Page 47 of Her Big Bad Wolf
Kyle eyed me suspiciously.
I was certain they both wanted to know why I had them set up that way. I wasn’t going to share that story unless they asked.
Shortly after I built the place, I’d had a racoon get into the basement through a broken window. I tried to get it out, but the damn thing was mean and kept hissing at me. I even resorted to letting my wolf out to handle it, and that stupid racoon had sliced the top of my snout. I still had a tiny scar from it.
The beast of Satan would sneak up at night and raid my kitchen, tear up my furniture, and wake me up with the most terrifying noises. After weeks of no sleep, I’d declared war on the bastard.
In the end, I’d redesigned the stairs and left the thing down there to starve. With the walls being solid concrete it had nowhere to climb without the stairs. It had proven to be an effective trap. The smell had been awful, but I didn’t attempt to go back down until I knew he was good and dead.
In spite of what my mate seemed to think, I had no plans to harm these children though—maybe scare them a bit. That was all.
“Do I even want to know why the stairs are built like this?”
“Nah.”
Kyle sighed, but didn’t ask anything further.
“The boys are fine and they’re safe. Trust me. They stole enough of my food to survive for days down there. If you want to just leave them down there, I could fatten them up and have a nice snack later.”
I cut my eyes towards Vanessa to see her reaction.
The combination of shock and fury did not disappoint.
I barked out a laugh. The noise sounded foreign to my ears. When was the last time I’d truly laughed?
“Why do I feel like there’s more to that statement?” Kyle inquired.
“She told me not to eat them. Apparently, my little mate here thinks I’m some sort of feral beast.”
Vanessa blushed and squirmed uncomfortably next to me. I had a feeling she was used to being in charge. It was something in her stance and the way she spoke. So it brought me pleasure to know I was making her a bit uncomfortable.
She didn’t even have a comeback ready for me.
“Isn’t that what you try to convince everyone of?” Kyle asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
Why bother to argue his accusations when we all knew he wasn’t wrong.
“Boys, please come out. Kyle is here to speak with you,” Vanessa said in a calm, soothing voice.
“Oh no,” one of them said.
“It’s okay. He’s only here to help,” she assured them. “You can come out.”
We’d all reached the bottom step by then. Slowly the three boys stepped out from around the wall they’d erected.
“Help? He let them separate us.”
I expected him to chime in, but instead, Vanessa continued talking to them instead.
“That’s not entirely fair to put that all on him, now is it, Noah?”
“He’s the one in charge that gives the orders.”
“After multiple homes trying to keep you three together, you caused enough grief to force his hand. You want to be independent and take care of your brothers, then you have to own up to the fact that the three of you caused enough chaos to be kicked out of more than one home. No one would agree to take all three of you together after that last incident.”
“Don’t blame us, Ms. Vanessa,” Mason begged. “The oldest boy was always picking on Cam and me. He was mean and a bully. Noah was just trying to protect us.”
