Page 3 of Broken Wolf

“And this injury will heal in the time it needs. Your wolf needs to feel loved and that you aren’t mad at her for not believing in you. She is angry at not ending that woman for her betrayal. You need to bond. Mother will help. I suggest some spoiling from your men for your wolf. That helped me. Treasure her and remind her how much she has protected you as well.”

I tried to accept that and thanked her before hanging up. I took a few more minutes to calm down, but then the staff came up to clean after us. I gave them a smile and thanked them as well before heading out.

“Are you okay, Sera?” Nikos asked me gently, worry thick in his eyes. He nodded after studying me. “Simone warned us. Yeah, we all figured it out.”

“Who else?” I asked, thinking that was where I should start.

“Noah.” He frowned. “I don’t know who else.” Something filled his eyes at whatever my reaction was, but I ignored it and climbed in the SUV.

Was that something I should be upset at? Would I have noticed if this had happened to any of them?

Yes. Absolutely yes.

Especially if Noah caught it since I spent the least amount of time with him. Carter made sense because he was always at my side.

Brian was the only one with an excuse since he was such a new wolf and didn’t know what he was sensing still. And we were trying to recover from our own issues, especially after our couples therapist, Deborah, had tied him up.

But Dain? The twins? Things were still off with Reagan after he’d been a jerk pushing me about how Carter had gone off on my younger half brother when the little shit had called to chew me out.

My heart hurt if Axel had missed it. Eugene. I rubbed my chest. I trusted them both with a lot and they knew what it meant to have issues with family and… Had they really not cared enough to notice?

We were all busy. I knew that, but there were… Was this history all over with the twins drowning and missing when I was in trouble?

But with more of them?

I think that upset me more than that they’d been keeping this from me.

Carter was waiting out front when we pulled up to the building. He opened the door for me and cupped my cheek. “I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t know the right answer, and I wanted whichever brought you less pain and fear. I’m sorry if I chose wrong. I really am.”

“I don’t like feeling like I’m being handled and placated,” I whispered. “I’m reasonable, aren’t I?” Tears filled my eyes, and I felt too broken.

“You are, but it’s hard to know how to bring up—I am limited how to bring things up,” Sander said from my right. He shook his head when Carter told him to shut it. “No, she just said to be honest with her.” He met my gaze. “I want to help.

“Noah suggested a way, and I want—to me it’s like giving you a kiss to remind you to feed. I want to start trying it because I think it’s what you need. I get it because I need it too, but I get downtime. You don’t, Sera. You need more help because you never fucking stop. Let us be your big brothers. Please?”

I nodded after a moment, and he explained to me about the noise-canceling earbuds idea when driving. When I was frazzled and needed some quiet time to just focus on work or the lists from Vinn. I could just have a time-out even when my day didn’t allow it.

“No one will be upset?” I hedged, glancing between them.

“No,” they both responded, immediately and firmly.

Sander leaned in and gave me a soft kiss as he hugged me. “You need to be more selfish, Sera. We are all of the time and you just don’t see it. I needed some time to just chill after the last assignment and asked someone to switch with me. We do it all of the damn time. I drove the bus instead because I just wanted the drive time chillin’. Take the out if you want.”

I thought about it and nodded. “It would be nice sometimes. Sometimes it’s nice just to zone out listening to you guys chitchat.” I let out a slow breath and met Sander’s gaze. “Okay, yeah, that would be great if everyone is really okay with it.”

“We are,” he promised, giving me another soft kiss. “Go rest, Sera. Some real rest. Go eat your cute chocolate fruit treats and sleep. Everything is going well.”

Well enough at least.

I skipped the treats and crawled into bed with Carter since I had a long day that started early… Kind of like all of them.

I really needed a fucking vacation.

2

The next morning, I was waiting outside of the building for six wolves from the Milwaukee pack whose asses I was going to beat. Hestia already had while handling their situation, but I made it clear they had me to deal with next as the big boss.

Unfortunately, the situation was leaked to the press. They assumed that the six men were being hidden until the storm blew over or something shady.

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