Page 110 of In the Mouth of the Wolf

Cam came home a couple of hours later, carrying Marlowe’s clothes in a bag. He looked defeated as he set them down and walked around, making sure we’d cleaned up. The sight of the door made him furrow his brow.

Marlowe slinked out of her nest from upstairs, coming down wrapped in a blanket. She sunk into Cam’s chest and he held her tight, kissing her on the head.

“So does everyone at the company think I’m a total weirdo now?”

He chuckled. “No, word spread that you made Julian get you coffee and I overheard one of the beta females call you a ‘girl boss,’ which I think is a good thing.”

She rubbed her face into his chest and laughed. “Well, it depends if she was being sarcastic or not.”

“I don’t mean to interrupt your quarterly review,” Elias said, entering the room from the basement. “But what the hell happened today to make our omega so upset?”

Archer and I closed our laptops from where we were working at the kitchen island, giving the conversation our full attention.

Marlowe looked up at Cam and then over to us. “I went to work in my dad’s old office, and the screensaver on his computer was a picture of my family. It just… really affected me.”

Elias stepped forward to rub her back and comfort her, but I clocked Cam’s confused expression. Marlowe was hiding something from the rest of us. I could feel her hesitation through the bond. She didn’t seem scared, though, so I wasn’t going to push it. People were entitled to privacy, even from their bonded pack mates who could detect deception.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Cam announced. He was clearly not going to expand on Marlowe’s story.

Marlowe smiled shyly. “Do you want some company?” she asked in a sweet voice.

“Fuck yeah.” Cam smacked her ass and she ran ahead of him, laughing as he chased her.

As soon as the door closed and the water ran, Elias turned towards us. “That was bullshit, right?”

Archer opened his laptop back up, returning to work. “If that’s her official story, and Camden’s fine with it, we should be, too. It won’t do us any favors if we call her a liar.”

I wasn’t going to call her a liar, but she wasn’t telling us the full story. I spoke through clenched teeth. “How can we protect her from threats if we don’t know what threatened her?” If she had felt something so deeply today that it triggered my wolf to finally be released, it wasn’t something we should just sweep under the rug.

“Do you really think Camden would take her safety lightly? After everything he’s done so far? I’m sure whatever happened, he’s got it under control, and I don’t particularly feel like upsetting Marlowe further,” Archer said.

Elias’s eyes widened. “I wonder…” He walked over to the bag of Marlowe’s clothes and stuck his nose inside, inhaling deeply. A menacing growl reverberated through his chest. “That motherfucker let a new alpha rub all over her today. I bet he was trying to scent match a new pack mate.”

I jumped out of my seat and snatched her sweater out of the bag, sniffing it carefully. “For Moon’s sake, she was drenched in him. Cam allowed this?”

“Is it a good match?” Archer asked.

A good match? A goodfuckingmatch?

I threw the sweater towards him. “How the hell should I know? Right now, I’m just pissed! Elias and I said we didn’t want a new pack mate!”

Elias chimed in. “We can defend Marlowe just fine on our own from those commune freaks. You’re fixed now.”

Archer walked over to where the sweater had fallen and picked it up, smelling it along the neck. “It’s not bad. We should meet him.”

I knew Archer was a logical male, and he was usually very good at talking me off a ledge.

But right now, I wanted to dive off headfirst into an angry abyss. “We are not bringing some random alpha into our pack and giving him access to Marlowe! The only way I can even tolerate sharing her with you guys is because we trust each other, and we’ve had years to build and test that. This is just a knee-jerk reaction, and if we pull that trigger, we could be stuck with a male we don’t like. Someone who might hurt our omega. What’s the bigger risk?” I yelled.

Archer closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm. “I don’t want to let jealousy get in the way of what’s best for Marlowe. You didn’t see that shifter, Nolan. He ripped my car door off with hisbare hands. I thought he might kill me. And when he told me he was coming to take Marlowe away from us, and there was nothing we could do to stop it… I almost believed him. But now I know he was wrong, because thereissomething we can do, and I’m willing to at least meet the male before I letmyknee-jerk reaction leave her vulnerable.”

I snarled. “I refuse to let your insecurities endanger our omega.”

Archer snarled back. “I am not insecure, I’m realistic. But if we want to talk insecurities, how about we address yours? Tell us the truth about why you two don’t want another alpha in the group – you both just don’t want more competition for Marlowe’s time.”

I was about to leap over and grab him when Marlowe barked from above us.

“That’s enough!”

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