Page 96 of The Wolf in My Tavern

Callum and Gray are upon me instantly, taking positions on either side of me where I stand.

“Let me tend you,” Gray says.

“I will fucking tend her,” Callum barks right back.

“Gods, I will tend to myself.”

They both growl at me.

“You are a pair of damn whelps,” I say before I can think better about how that might be inflammatory. “Your arguments are giving me a headache… and I would very much like some food. This rutting business is hungry work.”

Gray smirks like my hunger is a source of pride.

Callum rolls his eyes.

“You may tend her,” Gray says magnanimously. “As long as you do not rut her, and further, do not arouse her more than you absolutely must in order to apply the cream,”

Callum swallows.

A knock on the door redirects everyone’s attention.

“Master Gray,” someone calls from beyond the door. “Land has been sighted.”

“Land?” I ask.

“We’ll be coming to anchor soon,” Gray says to me before he levels Callum with a glare. “Care for our mate. I’ll have clothes sent through.”

He strides over to the makeshift door, yanking a gap in the wooden planks enough to squeeze through before carefully putting them back.

“I’m sorry,” Callum says the moment we are alone. “I don’t know what comes over me when he’s around.”

“It is okay,” I say, stepping into his arms.

He purrs.

“It’s a lot of change to grapple with. Only, he is part of this, too, Callum… I don’t really understand the way fated mates work. I’ve only ever heard the occasional whisper about it. It is not a matter for the likes of me when I was a poor beta lass living in a hovel and working in the fish market.”

“It was not for me either,” he says, “when I was an apprentice blacksmith and likewise a beta. Now, I don’t know what I am… nor do I understand my power, or this monster inside me.”

“It is a lot for both of us. But Gray is wise in this, whereas we are not. Plus, he is older and knows things.” Callum raises an eyebrow but I continue. “And although he did not go about it in the best of ways, I believe he could not help himself, either.”

Callum makes a scoffing noise. Not that I can blame him for feeling wronged.

“The past is done, and we cannot change it, Callum. We are bound now.”

“I will try,” he says. “The bastard just riles me with his constant jibes and air of superiority. This situation would be very different if my beast weren’t so big.”

I lift my head from his chest and grin up at him. “Your beast is magnificent, Callum.”

“Maybe it is because I have royal blood.”

My brows pull together. “I didn’t know there were such things as royal shifters.”

“Neither did I,” Callum says. “But he is a mean bastard, and I can’t imagine he would tell me something nice unless he absolutely needed to.”

“Lizbeth knew,” I say slowly.

“Lizbeth?”

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