Page 12 of The Broken Wolf's Redemption

He might have thought wrong. He knew what he should do, call it all off, leave Seren alone, send Waverly to his siblings for instruction, but he just couldn’t do it.

Any of it.

Chapter 5

Seren

Even though Seren was worried that she should have been more prepared, two things were immediately apparent when she walked into Rome’s small condo. The first was that Rome spoke honestly when he told her that Waverly wasn’t his. From her light chestnut hair to her stark green eyes, she looked nothing like him. The second was that Waverly was like any other little girl.

Seren had barely stepped a foot inside the condo, whose averageness shocked her as much as the area of town it was in, transitional and safe enough, but barely, when Waverly came barreling into the room. She launched herself at Seren, wrapping small arms around her legs. She peered up at her with the hugest green eyes in a tiny little heart-shaped face. Her hair was a wild bird’s nest, knotted up all around an ancient-looking ponytail.

“Papa says you’re going to spend all day just with me. He says you’re my wolf teacher. Can we have a tea party?”

“No.” Rome’s firm denial came from where he stood, right by the door. He looked outside like someone had followed her, then closed the door and locked it. “Seren is here to instruct you in wolf things. Not have a tea party.”

“I don’t see what harm it could have,’ Seren mumbled. Already, she was getting into a disagreement about what she was doing there, but that was Rome’s fault, not hers. Still, she didn’t want Waverly to witness it and be uncomfortable. “It’s good to get to know each other over tea.”

“I have strawberry,” Waverly said, smiling so big that it caused her eyes to crinkle up.

“Strawberry tea,” Seren exclaimed. “I don’t think I’ve ever had that before.”

Rome sighed. “Fine. I’ll make it.” He looked about as joyful as if someone had just suggested he be hung up by his testicles until they tore off his body. What was wrong with him?

The list would definitely be shorter if it was what wasn’t wrong with him.

“Seren is here to teach you about shifting. She’ll do that immediately after your tea.”

Seren cast an anxious glance at Rome. “I don’t know much about teaching,” she admitted. She shrugged off her purse, spotting a coat rack beside the door, wood with pegs that weren’t being used. She hung it there. It had her phone and keys in it. If she had to trust Rome with her body, she could trust him with her bag by the door. It wasn’t like he’d rifle through it. After she’d left his auto repair shop nearly a week ago, she’d had the uncomfortable feeling that he was watching her even when she couldn’t see him, long after she’d driven out of sight.

He had the means to have done his research on her the way that she hadn’t been able to do it on him. What did he know about her that she had no idea he knew?

Waverly laughed at that. “I haven’t shifted yet. Is there something wrong with me?”

Seren took her hand. Waverly wasn’t the least bit shy. Rome said she was going to school in the fall. Had she been at daycare before? Probably. If Rome worked during the day, then where else would she go? She seemed exceptionally well-socialized. She doubted that the man looking after her was responsible in any way for that.

He stayed by the door, frowning at both of them like a disapproving god, doing nothing to make the tea he’d promised. It kind of made her want to kick him in the nuts, then command that he enjoy it. She’d follow it up with a smart question as to whether pain ruined his fucking panties.

Not the time or the place. Waverly had no idea about any of that. None of that was her fault and it certainly wasn’t her fault that she had such an asshole as a guardian. Seren had to separate that out.But it was damn hard not to.

She’d thought about it every minute of the day for the past week.

The relief of having endured one hour, one down out of many, never came.

She hadn’t let it affect her work, but she hadn’t been able to lose herself in her art like she usually did. Rome was a curse who was perpetually on her mind.

“No, sweetheart,” she said softly, forcing herself to be in the moment. Waverly needed someone, and at the moment, that someone was her. This little girl deserved every bit of her attention. “No, there’s nothing wrong with you. Some shifters shift young, and some don’t shift until later. It’s kind of an all over the place thing with no set timeline. There’s definitely nothing wrong with you.”

Waverly studied her, but there was no challenge in it. “Want to see my room?”

“Yes.” Seren laughed at the little kid’s invitation. “I would love to see it.”

She didn’t turn and look back at Rome, but she felt his eyes burning into her back. Whatever. She wasn’t going to ask his permission. He was the one who mandated that she be here. He knew she wasn’t qualified. He probably knew she was a wolf raised in the city by parents who belonged to no pack. If that didn’t make her less than qualified to teach about what it meant to be a shifter, then what did?

All she could tell Waverly was what it meant to be a shifter in society, and maybe, considering that she lived in a small city and was surrounded by humans, that was the most important thing at the moment.

Waverly’s room was a soft powder pink. Seren couldn’t imagine Rome having painted it, just like she couldn’t see him picking out the frilly curtains at the windows or the bright pink bedding on both the top and bottom bunk. The room was spotless, everything put away on shelves or in plastic containers. In that, she saw Rome’s dictator nature.

Waverly walked to the bottom bunk, bent in, and got out a huge white cat stuffy. The long hair immediately stood on end and clung to her. “This is Beatrix. She’s my favorite.”

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