Page 72 of In the Mouth of the Wolf

I cracked my neck. “You know I had to. I love you like a brother, but if you’re a threat to Marlowe…”

He shook his head in shame. “I get it, but the same drive to protect her runs in me, too. Just the idea of it… I can’t even imagine. It’s unthinkable.”

He slumped down on one of the stools around the island, gingerly checking the skin around his eyes. “She said something that got to me, and I was mad. Really mad. But all she saw in that moment was an angry alpha who’d just threatened two females, and I think she thought I was going to...”

He couldn’t even say the words, his shame was a heavy stink.

I rubbed my hand down my face. “What did she say to you?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yeah, kind of. I want to know if she was right or not.”

He switched the bag to his other cheek. “She kept telling me to drop it about whatever those two betas had done, but I couldn’t. When she finally dragged me out, she said what I did wasn’t about her. It was about my ego.”

My eyes closed as I tried to think about it from her point of view. She wasn’t used to physical displays of dominance. For an omega who had until last week believed she was a human and who had lived in a world with only humans, that kind of male aggression would likely be terrifying, especially towards another female. Nolan could have listened to her and let it go, but once it was publicly out there, he’d be perceived as weak for not protecting her. Even if the offenders were female. He had needed to make an example of them to make sure the community didn’t think it was okay to treat her poorly.

“I really want to know what they said to her,” he added.

We held the silence between us for a minute. “Not gonna lie, if it’d been me at the store today, I would have done the same thing,” I finally replied.

“Yeah?”

“Probably worse.”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “Probably.”

“So, who does she hate the least at the moment that can try to coax it out of her?”

Nolan sighed, putting down the peas and heading back towards the groceries by the front door. “I don’t want her to feel ganged up on, but I think this is something we need to talk about as a whole pack.”

Maybe he was right. “Well, why don’t you get started on your stupid lasagna, then? She might open up over dinner.”

I left him to it and then went downstairs to watch something, but I felt on edge and couldn’t get comfortable or concentrate. After an hour or so, I went upstairs to listen outside of Marlowe’s door to make sure she wasn’t crying.

“Cam? Is that you?”

Shit. Her hearing had gotten a lot better since she had shifted. “Yeah, sorry, just checking in. I’ll leave you alone.”

I took a step to move when she replied quietly. “Can you cuddle with me?”

Score.

I walked in and found her on the bed, wrapped up, looking like a swaddled pup in a blanket while watching some movie. “Join my cocoon?”

“Hell yeah, let’s metamorphosize, baby.”

A small smile grew on her face, and she gestured to her table, where a half-empty box sat. “The chocolates are acceptable, by the way.”

After rearranging the blankets, I crawled up behind her on the bed, pulling her into me and losing myself in her sweet smell. Marlowe was a drug, and I was hopelessly addicted. “What are you watching?” I asked.

“A Christmas Through Time.”

Her ass fit deliciously against my crotch, and my cock hardened. “Sorry about him. Can’t do much about it.”

“That’s fine,” she answered listlessly. “Just be quiet, I’m into this.”

I did as instructed, not wanting to get kicked out. Being invited into the nest was a big deal.

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