Page 64 of Wolf Forgotten

"Ivy." The swing next to me squeaked as he sat down. "What the hell were you thinking?"

With a sigh, I dropped my hands and stared off at the slide that had seen better days. "I guess I wasn't." I let the tears drip freely down my face. "Get your berating over with and take me back to my prison."

"It's not a prison." His voice has softened.

"Sure feels like it. I can't go anywhere, have a tracker on my phone, have to worry about being locked up in solitary confinement. It's a prison." One I hadn't exactly fought that hard against.

He tensed, and his knuckles turned white on the chains of the swing. "You don't understand how dangerous it is for us." He sounded like a broken record. Did he think I didn't know that? That didn't mean I had to be locked away. "What if you would have shifted during your little adventure?"

I jumped off the swing and turned to glare at him. "What if I would have when I didn't live here?" My voice rose, and I shut my eyes to calm myself down before I proved him right and shifted. "It wasn't too dangerous for someone to leave me in a fucking ivy bush. Why is that, Cole? What's so bad about this place... or about me, to send me away like I didn't even matter?"

The chains on the swing clinked together as Cole stood, putting his hands on my arms. "You do matter."

I put my forehead against his chest. “They didn't want me.”

"Hey, look at me." He pulled back and tilted my chin up. “They're idiots, whoever they are. You're a strong, independent woman who takes no shit and knows what she wants. If they could see you now, they'd probably regret letting you go."

He was right, but all these feelings of rejection were growing intense. I needed answers, not just for myself, but for the wolf part of me.

"I'm sorry for running off." I snorted back a laugh. "Jesus, maybe I should start calling you daddy since I feel you're going to punish me."

"That can be arranged, although I prefer hearing you scream Cole." He kissed the top of my head. "I wish you'd trust me a little more. I'm trying to keep you safe.”

It was hard to trust when I barely knew him. Yes, there was an intense connection between us that made me want to simultaneously rip off his head and rip off his clothes, but trusting someone so easily was difficult.

I leaned in as his hand stroked my cheek. "I'm trying."

Sometimes trying had to be good enough.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Cole

It was a quiet drive home, and I could tell Ivy was keeping something from me. I hadn't exactly asked her what she'd been up to in the hour she'd been MIA, but I had a feeling it was why she was in the state she was in at the park.

I'd been furious when I'd gotten the call from Sara that she'd run off. It couldn't have come at a worse time either. I'd been ensuring my betas and other high-ranking heads of families that there was nothing to worry about with Ivy.

While I hadn't told them why I’d left in a hurry, I was sure Manny had already filled Dante in since he reported directly to him. Things might be bad when we got back to the house. I was the alpha, but if enough betas and stronger wolves banded together, I wouldn't be able to stop them.

"Are you going to eventually tell me what you were up to?" I asked as I pulled off the highway and drove down the road to my house.

"Yes, but I'm still processing it." She put her hand over mine that was resting on the center console. "It's going to make you angry."

Flipping my hand over, I laced our fingers together. "How about you give me a blow job and then tell me?"

She finally cracked a smile and brought our hands to her lips, kissing my knuckles. "Is that what it takes to make everything right? A blow job?"

"Pretty simple, isn't it?" I had to pull my hand away to back into the driveway and she snorted. "Tell me what makes everything all right for you?"

She unhooked her seatbelt once we parked. "Ice cream, wine, or chocolate."

We got out of the truck, and I took her hand again as we walked to the front door. "I have all three."

"You've been holding out on me, Delaney." She bumped her shoulder into mine. "Everyone knows the first rule of having a girlfriend is to always keep them supplied with the good stuff."

"Girlfriend. I think I like the sound of that." Outside of being mates, we hadn't put a definition on what we were. I was happy she was on the same page as me, and my wolf was satisfied, for now.

We didn't even get all the way in the house when a growl came from the couch and a man flew across the room, knocking me into the wall. I twisted away and charged him, knocking him back and away from Ivy.

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