Page 189 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

The words were barely out of my mouth when he grabbed me and pulled me into his broad chest, his powerful arms holding me as tight as he could. His head lowered to my ear. “I just needed to remind myself that you’re still safe. That you’re still mine.”

I placed my hands on his chest like I always did when I needed to calm him, and his body relaxed under my touch and around my body. “I’m yours, Wesley,” I whispered, peering up into his chocolate-brown eyes. “I’ve always been yours.”

I couldn’t deny it. Not with the way my body and my heart always responded to his presence. Not when being with him always felt like coming home.

He nodded and tucked me under his chin, his arms circling around me even more. “Where’s the book?” he asked.

“What book?” Harrison replied.

“The Goddess’s Tales,” Sebastian answered from behind Wes as he entered the apartment. “Where is our copy?”

“In Wesley’s old room,” Emily said. “He left it behind when he moved out. Maddie gave it back to him when he shifted for the first time. But why do you need it?”

Sebastian was already down the hall. I heard a door thrown open and him moving things around, then he was back in the living room only seconds later.

“Here,” he said, handing the book to Wesley. “What story do you think he was referring to?”

Wesley took the book with one hand and sat in the chair I’d vacated, pulling me down with him and into his lap.

I burrowed my face into his chest to hide my burning cheeks from sitting so intimately with him in front of our family and friends. “Wes,” I whispered, gripping his shirt.

“No one cares, Sugar Plum,” he reassured me, lifting my chin with his hand. “This is acceptable to wolves. This is how mates act with each other.”

I blew out a breath and nodded, then looked at the book in his hands. “What’s the big deal about this book?” I asked him.

“This book,” he said, lifting it by one corner and showing the cover to me, “is filled with the stories of our people. Every werewolf family has a copy, and all werewolf children grow up hearing the tales.”

“So… they’re fairy tales like Cinderella? Or myths like Pandora’s Box?” I asked, taking the book and examining it.

It was an old book with a dark green cover, embossed with gold scrolling around the edges and on the binding, with the title “The Goddess’s Tales” right in the center. Despite its age, it was still in wonderful condition, with hardly any deterioration.

Wes thought for a moment, his head doing a half nod, half shake as he answered. “Yes, and no. Yes, because they’ve been around for so long, just like those tales and myths and legends. But no, because these tales are true. Or at least based on some truth.”

“Those other tales all are true too,” Sebastian pointed out. “Humans just don’t realize it.”

I stared at him and then looked around at the others, my disbelief displayed on my face. But all of them nodded, agreeing with Sebastian.

“Okay, we can put a pin in that piece of information too. Just add it to the list with vampires and bears and whatever else we still need to discuss,” I said to Wesley, and his lips twitched with a silent laugh. “But why do you need this book right now?”

“Lennox said…” Wesley paused and sighed. “Look, Haven, you know it doesn’t matter to me. What you are. Not in the least. I don’t care if you’re a human or an alien or whatever. It doesn’t make a difference in how I feel about you. But he implied that you are something more, something special, something to do with this book. And if that is true, then we need to know.”

I swallowed and nodded. “Okay,” I said with a small shrug. “What did he imply? What did he say?”

“He said, ‘At least I know what she is.’ And then, when I tried to get more out of him, he choked up from the alpha command placed on him by his dad. But he was able to remind me about our stories. About how they are all based on a bit of truth.”

“But which story?” Reid asked. “Which story would he be referring to?”

“My guess is ‘The First of the Wolves,’” Wesley said. “It fits. A human who is chosen by a wolf warrior. Even though Haven is my fated mate too, I chose her long before I knew that.”

“Let’s hear it then,” I said, handing him the book.

“Wessy, wead me a stowy!” Seb exclaimed, clapping his hands and mimicking a little girl’s voice, and Wesley’s lips twitched again at his words.

“Wes used to read those to Maddie when she was little,” Reid said in response to my raised brow.

“And she would ask him to do it just like that.” Nolan chuckled.

“What a good big brother,” I said, leaning against Wes’s shoulder. “That’s very cute.”

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