Page 32 of Tamed Wolf

“Oh, I think I’ve talked to her a few times. Yeah, I remember her. She got out?” I look up hopefully, wanting to hear about a happy ending.

“Yeah, it was kind of crazy, actually. Long story short, most of her pack didn’t know she existed, or that she was in the rejected shelter, or that they had a kid; pretty shocking when they found out.”

“I bet,” I say with a small laugh.

“Her and her mates are happy now, though. Have another baby, too.”

“That’s so sweet. I love that she got another chance to be happy.”

“You ever think about that for yourself?”

I fold the blanket for something to do, fidgeting with the tag on the side of it. “It’s not in the cards for me. Some people…some people meet the one and they ride off into the sunset together. Some people have to wait longer before they meet the one and then they get to build a life together; some people are meant for neither. Some people…some people think that what they were given is really great, but it only lasts for about a year before it goes completely wrong, and everything falls apart. Some of us just aren’t meant to have good things, so we make the most of what we have.”

He steps closer to me, making me hitch my breath. It’s absurd how dang good they all smell.

“What does it say that I can’t get enough of the way you smell? I noticed it as soon as we walked into the club last night; my mouth was watering the entire time we were walking to that room. Then when you entered, and I realized it was coming from you?” He shakes his head. “Most delicious thing I’ve ever fuckin’ smelled.”

I make myself meet his eyes. “I was literally just thinking about how good you smell, too. Maybe we can schedule monthly meetups just to smell each other,” I joke.

His finger lands under my chin and tips my face up again, so I’m forced to look at him. “I could think of a lot better ways of getting your scent on me.”

I step back, flashing hot. “I’m not really sure what you all want with me; I really appreciate you taking me here last night, I slept amazing, but…this isn’t my life. Eventually I’m going to have to face my punishment for running out on them, and every second they can’t get a hold of me, it’s going to get worse. Might be best if you just bring me back so I can get it over with.”

“I want to know more about these punishments,” another deep voice says as they join us in the living room.

“You guys have been in relationships, right? You were with Rowan’s mom for a bit, right? I’m sure you know all about keeping your girl in line.”

Blake lets out a snarl as he strides up to me, sandwiching me between him and his brother and sending filthy thoughts through my head. “No man worth his salt would ever need to punish his mate. Punishment is for children that misbehave, not grown ass women that know their own mind. What on earth could you have possibly done in the past to warrant a fucking punishment?”

I sigh, not really wanting to detail every bit of my fucked-up life. “I’ve never been able to do right by them. I used to try so hard; I was only 16 when we met and I sort of got pushed off the deep end, but they didn’t want a teenage mate that didn’t know shit about the world. We were never going to work, I don’t think. They need more help than I can give, and I have no more will to stand up for myself. The power is too unbalanced and rejected wolves have hardly any rights. It’s usually easier to not fight, because fighting just makes you hope something will change, only for it all to come crashing down around you ten times worse.”

“We’ve done some work with the group called Heroes; you know about them?”

I nod at Beckett, but I haven’t gone to too many meetings, so I’m not too familiar.

“We’ve helped some rejected wolves, been trying to work things through and affect change. We’ve been bringing things to our dad’s attention, and we’re working on making things better. I hate that you’re even called rejected wolves, it drives me crazy. It has such a negative connotation, when really the reasons some of these wolves reject their mates are more about their over big ego or other shit than the person they’re throwing out. I don’t get how people can be so disconnected with their wolves.”

“People ceased surprising me long ago.”

“You mentioned a contract with your exes; do you know if they filed it properly?”

I shrug. “I would assume so. No point getting me to literally dance for them if they can’t legally enforce my work there.”

“You thinking what I’m thinking, brother?” Blake asks Beckett.

“Yeah, for sure. Lark, let’s go to the Alpha House and take a look at it, shall we? We can talk to dad and see what we can do about it. I want to know what those assholes have on you.”

“You can’t just—"

They’re already halfway to their rooms to get dressed. Beckett turns around. “Actually, we can. You see, there’s this thing we have, called privilege. Our dad runs the pack, so we have access to everything we’ll inherit at some point. He expects us to step up when we can to take care of stuff, so really if you think about it, this is our job. If there are wolves in our pack that are taking advantage of the mates the goddess gave them and we have proof, you bet your ass we’re going to fix the fuckers up.”

“Here, you want to play with a cute baby while we get dressed?”

I have my hands extended to snag the kid from Brooks before I even really process why they’re trying to give me their kid.

“Oh my gods, you’re so freaking cute. Your daddies better watch out, I might just have to run away with you. What do you say, Rowan? I bet we could find some really fun things to do together.”

“Don’t steal our kid,” Brooks calls from over his shoulder as he disappears into a bedroom as well.

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