Page 40 of His Wild Mate

“Wow. I mean I heard it was true, but how crazy. He found you out on the range, right?” one of the ladies asked.

I nodded.

“And Thomas was just okay with this?” she asked Lily.

“Of course he's okay with it. We're talking about Emmett, and this is his true mate, Katherine.”

“I'm just saying, we have no border control here. Rogue wolves just wander in and there's no repercussions.”

The other lady rolled her eyes. “Here comes the lawyer side of her.”

She huffed. “I'm not saying I'm sorry you strolled into territory and Emmett found you. I'm sorry. That's not what I meant at all. It's just a symptom of a bigger problem around here.”

“I never should have told you about the Raglan, the Collectors, and some of the other threats to shifters over the years,” Lily said. “We're safe here. You don't need to worry.”

She squeezed her little boy a little tighter.

“Katherine is new to our world,” Lily explained.

I sniffed the air and took a step back. “Human.”

Katherine rolled her eyes. “Yup, I'm the token human around here. But this little guy isn't, or probably isn't. I just worry about what his future holds. Is that really so bad?”

“No. It's perfectly normal,” Lily insisted. “I'm just saying that Paige coming into the backside of our territory isn't the end of the world. She had her reasons.”

“I didn't even realize I'd walked into Pack territory,” I confessed.

“And that's the problem,” Katherine said.

Lily huffed. “I'll talk to Thomas about it. He hasn't been great about marking his territory lines since we started having pups. It wouldn't be a bad idea for him to get into a better habit of doing it.”

“As protective as he is of you and the girls, it's hard to believe he's not obsessive about it. By the way, I'm Winnie. It's really nice to meet you, Paige.”

“Oh, and I'm Katherine, resident human. James is my mate.”

I stared at her in confusion. “Your mate?”

“My true mate,” she said proudly.

“But how is that possible?” I blurted out.

The girls laughed, but before they could explain, there was a knock at the door as another woman walked in pushing a double stroller ahead of her and then stepping in while dragging a second double stroller behind her.

“Oh my gosh! You're here!” Lily gushed as she raced to hug her.

“They're getting too big too fast,” Katherine said.

“Look Sean, your friends are all here,” Winnie said in the kind of voice people used when speaking to small children.

For a girl like me who has never really been around kids, I was way in over my head here. While they all gushed over the four pups, Angel came and stood beside me.

“There's a bit of baby fever around here. Austin and I have been trying but no luck yet. It'll happen when it's meant to happen. This is Kate, Wyatt's mate and their little cutie quads. Kate, Lily, Winnie, Katherine, me, and now you. You round out our own little Six Pack.”

She linked her arm through mine in some sort of strange comradery that I didn't fully understand. Just a few minutes ago I was certain she was judging me and now we were suddenly besties? What sort of strange world did I stumble into?

“Hi,” Kate said, giving me a little wave. “You must be Paige.”

“That's me.”

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