Page 27 of Fated to the Feral Wolf

“Good morning, Shay, Dirge.” He nodded to me, and then his brother. The look of sadness never quite left his eyes these days, and I couldn’t blame him. But maybe sharing old, happier memories with me would cheer him up? “Come to see Brielle?”

Remembering could make him worse, but I had to hope not.

“Good morning.” I was getting better at talking around the most trusted men of Kane’s pack, but the words were still quieter than I would have liked. I cleared my throat and tried again. “I am, but I also have a question for you. If you don’t mind,” I added, still feeling preemptive guilt about dredging up memories that might be painful for him.

“Of course, anything.” His voice dropped low, his eyes holding mine with a worried question. When I didn’t immediately respond, he took a step forward. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh, yes. Sorry.” My cheeks burned. Asking a simple question shouldn’t be this hard. Probablywasn’tthis hard for most people.

Granted, most people hadn’t been through what I had as a child. I shut those memories down hard and fast, not letting the fear-tinged visions of men who beat you for speaking, or rusty shipping-container walls close in around me right here in broad daylight, thousands of miles away from where it had all happened.

With a quick shake of my head, I forced a smile. “I was just wondering if you had any pictures. Of Dirge, from before?” Reed’s blank stare prompted me to continue. “When he was a man. I was just wondering what he looked like and realized you knew.” More blankness. “I mean, if it’s too painful, I?—”

“No! No, of course not. Yes, I have pictures of the two of us. Hold on.” He fished a sleek black cell phone from his pocket. After a pause where it scanned his face, he thumbed through the device and spun it around. “I can’t believe I didn’t think to show you sooner. Honestly, I?—”

He continued talking, but the words faded into background noise. I was too wrapped up in the stunning hazel eyes staring out at me from a deeply tanned face. Long, straight, black hair framed chiseled cheekbones over a devilish smile. A five-o’ clock shadow ran along his cut-glass jaw. The fiercebeautyin and of itself would have stunned me plenty.

But nothing could compare to the shock of recognition.

The face beaming from the photo next to young Reed was the man from my dreams. I’d hadrealdream sex with my mate. And I had no idea how.

I thought I might be sick.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. You okay?” Reed settled ahand on my shoulder, and I shuddered beneath the unwelcome touch.

Dirge stepped forward, nosing his brother back and whining up at me.

I forced myself to meet Dirge’s eyes for the first time since the night before. “It was you. Do you, I mean,didyou also, uh—” My cheeks burned as I quickly glanced up at Reed and changed my mind about airing our activities in front of Dirge’s brother.

A single dip of his muzzle.

Beethoven’s shiny white composer ass, I swore mentally.

I had dream sex with Dirge. He nudged my hand, then snuck a lick in before I could snatch it away.

“Don’t get fresh with me right now, dude. I amprocessing!”

“Uh, Shay, you feeling okay?” Bri’s question startled me from the utterly ridiculous one-sided argument with Dirge.

“I’m not sure,” I murmured, heat still suffusing my cheeks. I might not want to tell Reed, but bestie time was way overdue. “Can we talk?”

“Absolutely. Let me grab my sweater.” She ducked back inside the room for a second, then appeared with a true, granny-gray cardigan slung over her shoulders. My bestie prioritized comfort over style.

“Don’t give me that look. It has great pockets.” She emphasized the point by looping her arm through mine then jamming both her hands into them. “Reed, we’ll be on the porch. I already told Kane—he’s still showering.”

“I’ll give you some space. Webothwill.” Reed shot a pointed glare at Dirge, who huffed but walked by his brother’s side instead of mine.

I breathed a little easier as we stepped out the front door of the small bunkhouse we’d been put up in and settled onto a creaky porch swing. I loved everything about it, from theweathered wood to the little bounce from the springs as we started to swing.

Brielle let the silence stretch comfortably between us, unhurried. She was never one to rush me, no matter how badly I struggled with words.

But frankly, there was no way to tiptoe around what I needed to say.

“I had hot sex in my dreams last night with a stranger, but Reed just showed me a picture of his brother andit was Dirge. How did I imagine sex with the real him if I’ve never seen him out of wolf form?”

There was only silence in response, so I braved a glance at Brielle. Her face was stunned, mouth agape as she stared at me.

“I’m sorry, I… You had sex with a man. In your dreams. But it was Dirge?” She paused for my confirmatory nod. “The real him,” she muttered under her breath. “Wait, did you drink the special wine last night?”

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