Page 28 of Tolerated By the Sigma (Mate Hunt 7)

“Charly.”

The wavy-haired dude frowned. “Charly Kelley?”

Dammit.

“Yup.” I popped my lips on the ‘p’.

“Shit.” He looked at me differently, but I tried not to let it bother me. He wasn’t trying to be rude or anything.

“Mmhm.”

“Well, I’m Axel.” The wavy-haired guy gave a two-fingered wave. “Sorry you got paired with this dick.”

I snorted. “If you’re going to apologize for anything, it shouldn’t be his dick.”

Ryder snorted beside me, and laughs burst from both of the men in the chairs as my man gave a playful growl.

“Calm your teats, Ryder.” Nico waved his growl off, and that time, I was the one who laughed. “Welcome to the pack, Charly.”

“Thanks.”

We made our way over to the empty chairs, and Ryder pulled me onto his lap as he sat down in the chair that I assumed was his usual seat. One of his hands gripped my hip as we got settled, and the other wrapped possessively around my thigh.

“So, how do you like living out in the forest?” I asked them, looking around the clearing.

“More than we like living in town.” Nico shrugged. “Out here, we’re closer with our wolves. Less like two separate beings, and more like one. It’s peaceful.”

It sounded peaceful, honestly.

But I liked running water way too much to consider it—and civilization. I really liked civilization. There was something so damn satisfying about ordering an item online and having it show up on my doorstep a day or two later that I could never even consider moving to the woods permanently.

I did understand why someone would want to, though.

“Why did you come out here?” I asked, my curiosity getting the best of me.

I doubted they’d go into details about whatever had really happened with their Gamma and his mate, but I was sure they had an answer to give.

“One of our brothers needed a change, and when we got out here, we realized that we did too.” Nico leaned his chair back a bit, and Ryder’s grip on my hip and thigh tightened. “You’d be surprised how much simpler life feels away from the drama of the modern world. No cellphones, no Wi-Fi… just peace.”

I wouldn’t be surprised, actually.

But saying that didn’t feel necessary, so I didn’t.

“Don’t you want mates, though?” I asked, curiosity getting the best of me.

“Not really. Those of us who’ve started nesting go out into human towns every now and then, to see if we can find whoever we’re preparing for, but nothing’s come of it yet. We just take things one day at a time out here.”

Damn.

They seemed to have everything figured out, and I kind of envied them for it. I was a mess on my best days—as my cow shirts probably proved.

The subject changed to my job, and I explained what it was like to be a high school counselor at a school full of werewolf boys. There was currently one girl in the school, too, but she was only there because she and her mate had met a few months earlier, when they were both barely 17. They were spending the rest of the school year together as the mating process went on, and luckily he was a beta male so his hunt had been short.

A few more guys came back over the next few hours—including Kai, the one whose mate had passed away, and his toddler. His baby was almost two, and was a quiet little thing. He let me snuggle him, and my eyes got a little watery thinking about what he might have been through in his short little life.

A few of the guys cooked dinner in the travel trailer—which I had learned that Kai and his son lived in. We all ate together, chatting about everything and nothing, and it was nice.

Really nice.

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