Page 22 of Meant for Them
“Wish we knew your name, but for now we’ll just have to keep calling you beautiful, I guess,” I inform her. “You’re safe here, okay? Wherever you came from, whatever you’re running from, you don’t have to run while you’re here. Stay as long as you need. Seriously. We just want you to feel better. Seeing you with a stick through your leg scared the shit out of me, little wolf.”
She stretches her neck to lick me up the side of my face, making my brother crack up.
“Nice. Thanks for that. You know, I do actually shower, you don’t have to bathe me. Regardless of what my brother said a minute ago; I know you were listening.”
She turns her head to Jake, and then Wiley walks in, having picked up on us talking. “She up?” He props himself against the end of Jake’s brass bed frame and immediately gives all his attention to the wolf. “Hey there. Feeling better?”
The pretty wolf looks to him and ducks her head in admission, and I once again can’t help but run my fingers through her fur. This time, over her back. “You want to stretch your legs for a minute? I can help take the weight off the injury for you.”
She stands on shaky legs and looks to me, waiting for help. Ah, fuck. She already trusts me, and she’s looking up at me like that, and I’m fucking gone.
“Come here, love.” I scoop her up and set her carefully on the ground. After she’s had a nap, a meal, and feels safe, her healingis kicking in. She walks on the leg without whimpering, just a bit of a limp.
When the gorgeous wolf looks up at me for approval, I scratch the thick fur at her neck. “Good job. Come on, you want to explore more?”
She looks to my brothers, and they smile in a way that’s been missing for far too long around here.
“We’re coming, don’t you worry,” Jake tells her before opening the door for her.
I don’t need a translation of the look he shoots me. She could be the one.
nine
Morgan
I don’t understand these men at all. They’re completely secluded up here, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. I honestly have no idea where we are or remember how I got here, I only remember snippets of running for days on end.
I was trying to outrun the pain of knowing my mate didn’t want me.
No, he didn’t outright reject me, but he might as well have for how it felt.
Just knowing Alex never had any intention of keeping me feels like a blade through my stomach. All the things he said, the sweet things he did, giving me hope for a future I could have that would actually give me good thigns, only to turn around and remind me I’m nothing but a half-breed piece of filth he’d never tie himself to.
But now I’m far away from him, from that town, and for the first time in I don’t know how long, I feel like I can actuallybreathe.
Up here, I don’t have to worry about what people will think when they see me, because there are no people. I don’t have to worry about providing for myself either as long as I stay in my wolf form, because I can hunt when I’m hungry.
Unless I get my dumb ass injured and incapacitated.
I must have been completely out of it to get stabbed so thoroughly with a dead piece of tree. I’m so pissed at myself for getting injured, but the goddess must still hold some sort of affection for me, because it seems kindness found me instead of something that could have been so much worse.
In the few days I’ve been at their home, the three men that took me in have been nothing but gentle and kind, nurturing even. They make me feel warm.
I’ve learned not to trust anyone, but I’m about to make another mistake, because I miss my human form. I have a sinking feeling in my gut that as soon as I take to two legs again, they’ll cast me out. They’re going to know I’m not who they think I am, and they’re going to send me packing.
Well, can’t pack if I own nothing, I guess.
Much as I want to, I can’t stay a wolf forever. She’s getting sick of me, wants a rest. She’s not used to being in control for so long and if I don’t allow the shift soon, she’s likely going to do it at the least convenient time. Like when I’m out in the forest trying to pee, for example.
Fuck, I really miss proper toilets.
The thought of facing them as my human self after days of belly rubs and head pats is scary.
The guys are all out back working on some project or other in the yard, they told me to come out and find them if I needed anything. I feel so clingy though, following them around and demanding to be pet like a damn dog.
It’s just so nice to be treated well, even if I know it won’t last.
I’m starting to think of them as my friends though, so I guess it’s best to get it over with now so I can figure out where to go next.
