A long wooden table ran along the right side of the room in front of a beautiful row of tall windows. Austin sat at the left end of the table, and most of the pack was already seated. Some of them looked up at me, but no one said a word.

Wheeler left me standing alone and sat next to Ben with his back to the windows. April and Reno were seated across from them, and Reno was absently stroking her lower back with his left hand.

“Sit down, Denver,” Lexi said, swatting him with a dish towel. She took the last bowls of food and set them on the table before sitting on Austin’s left.

Denver walked by me and winked. “You look like an ice cream cone.”

There were a whole lot of empty seats at the table—room for a growing pack. I drifted forward, deciding that sitting opposite the Packmaster might not be appropriate. Did wolves have rules? I knew enough about pack hierarchy to assume they did.

The small table behind me looked as if Maizy had outgrown it—like an Alice in Wonderland picture. Melody dashed into the room and sat in the opposite chair, sitting on her legs and playing with the magnetic dress-up dolls that someone had hung on the wall between the two girls. Lynn set a plate in front of her along with a purple juice cup.

“But I don’t want that cup,” Melody complained, looking at the plastic sippy cup. “That’s for babies.”

Izzy craned her neck to get a good look. “Honey, I had the tree fairies bring that cup all the way from Neverland. They said it will give you special powers, and you’ll need them for the movie we’re going to later.” Izzy glanced back at Jericho and lowered her voice. “God knows I’ll need ’em.”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “No nachos this time.”

“Well, it was all in her hair,” Izzy went on in their private conversation. “Then it dried and was impossible to get out.”

Jericho shrugged guiltily but didn’t look as upset as Izzy over it. Instead, he smirked and reached for a plate of sausage patties.

“Have a seat,” Austin said to me.

I swallowed thickly and sat on the bench next to Denver.

“At the end—so I can see you.”

I quietly rose from my seat and took the chair at the end of the table, facing Austin and his entire pack of wolves.

Everyone seemed in a rush to eat before the conversation turned serious. Everyone except William, who sat to my right with his arms folded on the table, his attention on Austin. He was an astute man.

“Wheeler, I’m going to let you tell your side of the story first,” Austin said, holding his fist in the palm of his other hand and then cracking a knuckle. “Speak openly. I think it’s pretty damn obvious that confidentiality is out the window at this point.”

Wheeler set down his bacon and licked his fingers. “What do you want me to say?”