Page 58 of Tamed Wolf

“But I thought you said—"

“Look, I know things haven't been going great with you and your mates—”

“They're not my mates,” she hisses.

I hold up my hands, warning her off. “I'm not getting into this right now. If you're just looking to piss them off or make them jealous, this isn't the way to go about it. You guys need to sit down and figure out your issues and then work them out. Running off to another pack isn't going to help.”

She holds her hand out like she's going to touch my arm, so I grab her wrist to stop her. “I wouldn't do that.”

“I'm really great with Rowan,” she tells me. “Every day he's been here this week, we've been playing together. He loves me.”

“That's an oversight that shouldn't have happened, but I appreciate your honesty. I'm glad you enjoyed your time with my son, but we have a mate. Rowan needs bonding time with her.”

It's at that point that Blake and Lark round the corner. I still have Brooklyn's wrist in my hand, so I drop it like hot coal, putting more distance between us. “There she is,” I can’t help but drawl, eyes only for my girl.

“You guys ready to go?” Blake questions, clearly ready himself. Lark and Brooklyn are taking measure of each other, but there's no competition here.

It's been too long since Lark has been in my arms, so I pull her to me, pressing her back against my front and wrapping my arms around her. “Brooklyn, this is our mate, Lark.”

Lark reaches out a hand to greet her, but Brooklyn hesitates. “Is this a joke?” she asks.

“Pardon?” Lark bites out, spine stiffening.

Brooklyn looks from Lark to me, then to Blake, who's getting more irritated with the girl by the second. “Why would this be a joke?” Lark asks, giving the girl another chance to redeem herself.

“You're nearly old enough to be their mother. Not to mention you're parading around the pack house in your pajamas. Come on, Brooks,” Brooklyn begs me, “you can do better than this.”

Blake snarls at the girl and corners her, all niceness gone. His hand whips out to grab her by the neck and then shoves her against the wall in an act of dominance, not hurting her, but making sure she knows he could.

“Sorry,” I whisper to Lark. “Sometimes being heir to the pack means people think they deserve time with you. Every once in a while there're people who have ideas in their head about how they can get to the top.”

I pitch my voice so Brooklyn hears me, and her face turns beet red. “I'd make a perfect Luna,” she spits out, apparently unaware that her neck is still being pinned to the wall by a pissed off Blake.

I'm nervous that this might set Lark back, because I know she already struggles with her self-image, but apparently, she's choosing violence. That's my girl.

I know we're in for a treat when Lark cocks her head to the side. “Hey Blake, sweetie,” she asks in a voice that's so saccharine it makes my teeth hurt. “Do you want to give me and this sweetheart darling here a tour of the Alpha House? Nobody ever did tell me where you were housing Ivan and Trevor.”

Blake’s eyes meet Lark’s in front of me, and I can practically feel the heat brewing between them. Remind me to find the closest closet to shove her into before we get back to the room.

He takes measure of our girl for a second before smiling, but it’s out of sync. “It’d be my pleasure,” he finally says.

“Am I allowed to put a leash on her?” Lark asks far too sweetly, making me laugh.

“Sorry baby, don't have one on me.”

I get the feeling that Lark is pouting in front of me, but she shrugs and then wraps an arm around the daft girl's shoulders, steering her as Blake leads us to where her exes are being held.

Lark says nothing to her and neither do we the whole way there, and I'm not really sure where this situation is going, but I have a feeling Lark is trying to make a point, so I'm going to let her. She looks too happy to be given the power to do so.

The pack holding cells are basically what you'd expect jail cells to look like; all metal, slightly cold, but mostly clean. Apparently, we have to be humane or some shit. Personally, I’d like to revisit the days where we could take fingernails off with pliers for each infraction the alpha deemed they had committed.

We have to walk through lots of empty cells before we get to the one that's occupied by who she's looking for, and she drags Brooklyn along with her the entire way. And then Brooklyn starts giggling. “What's the deal with this?” she asks like it's hysterical. Okay, it kind of is.

Blake grunts. “Dad asked us what we wanted to do with them, I told him to just let him be for now.”

Camden, who's in the separate cell right next to them, clearly wants to talk to his mom, but it's up to her whether or not that happens. Right now, she's too amused by the fact that Trevor and Ivan are still in that damn kennel that somebody went to the trouble of hauling to the Alpha House so they could lock these men back in it together.

“Get us out of here Lark,” Trevor says, voice laced with venom.

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