Outliers

Seventeen

"Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free."

Jim Morrison

"You're just going to sit there in silence and not divulge every detail to me?" Nero asked incredulously over a mouthful of cereal, milk dribbling down the side of his chin. From beside him his uncle watched him with disgust.

I was back in the main cabin now, my return coming soon after the kiss when it became clear my wounds were healed enough for me to travel. Thane had been hesitant to agree and insisted he checked over all of my wounds but I hadn't wanted to spend another second in the cabin alone with him. Now that I had given in to my lust, it was hard to be around him without wanting to throw myself at him with every chance I had.

"What are you talking about?" My eyes narrowed, darting between the three men sat with me in the kitchen, my stomach suddenly in knots. Lorcan paid little attention to us, reading a book while drinking the biggest mug of coffee I had ever seen, Adriel suddenly finding interest in his empty breakfast plate in front of him, though he was definitely smirking as he did so.

Only Nero was looking at me; a grin split so large across lips, so large his cheeks dimpled.

"You reek of him, don't play coy," he drawled. It took only a second for his words to register, and a deep groan pulled from my throat as a scorching heat spread from my neck to my cheeks.

"This is my queue to leave," Lorcan uttered gruffly, abandoning his breakfast on the counter as he stood to his feet and grabbed Adriel's bicep. "Come on," he urged.

"What?" Adriel gasped incredulously. "'I'm not leaving, this is hilarious. I've never seen you blush so hard Emily!"

"We have training." Lorcan fixed the immature Beta with a pointed look, tugging him unwillingly to his feet before dragging the begrudging man out of the room. I shot Lorcan a thankful look which he reciprocated with a small smile.

"Your official training with me starts tomorrow. You'll be in the second group with Nero." Lorcan eyed Nero for a moment before shooting me what I could only describe as a sympathetic gaze. "Good luck," he offered as his parting words, before leaving me alone under Nero's interrogation.

When my attention returned to Nero, I groaned again, burying my face in my arms on the kitchen island counter, unable to keep looking at the smug expression on his face.

"Can everyone tell?" I uttered into my arms; the words muffled.

"Pretty much."

Another groan. How mortifying. Every wolf I had walked by this morning in the main house, the wolves we had come across on our way back, hunting with Sandra – they had all been brutally aware of what had happened between me and the Alpha wolf beside me.

Sandra.

I needed to talk to her. Despite her reassurance that whatever was between her and Thane was over and that she had no feelings for him, I would feel awful if I didn't speak to her about what had transpired. Alongside Nero she was my closest friend in Colorado, and I couldn't stand for there to be ill feelings between us.

"So?" He promoted.

"I need to talk to Sandra first before I tell you anything."

"What?" He exclaimed incredulously. "Sandra gets to know everything before me?"

"Considering their history, I want her to hear it from me first, not from a gossiping wolf that, like you, has already scented him on me."