Page 124 of The Wolf in My Tavern

And they want to see me shift.

I have not spent a great deal of time around children, but shifter pups are adorable, and I don’t even care if they savage me with their small teeth and demand I take them for a ride.

I think about having pups with Ada—I think about it a lot.

My mind drifts to the night I rescued Ada, how I stood beside my pa and Tim outside the back of the tavern, listening attentively as Jacob told me what to do, how I should not be a hero, but to follow their lead, and when it was right, to plow my hammer into any bastard’s head as got in my way.

I don’t know when this change happened, when I stopped being a follower.

Nor when I became a man.

I only know that I am.

One day, I might have a purpose that brings peace among the shifter packs.

In that regard, I am a work-in-progress, striving to learn and do better every day.

Gray

Sometimes, I look at him and can still see the young lad I used to glare at across a tavern, but it is becoming overwritten by the royal shifter who, with time, might carry the hope of peace between the packs on his broad shoulders.

In him, I see the potential for all he will yet become. I don’t know how this will play out. He is the rightful ruler of all, whether he claims his dues or not. He refers to me as the Ludstone pack leader... and seems embarrassed by the attention he garners, rather than seeking to carve out any claims.

Ada stands at my side, her head nestled under the crook of my arm. Drake, Lizbeth, and Arlo come and join us.

Drake nods toward Callum, who has gathered a crowd of pack children. “The whelp is a natural crowd-pleaser. Aren’t you glad I coached you to listen to your wolf?”

I snort a laugh. “You did no such thing. You made many disparaging comments about how he had me beaten by a mile.”

Ada giggles and turns to me in askance. “When was this?”

“In the tavern,” I admit. “In case it was not obvious, my wolf was obsessed with you from the first meeting.”

“Only your wolf?” she teases.

I tickle her ribs. “You know man and beast are both besotted with you. Every time I watched you sneak out the back with Callum, I swear I had murder on my mind.”

“He was too pigheaded to admit it,” Drake says, grinning. “I told him straight Callum was rutting you every chance he got, hoping it would rouse him to admit he wanted you and not Lizbeth.” He glances down at Lizbeth and then across at Arlo. “Well, I dare say I had my own selfish reasons.”

Ada suddenly blushes, drawing my eyes.

“What?” She looks up at me with fake innocence.

I pinch her ass. “What is that blush about, wench?”

“Well, I was likewise taken with you and very confused about it when Callum was…” she clears her throat, and her blush deepens, “pleasuring me so well. He did not, ah, rut me though. Not until the night of the fight. Matters got a little out of hand when I snuck down to see him.” She lifts her little nose in the air. “Betsy told me other lasses sometimes approached the fighters, and I wasn’t having that.”

Gods, I love her possessiveness. I cannot fucking wait for her to go into heat so she can mark me—marks I will wear with pride.

My thoughts suddenly skip back. “He rutted you for the first time in some dark corridor behind the underground fight pit?!”

“It was a room… Fine, there was no door… and it was wildly exciting. He said he was going to breed me… It was the first time he knotted me… I didn’t realize what it was at the time… We just sort of stuck together… and then he pulled it out!”

Drake chuckles, as does Arlo; even Lizbeth is smirking.

“Gods!” I mutter thickly. She will take well to the claiming ceremony even if she is a little nervous about what it entails… Also, I am now intimately acquainted with Callum and his breeding talk, but it still brings a surge of lust.

“We’ll take our leave then,” Drake says, scooping Lizbeth into his arms. “All this talk of breeding. Happen I have a mind to do some practicing of my own.”

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