Page 38 of Rejected Wolf

He quickly caught on to my teasing and mock scowled, jabbing the mark once sharply. “Don’t make fun of me! I’m still new to all this shifter stuff. For a second, I thought I’d actually hurt you.” He stuck his lip out in a pout, and I kissed his protruding lip.

“I’m sorry, my beautiful most perfect mate. I didn’t mean to make you worry. I will forever be your servant if you will please forgive me.”

He sighed dramatically. “If I must,” but he couldn’t keep his smile from peeking through.

I had a feeling that our love was just going to be like that—bursting from us at every moment, overflowing into every corner of our lives—and I couldn’t wait to get started. “Now, let’s go introduce you to your new pack. I know they’re dying to meet you.”

Since Morgan was shyer about nudity than I was, I quickly threw on some clothes, and I suspected my packmates had likely done the same for his benefit, since they obviously knew he was here. The more we delayed, though, the more nervous Morgan seemed to become. “Would you rather we wait?” I asked. “We could do this tomorrow instead.”

“And what, spend the whole day hiding in your tent?” I shrugged, smirking, and I was about to open my mouth and remark on all the things we could do with our time, but he held a hand up, stalling me. “No, I’m no coward. I can do this.”

“My fearless mate,” I praised, giving him a quick peck on the lips before reaching for the tent flap. I paused, though, staring at my mate. He looked different, but not just in the wearing-my-mark kind of way. After a moment, it twigged in my brain. “Where are your glasses?”

“What? I—I don’t know.” He reached for his face, as if surprised to find he wasn’t already wearing them. “Huh…” He frowned, his gaze drifting off, a little spaced out.

“What? What’s wrong?” There would never be a time when I didn’t worry about his wellbeing.

“Oh, nothing, it’s just… well, I can see. I guess I don’t need my glasses anymore. You don’t think it has anything to do with your blood or the mating bond, do you?”

My brain immediately went to Dr. Taylor’s suggestion that my mate might have interesting physical benefits, which of course led to me worrying about all the experiments they would perform on him if they ever got their hands on him.

“Maybe…” I told him vaguely, quickly changing the subject. “Come on. As much as I don’t want to share you, I also can’t wait to show you off, and I can hear them all waiting.” The air inside the tent had been downright toasty, but as I opened the flap and stepped out into the crisp, cold day, it made my skin feel tight, my breath coming out in a silvery cloud.

Sure enough, there was a small collection of pack members leaning against the wall of Shan’s cabin, no doubt waiting to ambush us, though most of them had made themselves scarce, perhaps to avoid overwhelming Morgan with too much at once.

Tristan was already grinning, and he elbowed Shan in the ribs as he pushed off the wall. “Well, would you look at that,” our Beta taunted as I emerged from the tent. “Is that a… asmile?! Who are you and what have you done with my friend?” He came over and gave me a hug, thenpulled back my shirt collar. “The mark looks good on you, brother.” Tristan sniffed the air, picking up Morgan’s aromatic scent. “And already pregnant? Damn, you work fast.”

I shook my head, sighing. I was no stranger to his good-natured ribbing, but it was also true, there was a massive smile on my face. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this happy—maybe never.

But then the smile sagged as I remembered everything we still had left to do.

First things first. I reached back and took Morgan’s hand, drawing him out from where he was half hiding behind me. “Morgan, this is my Alpha, Shan, and Tristan, my friend and pack Beta—that’s like a second-in-command.”

“N-nice to meet you,” he stammered, looking up at them with wide-eyed uncertainty. Then, his insecurities getting the better of him, he blurted out, “Sorry I’m human!”

Shan smiled warmly and reached to shake his hand. “You are welcome here, Morgan. You’re family now. Human or wolf, it makes no difference to us.”

Tristan shook his hand next. “Heck, my mate’s a panther, so you’re not the only one who’s felt like an outsider. You two might have more in common than you think. He’s from Fairhome too.”

The cabin door opened behind them, and Brody stuck his head out. “Can I come meet him now? You guys said you wouldn’t hog him.”

Shan rolled his eyes at his mate. “It’s been five minutes. I’d hardly call that hogging.”

Brody came bounding out, carrying Wynn. “Morgan, I’m Brody. You have no idea how excited I am to meet you. I just knew that whoever fate picked for our Jude, they were going to be amazing.” When Brody shook his hand, he gasped. “Your fingers are so cold! Shame on you guys for making him stand out here. Come with me, Morgan. We’ll get you something warm to eat and drink, and you can meet the rest of the pack.”

“Oh… okay. Th-Thank you.” Morgan looked back over his shoulder at me as he was led off to the kitchen. He still looked a little nervous, his shoulders up around his ears, but now I was wondering if it was mostly from the cold instead. I was going to have to pay more attention to his human needs.

“I’ll be right there, Mo. I just need to update these guys real quick.” We shared a long look full of understanding. A lot happened yesterday.

I waited until they’d disappeared into the kitchen, the door closing out the happy chatter of a few more of my packmates. It was hard to drag my attention away fromMorgan when all I really wanted right now was to be touching him, but important decisions needed to be made.

Shan seemed to sense that something monumental was about to happen, so he gestured with a tilt of his head toward the outdoor table. We didn’t typically use this during the winter anymore, but it was sheltered from the wind under an overhanging tarp. We brushed snow off the cut-log stools and sat, leaning in.

“We had some trouble on the way out of town,” I said, though I felt like “trouble” was oversimplifying things. “One of the doctors I told you guys about yesterday, he’d been following Morgan. I don’t know if it was a coincidence that he found him or if he’d been tipped off about Morgan having witnessed a shifter, but either way, he wasn’t going to let us go without a fight.”

“And?” Tristan said, propping his forearms on the table. “Did you give him one?”

I smiled grimly. “I did.”

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