Then she bows to him with a bark. Challenging him. She runs and he tracks her.
They chase each other in circles, my wolf gaining, then keeping a measured distance to tease her when she aims her playful attacks at him. She puts on a burst of speed to charge him and he barks in delight when she tackles him. They roll in the grass, wrestling with excited growls and yips.
She paws his chest and he clamps his teeth on her throat with a purr, releasing her to inspect the mating mark she bears beneath her fur with his nose. He licks it, chuffing happily.
They both hear a snapping twig, rising to twitch their noses in the air. West of us. Deer.
Avery’s wolf bounds off too soon. Mine huffs, trotting after her. Before we reach the bottom of the incline, it’s spooked off.
She plops her haunches to the ground with a frustrated whine. I bump her to cheer her up. The instinct is natural. I need to teach her to hunt. She has it in her, I know it.
I lower my head, giving her my neck. Her snout snuffles into it with a little rumble that excites me. Bite. Mark me, I encourage, pawing the ground.
She doesn’t, only nipping me playfully, but it doesn’t bother my wolf. He knows she’s his. In her own time, she’ll want to give us her mating bite.
We make our way back, heading for the lodge instead of her cottage. I want her in my bed.
When we get there, we shift from our fur. It’s quiet, our sisters asleep upstairs. I wrench a curtain from the nearest window to wrap around her so none of the guards stationed around the lodge see her.
“You know they’ve seen me naked,” she points out, amused.
I growl in refusal, taking her hand. “I don’t want anyone to see you like this. Only me.”
Her giggle echoes down the hall on our way to the stairs. The enforcers we pass keep their eyes down because they know what’s good for them.
In my room, I get one of my shirts for her, struck by how much I like this. Having her in my space, my den. The sight of her kneeling on my bed, wearing my clothes. Her smelling like she’s mine. The rightness of it all settles in my thudding heart.
My mind runs away with ideas of our future. Her scent infusing my den, my sheets—our bed. Waking to her within arms reach and not sleeping well until I have her tucked against me every night. Watching her make it into her nest. Rubbing her back and feeling her belly growing with our pups.
I prowl to her, brushing my knuckles over her jaw. She smiles and I move the neckline of the shirt aside to admire my mating bite.
“Beautiful little wolf,” I murmur. “I have you where you’ve always belonged.”
“With you,” she echoes in a reverent hush that pierces my heart.
“With me.”
31CADEN
As much as I’ve wanted to face my cousin from the minute I found Avery injured at the cottage, I wait a few days after he went for her before calling him out in front of the pack before a run. His arrogant swagger when I watch him around the packlands grates on me. My wolf views everything about him as an act of insubordination.
He won’t ever touch my mate again.
I’m knocking him down as low as he can get in the pack without me kicking his ass out in exile at the mercy of Wanderer’s Canyon or killing him.
No one messes with what’s mine.
The commons are festive tonight. The fire is going and the tables are laden with food. Avery and Beatrix are dancing to the fiddle players’ tune. I watch, drinking beer with Liam and Gabe.
Taryn and Callie sidle up to me. Taryn tries to goad Liam into giving her his beer. Callie has a poorly hidden smile. She elbows me, nodding to the female I haven’t taken my gaze off all evening.
The corner of my mouth lifts. “Are you talking to me again?”
“Well, you’re not an idiot with your head so far up your ass you can sniff your own balls anymore. I can’t believe you’d be so stupid to reject your own fated mate.” She smacks my arm. “What’s wrong with you?”
Gabe snorts, covering it with a cough. Liam smirks, whispering to him. He chokes on a sip of beer and Ford jogs over from the other side of the clearing. My heart stirs with understanding, constantly moored to Avery no matter which direction she’s in.
I squeeze my nape, pushing off the stab to my gut. “You said it yourself, Cal. I was an idiot.”
“Good, I’m glad we cleared that up.”
She grins, tugging me to the dancers and Beatrix swaps seamlessly with me, holding my beer. I gladly pull Avery into my arms, basking in her beaming smile. Her joy is everything. I’ve missed it, a hole carved from my heart of my own making.
“Hi.”
I pull her against me, touching my nose to hers. “Hi. Ready for tonight?”
She pretends to mull it over. “That depends. Are you planning on repeating last month’s bonfire?” She squints at me. “Reject your mate? Still piss in a circle around her to mark your territory?”
I growl, gathering her in my embrace. “Fuck no. None of that. I’m going to shift with my beautiful, stubborn mate who has my entire heart, and we’re going to run with our pack.”
Her brilliant smile returns, lighting me up. I kiss her, grinning into it when our nearby packmates cheer. The song ends and I lead her back to our group at the edge of the bonfire, our fingers entwined.
“You’re also learning to hunt tonight,” I add.
“Am I?” Her brows jump. “I can hunt.”
“Tell that to your wolf. She’s too eager. Gives herself away with no strategy.” My face dips, mouth at her ear. “I’m going to teach you.”
She shivers, leaning into me. “I can’t read your mind. How are you going to teach me?”
“I can feel what you’re thinking,” I remind her in a smoky tone. “Our wolves communicate well. She’ll understand by watching my wolf.”
“You shouldn’t let him teach you,” Liam cuts in. “Callie and I are better at guiding the shifters that come of age to navigate it.”
I rumble. Avery pats my chest. When she gives him her attention, I wind an arm around her waist.
“I’m teaching her.”
She drives her elbow into my abs. “What if I want to hear Liam’s advice?”
“His advice is shit.”
Liam grins. “Yeah, that’s why you made it one of my duties. If you don’t like the alpha teaching you, come see me or Callie. You’ve got other packmates who have your back.”
“Like me,” Taryn chimes in. “Don’t listen to him either. I know the best hunting spots.”
Liam sighs. “Doubt it.”
“Try me.” She sticks her tongue out at him. “But for real, Avery. If you need pointers, let me know.”
“Great. Thanks,” Avery says.
“Not great,” I mutter.
She laughs and presses on tip toe to tuck her nose against the crook of my neck. “Relax. You get to teach me first.”
I crush her into my arms, quelling my mild irritation with her scent in my lungs. I have bigger problems to handle tonight than my beta baiting me into jealousy as a joke.
Beatrix hands me my beer and surveys the lively bonfire. “I can’t wait to join the runs as my own wolf. I’m going to be so fast, I know it.”
Avery chuckles at the sparkle in her sister’s eyes and strokes her hair affectionately. “You’ll be magnificent.”
“And we’ll run together.” Beatrix hugs Avery, then loops an arm around Lena to pull her in.
Callie joins in from behind Beatrix. “All of us. When you’re older, Lena.”