I guess the girls are getting accustomed to me in their space because slowly, their huddle disperses. Kennedy goes to lean in the kitchen doorway. Annie and Mari perch nervously on the edge of the sofa.
The cabin is nice. There are paintings on the wall. I don’t recognize the artist, but the scenes are from Quarry Pack territory. The old dens. The river. The foothills. There are pretty curtains and embroidered pillows. It smells amazing—like Una’s warmth is baked into the hardwood floors.
I lower myself into a recliner. It creaks, but it’s comfortable. I resist popping the footrest. The way Kennedy’s glaring at me, I’m pretty sure I’ve made myself at home in her chair.
In fact, all the females are giving me the stink eye.
“There something you want to say to me?”
Three sets of eyes go bigger and wider.
“Now’s the time. Later might be too late.” I go ahead and pull the lever on the footrest. Now I’m fully reclined. There’s no way I can look less intimidating.
Mari draws in a deep breath. Her eyes are shining. If she cries, I’m waiting out on the porch.
“Don’t hurt Una,” she says.
“I-it w-wasn’t h-her f-f-fault.” Annie fights to get the words out. Her long face is a pasty green. “S-she did it for u-us.”
“What do you mean?” I ask Kennedy. She’s the least traumatized by my presence. She keeps her mouth shut, though, her expression mulish as hell.
It’s little Mari who answers. “She did it so that we would have nice things. Something to look forward to, you know? And we helped. So if you punish her, you have to punish us.”
A tear dribbles down her cheek. If Darragh Ryan knew I was here, making his mate cry, he’d kill me. Good thing he’s still hiding from her up in the hills.
All three females look so defensive. So small and fierce and scared.
This isn’t what I want.
My father was the one who wanted females to reek of fear. He got off on it. I never developed a taste for it. Smelled like defeat to me. Like a weak pack and weak males who confuse respect with mere compliance.
Submission—now, that’s another thing. I wouldn’t mind filling my nose with that. Later. When I have Una alone back in our den.
Now, though, I have to soothe these three before Una comes back and hates me even more for terrorizing her friends. And to be honest, their distress isn’t sitting well with me or my wolf either.
“Was she the only one who left the territory?” I ask.
Not one of them will meet my eye. I sigh. They’re not making this easy.
“What is it you need that the pack doesn’t provide?”
Anyone can take what he needs from the commissary. It’s been that way since I took over. Cheryl might give you the stink eye and come bitch to me about it when folks get greedy, but there are no limits. No old carved up bench out back where females pay for extras with what’s between their legs.
All three are blushing like a bushel of tomatoes, staring holes in the floor.
“Like, is it female shit you need or something?”
Mari squirms and looks at Kennedy. Kennedy’s face is contorted in horror.
The air’s so thick, it’s getting hard to breathe, but I’m afraid if I stand, the stench will get worse. Fate, I hate the stench of fear. And what have I done to them to earn it?
I’m lounging here, very reasonable, feet in the air like an idiot. Never laid a hand on one of them. Or raised my voice. Much.
I shimmy down, make myself as low and small as I possibly can. “Come on. Help me understand. I’m not the enemy.”
Kennedy huffs and stomps over to a closet, throwing open the door. Annie gasps and tucks herself behind Mari.
“See?” Kennedy cocks her hip, points a toe to the side, and glares mutinously. On the shelves behind her, there are a shit ton of cords, not a single one properly coiled. She huffs again, grabs a box, and turns to face me, glowering and unrepentant.
It’s a PlayStation.
I try really fuckin’ hard not to crack a smile. I also know that later, at the gym, I’m gonna absolutely lose my shit. My mate risked her life so she could buy her roommate video games.
But I’m not stupid. I keep my eye on the prize.
“Where’s the TV?” I ask.
“In the kitchen cupboard.” Kennedy tosses her head to get her shaggy bangs out of her eye.
“What games do you have?”
“God of War. Uncharted 4. Cage Fight Takedown. Horizon Zero Dawn.” She narrows her eyes. “Want me to keep going?”
“I’ll get the TV. Let’s play Cage Fight Takedown.” It was worth it to see how big their eyeballs popped.
I like being unpredictable. Once in a blue moon.
I hop up, find the TV stowed under a nice stash of girly liquor, and I carry it back to the living room. Mari jumps to move the candle back to a shelf that has the rest of the set. Kennedy rigs the machine up in no time, and we actually get to play for ten minutes or so before Una rejoins us.
Kennedy shows no mercy. She also calls me a “bitch-ass fuckboy” under her breath. I ask Mari to crack a window, and by the time Una joins us, the place smells like nothing but wholesome competition.
Una wanders into the room tentatively, keeping her distance. She took a shower, rinsed our scent off. My wolf growls. I don’t like it either. She’s folded my hoodie, and it’s draped over her forearm.
I dig her outfit. A long corduroy skirt with buttons down the front that I can picture myself slipping one by one through the slits. Or popping all at once with a quick rip.
She’s got a scoop neck white T-shirt on, and my bite mark is visible, red and jagged against her smooth skin. She fingers it self-consciously, tucking her chin, but it’s too vivid to hide. It draws the eye.
I shift in the chair, hard again. The wolf is riding me. What am I doing? I need to take her home.
Hell, why bother? I could take her twenty feet down the hall and fuck her until she can’t deny who she belongs to.
My wolf is all over that idea, but he doesn’t know females in human form.
Neither do I, but I’m not stupid.
Una’s wary, taking it all in. She sees the TV and the controller in Kennedy’s hand. I can tell the second when she decides not to say one word about it.
She’s got discretion. That’s a good quality to have. Half of being alpha is dialing shit down when everyone around you is cranking it up.
When she can’t avoid it any longer, Una crosses over to me and holds out my hoodie.
“Here.” She sets it on the armrest when I don’t reach for it immediately.
I stand. Her eyes drop to where my cock has popped my zipper. I can hear the glug as she swallows. The flesh under my bite hollows and smooths. I want to lick her. It’s so natural, I have to consciously draw my tongue behind my teeth.
“Arms up,” I tell her, stepping close.
She shivers, and her sweet scent thickens. She raises her arms begrudgingly. I slip my hoodie back over her shoulders, and I zip her up, but not all the way. I leave my bite mark showing.
“Your girls have been sticking up for you,” I say quietly. The others are already making themselves busy elsewhere. I guess now that they know I mean their leader no harm, they’ve decided to give us a little privacy.
“I told you. It was all me. Don’t listen to them. They had nothing to do with it.”