Page 43 of Cursed Wolf

“Well, what’s up?”

How the tables had turned. I was usually the listening ear for my packmates, and look at me now.

“Things were going well, I think. But I…I had to leave her a couple days ago. Late at night after we’d, you know.”

“So you wouldn’t bite her,” he concluded. “I take it you didn’t go all the way, then?”

I stared at him. Not exactly in surprise but in stark relief and solidarity. Of course he knew, he’d been through the same thing. “Yes, exactly. And no, we didn’t. She was begging for a bite and my jaw fucking ached from how hard I clenched it to keep it closed.”

Sawyer licked his lips and smiled, a faraway look coming to his eyes. “The first time I went down on Riley, it was so I wouldn’t be tempted to use my teeth on her. When you’re tasting the most intimate part of a woman, your instincts shift to being gentle with her.”

“Yes!” I agreed. “I swear that’s the only reason I didn’t end up biting her. And that’s why I had to leave, I couldn’t risk sleeping next to her. Or freak her out by potentially shifting in my sleep.”

Sawyer chuckled. “I’ve never been much of a sleep-shifter. Riley is though, it’s very cute. Half the time I wake up in the morning, I’m snuggling her wolf instead of her.”

Another pang of jealousy hit me. I wanted those little domestic moments with Emmaline, those quirks unique only to our relationship.

“It doesn’t happen often for me, but enough to the point where it’s not worth the risk.”

“So she doesn’t know anything yet?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know how to broach it. She’s so…very human.”

“Hmm.” Sawyer cocked his head in thought. Riley had been kidnapped from the human world by vampires, so by the time Sawyer found her, she had already known about werewolves to some degree.

“I don’t know, Tryn,” he said apologetically. “That might be a band-aid you just have to rip off. She wanted your bite, so I figure that’s a positive sign she has a wolf inside her. Riley and Aria experienced the same thing.”

“Gran said that wasn’t a big enough sample size to tell. It could just be the fate thread wanting to seal the deal.”

Sawyer made a dismissive sound. “Gran and her sample sizes.”

“And then there’s Shiloh,” I pointed out. “She has a bite from Orson, but she’s not of our species.”

“Hmm, yeah. True.” Sawyer looked thoughtfully out at the water. “When she and I were together, I was never tempted to bite her. So maybe it’s more of a mate thing than a wolf thing.”

I had almost forgotten that Sawyer and Shiloh had a brief, casual relationship. It wasn’t that long ago but since finding their mates, it felt like ancient history. While they had been dating, I had seen their fate threads leading away from each other, but it wasn’t my place to get involved. Mated pairs seemed to find each other whenever the moon deemed it was time.

“All I know is I can’t keep lying to Emmaline.” I scratched my beard. “Leaving her like I did really hurt her and…I can’t do that to her again. I want her to trust me.”

“Listen to you,” Sawyer teased. “Already such a good mate. I hope she knows how lucky she is.”

“Shut up,” I grumbled.

He gave me a few good-natured slaps on the back. “Anything the pack can do for you, let us know. Anything to help fate along.”

“Actually.” An idea started forming. One that might be the perfect compromise. “Maybe there is something.”

“Spill it.”

“At the lodge,” I countered.

Dawn had broken by the time the pack gathered at our home base. I approached Derric first, then together, he and I presented it to the pack at large. They were overwhelmingly supportive. Orson would only have to check in with his mate, Shiloh, but he expressed that she would be on board as well.

Feeling lighter and more hopeful, I returned to my room to get a few hours of much-needed sleep. After picking up my phone from the bedside table, I swore under my breath at the sight of two missed calls from Emmaline.

I hit the button to call her back and pressed the phone to my ear. My heart sank lower and lower as the ringing went on with no answer.

Chapter 15

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