Page 25 of True Wolf

I frowned. “You don’t know me well enough to know what I would do.”

Her brows inched in just a bit. “I know enough.”

“About me?”

“Yes, Zion, aboutyou. Everyone around here loves you. TheBennett Alphas. They can’t stop singing your praises. It’s quite nauseating.”

I grinned amusedly. “You mean thewomencan’t stop singing my praises.”

I felt her wolf growl with the thought of someone else speaking of me, or worse, claiming me. Their jealousy made me smile. My own wolf reacted just as passionately in defense of her wolf’s feelings.

“Don’t be cocky.”

I pushed my hips forward until my dick made contact with her belly. “Hard not to be.”

“Zion.”

I chuckled lightly. “You wouldn’t have to be jealous if you hadn’t been hiding. We wasted three months. Now tell me why you think you can’t give me kids.”

The concern and hesitation that darkened in her eyes tensed my stomach, causing me to urge Nessah to tell me whatever was weighing on her thoughts. I pressed my fingers into the base of her neck and massaged the tension I felt tightened beneath them.

“Tell me.”

“I come from the Calhoun Pack.”

My jaw flexed in annoyance and she frowned before asking, “You know them?”

“We know all the packs and their leaders who reside in our area. My brothers have had conflict with a few of their pack members for not following bylaws. Rolf is too incompetent and not respected.”

Rolf Calhoun had only been Alpha for a few months but he was more or less a seat filler. His father ruled from the grave through his previous Beta, Seth, while Rolf pretended to.

Hollow Grove had multiple packs that existed on their own with a mutual respect for each other’s leadership, but the Calhoun Pack was known for the discourse amongst them because Rolf wasn’t assertive enough to be a true Alpha.

He was only in the position because his father passed. However, his father clearly hadn’t prepared his son for the position. Seth carried more authority than Rolf, ruling from the shadows with a chip on his shoulder. The Beta wasn’t happy about standing behind Rolf.

“Oh…” The way her eyes shifted concerned me. If either of them laid a finger on her…

“Why did you leave?”

“I didn’t exactly leave. I was cast out by the pack.”

“They forced you away?” My wolf was at the surface, growling at the thought of her being mistreated.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I was promised to Rolf…”

“Their Alpha?”

She nodded. “We were to be married and mated during the full moon before I came here.”

“It never happened?”

“No, tradition is that one of the elders blesses the union by foreseeing what the intended’s future together would be. That night, she was supposed to bless ours before the ceremony but what she saw didn’t align with pack tradition. She said I would never give Rolf a legacy. When she told us, his father announced right there in front of our entire pack that he was refusing to accept me for his son. I was devastated and didn’t know what to do. I expected my parents to stand up for me but instead they asked if he would take my sister in my place.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”