Page 122 of The Wolf in My Tavern

“It is no less than they deserve,” Callum says gruffly.

“What will happen now?” I ask, peering over my shoulder at Gray.

He brushes the hair back from my cheek and kisses the claiming mark. “Now we shall go home.”

“But where is home?” I ask.

“The Ludstone pack den,” he says. “It is empty from what we have heard, as all the Canis warriors came here to defend their den. Some have fled, along with their few allies. We shall get to them in time and make them pay. But for now, we will gather together those who have been lost to us till now, and reclaim our home.”

“I would like to see your home,” I say, turning back to face Callum, my handsome mate; the first one I acknowledged, “and to make it ours. All of ours. I would be happy anywhere, so long as it was with you both.”

“There is just one small matter,” Gray says, snagging my attention and making me gulp, for it sounds a little ominous. “The matter of your claiming. You cannot be our mate unless we claim you as such during a ceremony.”

Callum chuckles—a wicked sound that scatters my thoughts and makes me aware of being squished perfectly between my two mates.

“C-claiming ceremony?”

“Aye,” Gray says. “It is a tradition within the pack.” The wicked male dares to wink at me. “In light of recent events, this will be the perfect opportunity for the pack to come together.”

“Witness… You mean for them to watch us rut?”

“But don’t worry about it,” Callum says, his smirk sinful enough to make heat pool my core. “I have it on good authority that when your heat takes you, you won’t care who is watching, and you beg us sweetly for our cock.”

“I think you have forgotten how our mate is when she is desperate for dick,” Gray says dryly.

I fear my cheeks might catch fire.

He doesn’t say more; he doesn’t need to. I already know I shall be a savage little thing, biting and raking them with my nails, demanding my dues. I am like that already, and will surely be worse when I succumb to my heat.

My belly is aflutter with nerves, thinking about being claimed before an entire pack, one I barely know. But I am also curious, aroused, and secretly pleased at the thought of making sure no other lasses in the pack are confused that my perfect mates are all mine.

Chapter Forty-Five

Gray

Ihave no desire to stay in the Canis pack’s den, even to recuperate. I cannot get the stench of their blood off me, and I am craving the fresh air.

They have been punished. The alphas are gone or have been slain, leaving only the betas, who offered their submission to me, for what it is worth. They will likely lose much of their territory, as the surrounding packs, learning of their downfall, carve into their lands. It is the way of pack life. They no longer have the numbers to defend such a large territory, nor do they need it.

Along with the barbarian warriors we camp in the forest not far from the den. Here, we tend to our wounded and send our dead to the Goddess.

We are tired. It is a victory, but it is also bittersweet. Through the greed of one man, my father is dead, and so are too many others. I allow myself to grieve as we hold a ceremony for those lost over the course of this conflict on the shores of a lake.

Callum

As the ceremony finishes, the recently freed shifter families of his pack begin to come forward, seeking a word from Gray. It is not long before he has a crowd, including a gaggle of children who hang on his every word. It is a side of Gray I have not seen before.

As if sensing my study, Gray turns to Ada and me, where we stand a little on the side. He lowers the girl he is holding to the ground before taking her hand. She beams up at him in the manner of one regarding a hero.

It dawns upon me then that this is what he is to them.

“I would like to formally introduce you to someone.” Gray holds his hand out to Ada. She takes it, slipping from my arms and to his side. “This is Ada. She is my mate.”

The women bow to her as though she were a queen. Perhaps that is what she is in their eyes, in their customs, in their ways.

Then Gray looks toward me. “And this is Callum: Ada’s other mate.”

“What pack does he hail from?” a young shifter male asks.

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