Impulse: Southern Arcana, Book 5 by Moira Rogers

don’t need you, need you, not most of the time. And if you give them the chance, they’ll use you right the hell up.”
    “I thought you were going to tell me something new .” The words held no mystery for him—in wolf politics, giving a damn wore you out faster than anything else, simply because it was so rare. “Look, Alec has to be in New York for now, and Andrew’s got his hands full hunting down the new wolves who’d fall through the cracks otherwise. That leaves me.”
    “If there was a real problem, something they needed you here to fix, you’d be back as soon as you could hop a flight.” Patrick shook his head. “It’s nice that you’re getting Sera out of town—God knows she needs it—but maybe she’s just the excuse. The reason you’re finally giving yourself permission to not be working every waking moment.”
    “Spit it out, dude, because I’m not entirely sure what you’re getting at.”
    Patrick snorted. “It’s not that you don’t have time. You won’t take it.”
    Julio tensed. “Is that meant as a reassurance that the place won’t fall apart without me, or a roundabout way of telling me I don’t do as much as I think I do?”
    “ Shit , Mendoza.” Patrick swept up a pillow and threw it at him. “You do everything that actually needs doing. And then you do everything that people think needs doing. And then you do the things they want done. If you were any more accessible, you’d be mowing their damn yards.”
    Maybe he had been overdoing it, but what else was he supposed to do? He’d spent the majority of his life ignoring what most wolves considered his responsibilities by right of birth. “I’m making up for lost time.”
    “Uh-huh. Or maybe your brother’s not the only one trying to prove something.”
    Julio held both hands aloft. “I never said I wasn’t complicated.”
    Patrick sprawled back, relaxed, as if he’d made his point. “Merely a piece of advice, from one workaholic to another.”
    “So what about your vacation?”
    “This is my vacation, man. Maybe I’ll help Anna chase that bastard around for a while. I might even put off everything else for a week or two and…stay in one place.”
    Julio grinned. “You suck at the concept of downtime as much as I do.”
    The man returned his smile. “Or we both just found reasons to chase pretty ladies.”
    “We’re full of shit, aren’t we?”
    “Yep.” Patrick inclined his head toward the suitcases. “We’ll hold down the fort. Get out of here and show that girl a good time.”
    “Yeah, I think I will.”

Chapter Six
    Julio had borrowed a convertible from someone.
    Sera tossed her duffel bag into the back seat before sliding on her brand-new seven-dollar sunglasses. She was an absolute vision of gas-station fashion, with her braided pigtails covered by a black bandanna and her denim shorts barely visible beneath the hem of her too-long Saints jersey.
    Not exactly the low-cut tops and too-short skirts she’d briefly considered, but it felt wrong to approach Julio in the seductive clothing she used to pick up men she only wanted to fuck. Whatever she wanted from him was a damn sight more complicated than sex.
    Too bad sex had become a driving urge in the days it had taken to organize the road trip.
    Sera circled the car as Julio rearranged things in the trunk and muttered under his breath. “I need a gas can.”
    “A gas can?” She leaned against the side of the car.
    “Mmm, just in case.”
    “Sounds fair.” She grinned at him. “Always good to have a spare gas can, a shotgun and a roll of duct tape, right?”
    He affected a long-suffering sigh. “Don’t forget the road flares and chainsaw. Who taught you to road trip, anyway?”
    “Obviously a novice.” Pushing up her sunglasses, she glanced in the trunk. “Anything else we need? I packed up some food for the road.”
    He slammed the trunk. “What kind of stuff?”
    “I made brownies and cookies yesterday, and some empanadas at work