Free Pack Community (Were Chronicles) by Crissy Smith

It was the best he could do under the time constraint.
    Less than ten minutes later he was back, dressing while Beth smirked at him from the bed. He loved her playful attitude and really could see them sharing mornings like this together.
    Once he was ready for the day ahead, he leaned over the bed and kissed her as chastely as he could. “Please be careful today. We don’t think anyone is in town, but you never know.”
    Thankfully, she nodded. “Toby is probably already downstairs. We’ll stay either here or at the house. We’ll even stay out of town.”
    She must have read the relief on his face.
    “Hey, I won’t do anything to put Toby at risk,” she promised.
    “Or yourself?” he added.
    She smiled shyly. “Or myself. I promise.”
    He kissed her again, this one deeper and a lot dirtier. His cock, which had finally settled, perked right back up.
    “Trouble,” he grumbled at her, pulling away and adjusting himself.
    “See you later,” she called and blew him a kiss.
    He smiled the entire way down the stairs to the front entrance. There he met the sheriff, Dawson and Claude. Dorothy handed him a travel mug of coffee and a foil-wrapped package.
    “For the road,” she told him with a fond smile.
    He dipped his head in thanks. “Appreciate it.”
    “You and Gray head out the same way as you did yesterday. Go the direct route. Claude and I will follow and make sure no one else is tailing you,” the sheriff ordered.
    “Claude?” Gray asked, becoming uneasy. He didn’t want to leave the inn unprotected.
    “I have my deputy stationed here and Claude has a few friends close by. Everyone here will be safe,” Jim answered his unspoken question.
    Gray nodded and followed the other men out.
    Gray drank his coffee and chowed down on the best breakfast burrito he’d ever had. “I got to tell you, I could move here just for the food,” he told Dawson.
    “Are you thinking about it?” Dawson asked quietly.
    Gray glanced over at him, not realising before that he had been silent so far. “Thinking about what?”
    “Moving here,” Dawson clarified.
    Gray crumpled up the foil and took a drink of his rich coffee to give him time. He knew he was stalling. So did Dawson by the frown he gave him.
    “I’ve thought about it,” he admitted, not looking at the other man.
    “Look, Gray, I won’t pressure you. Beth is a big girl and she knows what she’s doing. Like I said yesterday, just be honest with her. I’m not going to go all big brother on you.”
    “Yeah, one of you is enough,” Gray muttered.
    Dawson cut his eyes to him so Gray filled him in on Casey’s visit the night before. Dawson got a big kick out of what Beth had said about meeting Prince Zachary.
    “I can just imagine what she’ll have to say to him,” Dawson shared with a grin.
    They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Gray spoke up. “Can I ask you a question?”
    Dawson shrugged. “Sure.”
    “Does it bother you?” Gray questioned. “Your brother taking a male mate?”
    Dawson blew out a breath and looked like he was choosing his words carefully. “It doesn’t bother me that his mate is male. It bothers me that he kept that part to himself.”
    Gray relaxed back in his seat.
    “The three of us were always close. It hurt when he left. You know most felines stay solitary but his leaving… It felt like he put his animal nature before his family.”
    “Beth said something similar the other night,” Gray told him.
    Dawson smiled. “Beth and I have always felt the same. Family is the most important thing. We are humans first. Our parents were never there for us. Even when they were here, they always wanted to be somewhere else. I don’t know if it moulded our outlook, but I know I will never leave my son.”
    “Toby is a great kid,” Gray assured him.
    “Yeah. When I met his mom I thought we both wanted the same thing. And I think she did in the beginning, but it turned out she just couldn’t stay. I still