’s not a long-term plan. It’s not even a short-term plan.”

“What’s going on?” Cooper asked, touching Park’s shoulder, which leaned into his hand.

“Do you truly never grow weary of asking that?” Eli asked.

“Eli has been sleeping here for weeks. He has no pack, no home and no plan,” Park said promptly.

Cooper blinked. “You can’t go back to Helena? Or become a pack with your sister?”

Both Park and Eli made faces, so Cooper had probably gotten that wrong somehow. Fair enough. He wouldn’t necessarily choose to roomie up with either of those people for an indeterminate length of time either.

“Alice remains WIP and I can’t go back to Helena. What if she makes me choose? Rejoin the pack or rebuild a relationship with my sister?” Eli shook his head. “No, I’ll be fine. I’m not entirely incompetent, you know.”

“No one’s saying you are,” Park said sharply. “But how will you find a new pack you can trust with your secret?”

A shadow passed over Eli’s eyes. “After all this?” he hissed. “All this hurt I’ve brought to myself? To my sister? To the two of you? I will never forgive myself as it is. But what I will not do is risk it happening again with someone new. I will just remain pack—packless.” He shifted a bit, hugging his knees tighter. “Perhaps some rebels will—”

Park snarled shockingly loud, but Eli didn’t even flinch, just changed direction. “Or maybe Alice can introduce me to some WIP. And if I find that untenable, I shall cast myself on Helena’s mercy.”

Cooper frowned, disliking the sound of that. These three paths again. He rubbed the ring on his finger thoughtfully. A gesture Park didn’t particularly understand himself, would never have been inclined to make at all if not for Cooper’s happiness.

He took a deep breath. “What about joining us?”

Eli and Park both looked at him with stupefied expressions.

“Er, join our pack, I meant. Not join us for—” He cleared his throat. “I mean, we can do that, right?” he confirmed, looking to Park, but his face still wasn’t moving. “It’s not like you need to live with us or anything. You didn’t live with Helena, just on the property, right?” He realized how that sounded and horrified quickly added, “Not that you’d live in the yard—I just meant—obviously, you can live wherever you want.”

More silence. This had seemed a lot simpler in his head. Cooper got the feeling he was messing up massively and was honestly surprised Eli hadn’t jumped in to tease him yet. But like Park, Eli just sat there, unmoving and wide-eyed.