Page 12 of Wild Wolf

“No. We’re getting out of here,” I said.

I found Cain sitting in the corner of the huge TV room watching a documentary on sharks. Hastings sat beside him, cringing as a shark lunged at the camera while stuffing his face with popcorn from the huge bowl I suspected Aunt Bianca had provided for him. A small wooden bowl sat beside Cain – only half full and mostly made up of un-popped cornels. Amusement made my lips twitch momentarily – my aunt always had made it clear when she was displeased with someone, and I got the feeling she’d been making judgements on the new house guests. Whatever Cain had done to offend her wasn’t clear – but no doubt she’d talk about it loudly from the adjacent room soon enough to fill me in. Subtle wasn’t something the Oscura women were known for.

“We need to plan our next move,” I said to the two of them. “Where are Ethan and the others?”

“Why should I know?” Cain asked, his narrowed eyes moving over the tattooed arm Sin still had draped around me. The Incubus smiled provocatively as he noticed Cain’s attention falling to him and leaned close to speak in my ear.

“Biter boy doesn’t know whether he wants to kick my ass for touching you or ask to watch while we fuck again. He’s all kinds of torn up over it,” he whispered loud enough for the pups in the yard to hear.

Hastings started choking on his popcorn, turning beetroot and doubling over while Cain irritably patted him on the back. He didn’t deny Sin’s claims though.

“Wait here, Sin,” I said, taking his arm from my shoulders and propelling him onto the seat on Hastings’s other side.

“But-” He tried to get up again but I pressed my hand to his chest and pushed him back down with a low growl.

“Stay,” I warned.

Sin submitted with a raised brow, glancing over at Cain. “I think we should all play sub for our girl once we have Roary back,” he said. “She could tie us up and use us for her pleasure however she likes. Make us into her harem of sex toys. I think she’d enjoy that.”

“I wouldn’t hate it,” I admitted, giving him a warning look before I straightened and strode from the room.

Plunger had been given a room in the cellar – though Aunt Bianca had been concerned about him touching the wine collection so he’d been given a place with the food stores instead – I hadn’t had the heart to tell her that she should probably be more concerned about what he might be doing with the root vegetables.

He’d agreed to stay put based on the idea that it was a good place for him to hide from the FIB, but in reality I just hadn’t wanted him near the pups.

I headed outside via the kitchen, skirting through the sun-soaked courtyard where my aunt’s famous lemon tree stood proudly. I took the well-worn stone stairs down to the cellar, knocking on the old wooden door and it swung wide, revealing the cool space beneath the house where shelves full of tinned goods, cleaning products and toilet paper lay stacked in neat rows. I’d once joked that Aunt Bianca kept this place ready for the apocalypse, but she’d replied that it was barely enough to keep the Oscuras fed and clean for a month. She was probably right, even if this place did feel like entering an honest to the stars store.

“Plunger?” I called, wondering if I should use his real name now or not.

There was no reply and I moved further into the dimly lit room, the cool air enveloping me. I walked down the long space and came to a halt by a wide hole which had been burrowed into it, a flagstone set aside next to a pile of dirt.

“Seriously?” I muttered.

“I do believe he thought it was time to head off alone.” Pudding’s voice had me leaping out of my skin and I whirled on the huge Bear Shifter, finding him sitting in a small alcove between jars of pickles and stacks of toilet paper.

“What the fuck, Pudding?” I gasped. “How do you even do that?”

“You are always in such a hurry, hound,” he replied, taking a bite from a whole cherry pie which he had balanced on one knee. “You do not look around you for the whos and the whats and the whys. You miss the finer details.”

“I’ve never missed a scary motherfucker lurking in the shadows aside from you.”

“I know how to be one with the world as it is. That is all. You cannot stay still long enough to understand. Neither could the mole – he left you a gift by the way.”

Pudding pointed his pie-coated fork to the other side of the hole that Plunger had made in the floor where a small pile of potatoes and a rather sorry looking carrot sat with a piece of paper.

I wrinkled my nose at the ‘gift’ and eyed the note. It wasn’t long.

I decided it was time to skedaddle. Thanking you kindly for the freedom Ma’am and wishing you well in your future endeavours. You shall remain eternally in the depths of my plunge hole – Plunger.

“Ew,” I grunted, straightening up again and glancing back at the door. “I still don’t get why he dug a hole out of here – the door wasn’t even locked.”

“That is a conundrum. Yes,” Pudding agreed, taking another bite of pie.

“Right. Well, that was why I was coming to look for him and you too – it’s time for us to get moving. The FIB will be raiding this place tomorrow and we need to be gone.”

“Gone,” Pudding agreed, taking another bite of pie.

“Yeah…Did you have a plan for somewhere to go?” I shifted a little uncomfortably.

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