I was quite nervous to actually dine with the Silver hearts pack. I truly hoped Elliot still considered me a potential packmate, because if he had seen past the charade the dinner would be a perfect opportunity to get rid of me. I might have had the Cŵn Annwn inside me but that didn’t mean I was absolutely invincible and who the hell knew just how many wolves he now had.

Yuri looked positively miserable and Scott also looked quite concerned, but I had to go. I promised them to be careful which didn’t seem to ease their worries one bit. Getting to the pack house wasn’t hard. Similar to the Ghealach pack house it was on the outskirts of town, protected by the forest. It was a two-story modern mansion. There was still scaffolding on the side. Well, I guess they did need a lot more rooms...

I got out of the car and growled quietly as the many scents hit me. Too many to sort through. Shit. That wasn’t good. How could Eliot be this stupid? There was a limit to how many wolves could one alpha control. Soon the door opened and Elliot walked out onto the porch. He was a tall and lean man whose ice-blue eyes always seemed overly serious. His brown hair was slicked back but he was wearing some casual clothes, which was good since I didn’t know if this was a formal dinner or not.

“Reid, welcome, welcome,” he said with a smile as I got up the steps. “I am so glad you could join us today.” He put his hand on my shoulder and gently led me inside the house. White, black, and chrome greeted me as I walked inside. I had to admit the inside looked much more bright, there was more sunlight than in the Ghealach pack house. But somehow it seemed too clean. The Ghealach pack house was filled with little trinkets everywhere that made the house feel more personal.

Instead of the kitchen, Elliot led me to the living room where the others awaited. It seemed I would be dining with the higher-ups today… Rowley grinned at me from where he stood leaning against a lit fireplace, a glass of what looked and smelled like whiskey in his hand. Aileen, the Silver heart’s pack beta, was sitting on an armchair, her legs crossed and a disinterested look on her face. There was also a young man by one of the windows. He had light brown hair and blue-green eyes, but judging by his happy welcoming expression and the way I felt no push as I looked into his eyes told me he was a submissive wolf. And of course, there were the loners - well not anymore I guess…

Ricky smiled at me from the couch and waved shyly, Toby also offered me a smile, while Clay just frowned at the metal coffee table in front of the couch.

“Reid, I’m not sure if you ever met our submissive wolf Nolan,” he then pointed to the guy by the window. “The rest you should know.”

“Heya Reid!” Nolan waved at me.

“Uh… Hey,” I said, feeling a bit nervous. Gods, what was I doing here anyway?

“Come, sit, do you want some whiskey? The lamb should be done in a few minutes,” Elliot said. I was quickly nudged towards the couch sitting down next to Ricky. Soon Nolan fetched me a glass of whiskey.

“Thank you.” I smiled.

“No problem.” He touched my shoulder and sat down on my other side. “I’ve heard a lot of stories about you, but now I can see they don’t do you justice,” Nolan said then reached up to touch my hair.

“Um, is that so?” I said, taking a sip of the whiskey. It was quite good.

“I think the stories are greatly exaggerated,” Ricky suddenly joined in. Was it just my imagination or was he glaring at Nolan? “I’ve heard you’re a horrible demon wolf that was too mad even for the Ghealach pack. But you have been nothing but nice to us the whole time.” He smiled at me, going a bit red.

“Thanks, Ricky.” It was always nice to hear someone didn’t consider me a horrible demon wolf. How exactly were there such rumors going around the world?

“Well you do have the Cŵn Annwn inside you, which could be technically counted as a hellhound,” Rowley said with a grin.

“Now now Rowley. The Welsh Otherworld, which is where the Cŵn Annwn come from, is not hell,” Elliot said, sipping his tea. “It is simply the world of the dead.”

“The what?” Toby asked in confusion, casting me a weird look.

“Can we not talk about my fucked up family please?” I said with a weary sigh. I was here to gather information on them and not give them more on the Ghealach pack.

“Of course.” Elliot chuckled.

“You’ve been doing constructions on the pack house for quite a while now,” I commented.

“Ah yes, well with the additions to the pack we need more space,” Elliot said smiling at the three loners. Clay still looked quite pissed that he had to be here. Toby just looked nervous. Ricky the sweet boy smiled back. “I wanted to thank you once again, for guiding them to us. It was very sweet of you,” he said.

I just shrugged. “Loners have to help each other.” I ruffled Ricky’s hair. His cheeks went red but he nodded.

“It’s a wonder you’re still a loner… With how strong and caring you are,” Nolan said. “Your brother is a submissive, isn’t he? Lowell if I’m not mistaken?” I nodded. “Ah, lucky guy, I wish I had someone like you to watch over me.”

“I’m sure there are plenty of caring and strong wolves in the Silver heart’s pack,” I said, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

“Hopefully you’ll soon be one of them,” Nolan said. The damn fox.

“Now, now Nolan, do not presume. The dinner is simply a friendly visit so Reid can see how his friends are faring here,” Elliot said. Did they rehearse this or something? Suddenly the sound of a bell ringing came from the kitchen. “Ah, dinner is ready!”

So we all piled into the dining room. There were big glass windows so we could see right into the backyard of the pack house. There were loads of footprints in the snow there, it was almost a mud-snow mush at this point.

Elliot sat down at the head of the table then suddenly motioned for me to sit by his left. The seat for his Shield. I raised an eyebrow at Rowley who simply smiled and sat down next to Aileen who was on Elliot’s right.

“Let us not dwell on the stiff rules of old. This is not the Ghealach pack. Here you can sit next to whoever you want,” Elliot said, patting the chair next to him encouragingly. Smiling briefly I sat down though it felt extremely weird. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nolan eying the chair on my other side. I very much didn’t want to be caught between him and Elliot so I quickly turned my eyes to Ricky.

“Well in that case… Want to sit with me?” I smiled at him. Ricky’s face seemed to light up as he took the seat. The other submissive wolf simply sat down next to Rowley and left the chairs by Ricky to Toby and Clay. A woman soon came out of the kitchen and served us a braised lamb shank which was even weirder since I wasn’t used to being served like this. The food was good though and thankfully the conversation was kept light. Ricky chatted away into my ear about the life in the pack, Toby added a few things here and there but mostly kept quiet while Clay simply refused to acknowledge any of us. Nolan kept trying to talk to me but was always quickly cut off by Ricky, which seemed to piss him off. To me, it was quite amusing. We also talked about our lives as loners and what cities we visited.