Page 38 of The Broken Wolf's Redemption

Seren refused to meet his gaze, at least until his sister went on wrecking balling her way through the room, doing an infernal amount of damage.

“So, how did you two meet? I kind of want to know everything! Rome was doing so good, and we were so hopeful for him, especially since Waverly came to live with him, but a potential mate? Wow. That’s beyond anything we had hoped.”

He nearly dropped the glass of water he wasn’t going to drink. “Briar May,” he snapped.

“Sorry!” She was definitely not sorry.

Castor was so amused by the whole thing that Rome wanted to pass Sadie over to his sister and drag the bastard into the kitchen where he’d force feed him a delicious snack comprised of his fists.

Seren had gone the most violent shade of red. She shot a helpless look over Waverly’s hair, not to him, but to his sister, begging her to stop.

“Oh.” At least Briar May responded to that. One woman to another, she realized what she’d said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—of course you’re not thinking about that yet. You’re new and I’m such a dolt. I’ve gotten all sappy now that I have a mate I love, and a family and I just wish everyone could be this happy and have such a good love story. Not that all love stories start out all sweet and innocent. Kieran and Zora loved each other in secret for a long time and then lost ten years of their lives because he thought he couldn’t take her as a mate and she thought, well, never mind about that,” Briar May paused and glanced over at Waverly, the little girl was sitting on Seren’s lap happily playing with her favorite cat stuffy, his sister lowered her voice in case his daughter was listening, “I was kidnapped and did the whole Stockholm Syndrome thing, but it was actually real and then Castor’s family almost killed him for it, and to appease his pack, Prairie Rose offered herself up as a mate for peace, but she fell in love with Agnar, but he and his sons and the members of his pack were almost obliterated by…” She cast an anxious look at Castor. “I’m just going to stop there. Everything worked out, but it hasn’t been easy or without pain. In life, there is so much suffering, but there can also be happiness and love and that’s what I wish for everyone I care about.”

“Great story, sister mine,” Rome said dryly.

Briar May narrowed her eyes at Rome, then turned her attention to Seren. “So, going back to my earlier question, how do you know my brother?” she asked.

“Tattooing,” she explained gently, a brave smile in place. “We’ve technically known each other for two years, but anything else is early. I’m divorced, and honestly, my heart is undecided about taking another chance on love. That aside, I’m always going to be here for Waverly. She needs more wolves in her life, now and always.” She kissed the mop of brown curls.

Waverly spun around in her lap and hugged Seren hard.

It wasn’t the first time Rome had put serious thought into who Waverly’s father might have been. Lila had light hair and light blue eyes. Waverly had soft brown curls and light green eyes. Was her father even a wolf? Lila left Waverly in his care on the condition that her own mother passed away, but it was clear that Waverly’s father wasn’t and had never been in the picture. Did he even know about her? Was he alive? The question haunted him. Lila had trusted him with Waverly for a reason, and he’d die a thousand deaths before he allowed the bastard or anyone else to claim her.

“Well, never say never,” Briar May whispered politely, unwilling to give it up even though Castor very subtly squeezed her knee before going back to his endless patting of his half-feral daughter.

Seren’s eyes met Rome’s very briefly before dancing away, but they held a clear message.

This was one of those situations where it was easily okay to use that very word.

Chapter 13

Seren

“Rome? What the hell time is it?” Seren groaned into her phone. She had a bad habit of keeping it on her nightstand, and she never remembered to turn it to vibrate overnight.

She should have known there would be no end to his surprises. She wasn’t a hater when it came to the unexpected, but with Rome, she was learning his version of unexpected wasn’t what anyone would like to have sprung on them.

“Six minutes after three.”

“Thank you for being so precise.” She blinked the sting out of her eyes and sat up, curling her knees into her chest and hugging them. “Why are you calling me at six minutes past three in the morning?”

What she should have immediately said was, “No, thank you, this wasn’t in the contract. I owe you nothing.” She shouldn’t have even answered, but that had just been a fumbling, blind reaction. The words were there, horrible and sticky, to demand extra for whatever this favor was going to be, but then she saw Rome bent over on that metal and wood bench at the hospital again, pale and sick, bleeding and broken, and not even the meanest part of her could force her to make that demand.

The meanest part of her clearly wasn’t very mean at all. It liked being walked all over like a pathetically worn-out rug, apparently.

“I need to drop Waverly with you. There’s something I have to go do. I can’t call her sitter in the middle of the night. She’s a teenager. There’s no one else I can get her to on short notice.”

He was commanding her. He wasn’t asking. Had it even occurred to him that it might not be appropriate to do this? Yes, likely, but what did he care? “What? I don’t understand.”

“I’m at your front door.”

“Oh my god! You can’t just keep—”

“Please come and open it. Not for me, but for Waverly.”

Seren scrambled off the bed, racing through her bedroom and down the stairs. Her condo was about the same size as Rome’s, essentially, but taller and skinny, on two levels where his was just on one.

She always slept in a t-shirt and leggings in the summer. She only changed it out for sweats in the winter. She’d always had a thing against pajamas. She hated the fuzz, the looseness, the feeling of being so bare underneath. Her cotton leggings were tighter. It was weird because most people were the opposite. At least her t-shirt was oversized.

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