Page 19 of Brick

“They sure are. I was raised by a Wiccan coven, so I didn’t grow up with a pack. It wasn’t until I met and mated Adam that my lygisa nature came out, and I was able to shift for the first time. Everyone has always been so sweet to me. Even though Adam and the high ranked males can be real crazy about keeping everyone safe, the pack as a whole is sweet as pie.”

“It seems like it.”

Cinder gave her a curious look. “We take care of each other in this pack. You and Brick are truemates, and even though you just met, you’re already under the protection of the pack. Not to mention Brick’s personal interest in keeping you safe. If there’s anyone who can keep you safe, it’s your truemate.”

Jade dried off a bowl with a ring of delicately painted wolves on the rim and set it in the cabinet. “I never really felt safe. Not anywhere.”

Cinder hummed. “I’m sorry things were rough for you with your old pack. I’m sorry that you lost your mom at a young age and that you had a dad who didn’t give you the affection and protective nurturing that you needed. But you don’t have to tie yourself to that anymore. You can forge a new path here, in Thorn Hollow.”

With Brick.

Something ached in the center of her heart and Jade rubbed the space with her fingertips. “I’m just afraid.”

“Of your alpha coming for you? Or of losing the safe feelings that are starting to bloom within you?”

Jade gave the alpha female a curious look.

Cinder chuckled. “Even though I didn’t have the same situation as you growing up, I really had trouble trusting Adam in the beginning. I didn’t want my life to change, I was happy with how things were, or at least I thought I was. He came crashing into my life and, if you couldn’t tell, he has kind of a bossy streak. It took a lot for me to trust him and to let myselfgo into the new path for my life that finding him created. I never thought I’d be part of a wolf pack or a hybrid wolf-witch who can help keep my people safe, but here I am.” She turned off the water and dried her hands on a towel. “Your alpha is clearly old-school, so he wouldn’t simply show up here and abduct you. He’d go through Adam. And trust me when I say that my mate is not about to let someone take you away from your truemate, fully mated or not. Thorn Hollow is safe, and Brick is a sweet guy who would genuinely lay down his life for you. That’s how serious the males in our pack are when it comes to their mates.”

A shiver wove through Jade. She’d always thought her dad had done a good job keeping her safe, but he did it out of obligation, not because he cared about her well-being per se. But she could tell that Brick wanted her to be safe. In the span of the time they’d spent walking around the territory, that was the one thing she knew was true.

He already cared that she was safe.

And she cared about his safety too.

“I didn’t realize how unsafe I felt in my own pack until I was here. Our groups are very different. Brick… is different.”

“In this scenario, different is good.”

The front door opened and Jade knew it was Brick before he walked into the kitchen. She could feel him, like her wolf was attuned to him.

“I think you’re right,” Jade said.

“Hi, ladies,” Brick said with an easygoing smile when he appeared.

Jade thought her heart was going to pound out of her chest. He was genuinely the sexiest male she’d ever seen in her life, and her wolf was making a lot of demands in her head about how they should move forward. She wanted to take things slow, but her libido had other ideas.

“How was the patrol?” Jade asked.

“Quiet,” he said. “Just how I like it.”

She gave Cinder a hug. “Thank you for today, it was great.”

“Anytime. Have fun on your date. The last first date you two will ever have.”

Jade’s wolf let out an appreciative growl, which she barely stifled with a cough.

After saying goodbye, she walked with Brick outside and he opened his truck door for her. They were on the road a few minutes later, leaving Thorn Hollow, followed by an SUV with two security team members—Brick’s best friend Solan and his Uncle Carl.

“So you and Solan grew up together with Adam? Did you know he’d be alpha someday?”

“For sure. He always had that powerful air about him. The alpha before him, Lit, had a mate who was a Wiccan, and she’d been the pack Sahri until they had to leave the pack because of some family drama. Adam wasn’t planning to take over for a long time, but Lit needed to focus on his family.”

“So the pack isn’t hereditary for leadership?”

“It is now since Adam changed the laws when he took over. Before, whoever was second-in-command took over when the alpha stepped down. Now, it’s the oldest child born to the alpha pair.”

“You don’t mind not being able to be alpha someday?”

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