Page 59 of Tamed Wolf

“Good boy, good speak!” And then Lark spies a box of dog biscuits some asshole brought down here and claps with glee. “Does the mangy dog want a treat?” She reaches in and throws one at his stupid face, getting all the karmic points available to her as it slides right through the thin wire bars of the cage.

Not going to lie, I'm drawing immense joy from this situation right now.

“Umm, can I leave?” Brooklyn says as she tries to figure out the dynamic between Lark and these men like Lark is slightly off her rocker. Maybe she is, but it's damn hot.

“Brooklyn?” Camden asks in incredulity from his cell.

She spins to him, not having realized he was here at first because he was pouting in the corner. “Camden? Why are you in here? What did you do?”

“You know each other?” Lark asks, hands on her hips.

“This is my mate, mom.”

Brooklyn looks a bit green in the face. “She’s yourmom?” She looks at Lark again, clearly sizing her up.

Slightly unhinged, wants-to-do-damage-Lark transforms instantly. She marches over to where Camden is and stares him down. “When did you meet her?” Her tone changes completely and Camden looks like he's about to shit himself.

“You want to tell her, or should I?” Brooklyn asks.

“Let's hear what he has to say.” And then Lark stares Camden down, waiting for him to talk.

“Dad said—”

Lark makes a buzzer sound in the back of her throat. “You want to be taking advice about mates from them?” She looks deliciously unaffected as she tilts her head towards where they're stuck in a cage together. “I don't think it's working out too well for them.”

Camden looks at his dads and gulps down some air, looking back at his mom sheepishly.

“Leave the boy alone, Lark,” one of her exes exasperates as if he's bored out of his mind.

She picks up another dog biscuit and throws it at him again. “Eat that,” she says and turns back to Camden. “Well?” How the fuck is she so good at getting those through the damn bars?

I pick one up and try my luck too, but no dice. It smacks into the cage and tumbles down sadly, meeting its demise on the cement floor. No more treats for puppy.

“She doesn't like the club, mom. She doesn't like me going there. Doesn't care that that's how I make money. She says she's too good for it. Won't be caught dead in there.”

Camden's fully expecting his mom to take her side, I can tell.

Lark turns to Brooklyn, who’s starting to grasp some of the situation, so the hostility has bled out of her face and is being replaced with sympathy. “Your turn,” she tells the girl softly.

“Like you're gonna take my side. You're his mom.”

“Please?”

Brooklyn takes a deep breath and sighs. “We met at a pack run a few months ago, like he said. It was great at first; we ran together, and he said the rest of this pack would be there later for the bonfire. So we hung out and I went home with them.” She looks ashamed of what she has to say, but Lark knows exactly how to handle it.

“Then what happened?” I immediately clock that this is the side that comes out when she's talking of the women in the shelter. Without further implications, Lark has already read the room and realized that this woman is in danger of horrific experiences if Lark can’t intervene. She’s sympathizing with the girl, getting on her side when so many other wolves in the pack would be so quick to tell Brooklyn that it’s her duty to fit into her mates’ life, not the other way around.

“We started texting a lot, hung out a few more times. I was waiting for some sort of formal proposal. One night, I got a text saying they wanted to take me out. I got dressed up, did my hair, bought a new dress, and… they had me meet them at a strip club. Well, Camden and one other. Kyle wasn’t there.

“Not only that, but Cam looked so proud of himself when I walked through the velvet ropes to the VIP area. A VIP area, mind you, in whichmy mateshad other women on their lap, and they didn't even have the decency to kick them off for me.”

I look to Brooklyn, who is now shooting daggers at Camden, who finally has the little bit of good sense to hang his head in shame. Maybe he can be taught.

“I think I've heard enough,” Lark says. It's obvious that this is distressing to Brooklyn, and I'm suddenly glad I stepped out into the hall to talk to her. Quite the coincidence that this all ended up this way. There the goddess goes again, guiding Lark into somebody’s life that needs her.

Feeling the pressure to defend herself further, Brooklyn steadies herself and squares her focus back onto wonder woman. “I don't think I'm too good for a strip club. I do, however,knowthat I'm worth more than a pack of mates that will let other women dance on them, especially when I'm around. I don't want anything to do with men that need validation from other women when they’ve got me.”

Brooklyn turns to Camden again, making sure he heard her loud and clear, daring him to defend himself. Proving he might be a little bit smarter than we thought at first, he says nothing.

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