Page 67 of Tamed Wolf

I take a step back so I can wrap an arm around Lark's waist, lending her some extra strength if she needs it.

“You didn't come here for a visit. You came because you must have realized who I was mated to now, and you thought you'd try and curry some favor with the next alphas.”

Snap. Her father's face flushes deep red again. “How dare you. You will speak to us with respect, Lark.”

She shakes her head. “You don't get to ambush me at my home and demand my respect. You don’t deserve it. I don't forgive you for abandoning me and pushing me into an abusive mating, I don't want to talk to you, and I have nothing further to say. Please leave.” She keeps her voice somewhat soft for Rowan’s sake, and then kisses him on the forehead and goes back inside, and I give her parents a salute as I follow her.

I lock the door for good measure, sinking down onto the couch next to her as she plays with the baby.

“Sorry about that,” she murmurs. “It's embarrassing that they’d show up like that.”

“Wasn't your doing, baby. You think that's really why they came?”

She sighs heavily. “Who knows, who cares. I don't need them.”

“Oh, I missed it didn't I?” Blake asks as he takes a seat on her other side. “I got word that they’d stopped by the pack house to ask for directions here, and I was looking forward to scaring the shit out of your dad before I ran them off.”

Lark rolls her eyes. Unnecessary, but yes. That would have been amusing.

We hear a car starting and tires crunching on the dirt as it pulls away, and then she relaxes a bit more. “I appreciate the amount of effort it probably took them to throw their pride down and break our no contact after all these years, but their attitudes still suck and I've got too much trauma in my life to want to pander to them.”

“That's my girl,” Blake praises her. “Have you thought anymore about the pack run tonight? Do you feel like going? Might as well keep this sexy-ass ‘I won’t take your shit’ streak while we’re at it.”

Lark thinks about this, because any interaction with others is always a coin toss, but her smile tells me that she’s feeling brave. “You know what? Yeah. Hell yeah. Let's do it. And you’re right; I’m not taking anyone’s shit, am I?”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Brooks, Now

“That should keep the fire fed for a bit,” I say to myself as I brush off my hands and take a few steps back. It's glorious. Built halfway to the goddess, big enough to keep my girl warm when she gets here.

“Hey, Brooks.”

I spin, putting my hands up defensively.

Brooklyn shakes her head and rolls her eyes, linking hands with the guy next to her. “This is Kyle,” she says as he reaches forward to shake my hand. “One of my mates.”

I narrow my eyes at him, ready to give him a tongue thrashing.

“We're good,” Brooklyn immediately interjects, leaping between us. “Kyle and I are good. We’ve spent a lot of time together lately, worked through some things, and made some decisions. He's being good to me, I promise.” She angles her neck to show off a fresh mating bite.

“Congratulations,” I tell her, genuinely happy for her. Also, I can relax a bit now that I know she's not going try anything again.

“Is Lark here yet? Is she coming?”

“Yeah, she should be here any second.”

“Okay, thanks. I wanted to ask her something. We're gonna go grab something to eat over there, but if you see her, let her know I was looking for her, would you?”

“Of course, Brooklyn, I’d happy to do that.”

I keep my eyes on them as they walk off, deciding their body language shows that they actually are comfortable together, and that maybe they are really happy. One less thing for me to try and worry about, I guess.

I can feel like the second my mate gets close, the bond telling me to get over to her. Her hair looks like it's been freshly blow dried, flowing halfway down her back and reflecting some of the fire light bouncing around us.

“There you are,” I say in relief as I grab her and start carrying her to the fire. “I saved you a seat.”

I don't care what people think as I keep her legs wrapped around my waist, sinking onto the giant log I threw my sweater over to keep any other wolves from sitting on it. “Did you have a good day?”

---