Page 38 of Tamed Wolf

“Hey, baby.” I try to muster a smile, but I don’t think it’s too convincing.

“What happened? What did they do to you?”

“She has a broken rib,” Ivan says, clearly insinuating that it was the alpha heirs’ fault, not his own. “She’ll be okay, she just needs to take it easy for a bit.”

Camden rushes over, fluffing up a throw pillow on the couch and getting a blanket for me. “I’m going to fucking kill them,” he spits.

The look Ivan and Trevor give me tells me all I need to know; I can’t tell Camden fucking anything. “It was an accident, Cam. I’ll be fine. They were kind.”

He doesn’t look like he thinks they’re kind though, he looks like he wants to go try and kick their asses. I love my son, but he does not have the sort of build that those guys have. “Don’t do anything rash, Cam. This really wasn’t their fault.”

“Good thing I was there when I was to help her home,” Ivan says. “We have something to tell you, Camden. Your mother and I talked a bit, and we’re going to try again. We know it’s always bothered you that we didn’t have a good relationship, so we’re going to work on it, okay? I know you’re all grown up and forming your own pack, but I think this will be good for all of us. Who knows, maybe you’ll get a little sister sometime, too.”

Camden’s whole face lights up, as if all the shit we’ve been through hasn’t happened. A sibling is the one thing I’ve never been able to give him that he’s always desperately wanted because I knew I couldn’t stand to go through another pregnancy as long as Ivan and Trevor were the ones stuffing me with their fucking awful sperm. “We’re still talking about it,” I say, trying to temper the enthusiasm. “I need some time to think. It’s been a long day; can I please sleep?”

“Of course, mom. I’ll get you some water in case you get thirsty.”

When Camden’s out of ear shot, Trevor leans over me, almost looking normal. “You’d consider having another one with us? Really?”

Oh my gods, how fucking daft are all these men? I hate how they make me feel like I’m living in this alternate reality, where nothing is the way it actually is in my head for anyone else. “I definitely didn’t agree to that. But I really am not sure how much say you’ll give me in the matter. I’m sure raping me isn’t below you.”

“It’s not rape when you’re mated,” Trevor says too easily.

“First of all, yes, it is, second of all, did you forget you rejected me? We’re not mated.”

“Guess we know what we need to do then,” Ivan says, calculatingly. He pulls the syringe out of his pocket that I was hoping had fallen into a trash can, and while Trevor grabs my arms, he stabs it into my thigh. “We can just bite you again. That should re-ignite the link. This is our second chance, Lark. Everything’s going to be better this time.”

Chapter Sixteen

Blake, Now

“Are we seriously going to a strip club when we’re on the clock?”

“I’m not even responding to that. You know exactly why I’m driving there.”

Brooks sighs and leans back in his seat more. “I just feel like there’s a better time to do this, that’s all.”

“I don’t know how you’re not going out of your skin, man. It’s weird; we had her for a fucking night and a day, and it’s been four days since we dropped her off, but it feels like something really important is missing now.”

“Do you really think the goddess would grant us another mate?”

The hope in his voice kills me, but I was right there with him when everything fell apart with Arabella. “I figure there’s a damn good reason we all felt so strongly for Lark the second we saw her, even before that, actually, if you consider the fact that we were all attracted to the scent of her and were able to pick it out of the hundreds of other scents floating in that club.”

“We shouldn’t have let her leave our house. It feels like it was a stupid move to let her go back to the shelter, even if that’s what she insisted she wanted.”

“Yeah, well, if we’re able to track her down, we’ll fix that.”

I throw the truck in park and pull the keys from the ignition, slide them in my pocket and hop out of the cab.

It does feel slightly sleazy to be here in broad daylight, but whatever. It amazes me how many patrons are here at this time of day, in the middle of the week no less, all of them male of course and mostly wearing what looks like office attire.

The women dancing up on stage don’t have half the appeal that Lark does, and I’m not even tempted to pull up a seat and watch. I know she’s here somewhere; it’s crazy but I swear I can feel her.

A couple of guys in cheap suits with women draped all over them perk up when we walk in, no bouncers around at the door to keep us from entering.

I look around the room, trying to see if I can get a sense for her, looking over to find the two guys casting their companions aside and storming up to us, a fight in their eyes.

I backhand Brooks’ elbow to get his attention, bracing myself for whatever bullshit is about to happen.

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