Wolf Betrayed (Talon Pack #4)(30)

Someone slammed into his side, and he fell on his ass. He growled and tried to get back on his feet—much like he was already trying to do mentally—and hit the ground again when Kameron pushed him down.

“I’ll still always win,” Kameron said. The man grinned as he said it, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Bram could never quite figure out this wolf, but he supposed it wasn’t his place to do so. He wasn’t even a Talon member.

Bram flipped the Enforcer off before pushing back, using a little more force than usual, but not enough to draw attention to him. Kameron’s eyes narrowed as he found himself on his back with Bram standing over him. Bram just shrugged and went back to the game.

Even though they were still on high alert since they’d taken out Montag’s buildings, the wolves needed to do something to relieve the tension. Those with mates could at least work out the rising anxiety the old-fashioned way. Those without mates either found a willing body they could at least have a physical relationship with without being mates, or did what Bram was doing.

Work it out another way.

In his case, it was the Redwood and Talon monthly football matches. They played by wolf rules and used every advantage they could short of bloodshed to score. Last time, they’d played in the Redwood den, and the Talons who weren’t on duty had come over to play a decent game. Bram’s team had won, of course, since he and Charlotte had kicked Kameron’s and Brandon’s asses. This time, they were on Talon territory, not only working out the tension that came from being on alert all the time, but also strengthening the bonds between the Packs. Just because the Packs were allies, didn’t mean there weren’t problems. So games like this where they could beat up on each other innocently helped.

It wasn’t a completely civilized answer to a non-civilized problem, but they weren’t human.

They were wolves.

And they were physical.

Of course, that thought brought in another thought of just how he, Shane, and Charlotte could be physical after this, and that just brought his wolf that much closer to the edge. They were days from the full moon, and everyone was much more wolf. Even though Bram was perpetually closer to his wolf, he usually had tight control of it. His proximity to not one, but two of his mates made it a little harder for him. He knew Charlotte had been running each night, trying to work out the extra energy she had, and Shane was getting grumpier by the day.

There were other ways the three of them could work this out, but Bram knew this wasn’t the time. After the game, he promised himself. After the game, the three of them would sit down and talk. It had only been two days since Charlotte had revealed what they were, or rather, what they could be to Shane, and they hadn’t taken the time to fully explain it to the man. The responsibility lay on Charlotte’s and Bram’s shoulders since the other man hadn’t grown up with wolves and didn’t know anything about mating. They could have talked about it this morning rather than him and Charlotte playing this game while Shane watched, but Bram had needed to run off some of his excess energy.

Charlotte, he could see, needed to, as well. They always had her play wide receiver because she could run faster than most of the others if she put her mind to it. She just had to get past the wall of wolves, and Kade or Finn could throw the ball to her. Bram held back a snort. Of course, the Alpha and Heir were playing QB. As if either of them would give up control to play any other position nowadays.

As Gideon was the Talon QB, Bram figured it was an Alpha thing.

Kade was back at the den so the younger Jamenson was playing leader today and Finn called out another play. Bram rolled his shoulders and tried to get his mind in the game.

This time, it was Brandon who came at him, a small smile on his face. Bram blocked the other man from getting to Charlotte and did his best not to groan when Brandon elbowed him in the gut. These Talons weren’t playing around. Parker came around Bram to take out Walker, and Brandon slid from Bram’s grip. In fact, the other man slid right down into the mud, falling on his ass. His eyes were wide, his mouth gaping like a fish before it pressed into a thin line.

Bram pushed at the man’s shoulder. “You okay?” The play was still going on around them, and Bram had part of his attention on Charlotte as she ran toward the end zone. Leah, Ryder’s mate, was catching up to Charlotte, but Bram didn’t think the other woman would reach her. As Leah was a witch, she wasn’t as fast or strong as the wolves, but Ryder apparently hadn’t the heart to tell her to sit out. She wasn’t allowed to use her magic, but none of the wolves were allowed to tackle her either. It was a convoluted set of rules, but they knew what they were doing. The Pack had always consisted of wolves, witches, and the occasional human.

“Touchdown!” Finn yelled and did a little dance.

Bram shook his head and held out a hand to Brandon. “Finn, never do that again.”

Finn just grinned and flipped him off while his mate, Brynn, wrapped her arms around the Heir’s middle. Brandon took Bram’s offered hand and pulled himself up.

“Seriously,” Bram whispered, “you okay?”

Brandon shook himself before nodding. “Yeah, just knocked the wind out of myself.”

Bram wasn’t sure how that was physically possible, but he wasn’t going to argue. As the Omega, Brandon could feel the emotions of every Talon Pack member. For all Bram knew, something had happened along the Pack bonds that had caused Brandon to fall.