Page 34 of Wolf Forgotten

“Retired. As we get older, our wolves get weaker and the alpha position usually passes to a son who is in a beta position. The strongest in the pack is the one that has the most connection to all the other wolves in the pack."

"What if the alpha doesn't have a son?" I groaned at her question because I was certain she'd have her opinions on how things were.

"Even if I were to have only a daughter, she can't be the alpha. Female wolves can be strong, but not enough to lead a pack. So, it passes to the beta or the beta’s son."

"Of course that's how it is," she scoffed.

I needed to choose my words carefully. "It's the wolf part, not the human part. A female head of pack? Sure there is the lead female who is stronger than all the other females, but there might be dozens of men stronger than her in wolf form. It's nature."

"Well, nature sucks." She looked back out the window. “What about my parents? My coloring is different than all the wolves I’ve seen so far.”

“Yeah.” I reached forward to turn on the radio. “There aren’t red wolves.”

“So, I’m a freak?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Great.”

“That’s not what I said.”Riverby Leon Bridges played in the background. “Just because your hair is a different color than the rest of us doesn’t make you any less of a wolf. Once we get you settled, we'll work on figuring out your origin.”

“Get off.”

“What?” It took me a moment to realize she meantget off the highway, and I chuckled under my breath. I might have almost been thirty-five, but I would always chuckle at a sexual innuendo, whether it happened on purpose or accident.

"You missed that opportunity last night, unfortunately." There was a hint of teasing in her voice and pink crept onto her cheek.

I took the exit for Main Street and the rest of the way to her house was silent besides the radio and her giving me the occasional direction.

I backed into the driveway of her house, which was not what I was expecting. I had expected an apartment or possibly a duplex. Instead, she lived in a craftsman style house with a well-maintained lawn.

“You live here alone?” I turned off the truck, and we got out. I grabbed the boxes and tape I’d brought from the back.

“Yes, I bought it as soon as I moved here permanently.” She walked up the front steps onto the porch and unlocked the door. We had luckily found her purse still intact in the wreckage of my car and salvaged her keys, wallet, and phone.

I followed her inside and inhaled. Her scent was so strong I had to swallow my groan. My dick twitched in my jeans, and I moved the boxes so she wouldn’t see my growing erection.

The interior was remodeled but still had all the elements I would expect in a craftsman with exposed wood beams, built-in cabinetry, tapered posts, and window castings. My wolf whined just under the surface as we took in our mate’s den.

“This is pretty impressive for being twenty-six.” I followed her up the stairs, trying not to breathe in any more of her scent or look at the way her ass moved in the leggings she had on.

Her smell was overwhelming me in a way I’d never experienced before. I’d had my fair share of partners, but none of them ever elicited this kind of visceral reaction from me or my wolf. Was she feeling the same way, or did she feel nothing?

“You can just wait in the living room. I need to clean out the refrigerator of anything that’s going to spoil if you want to help.” She stopped at her bedroom door and turned to face me. “What’s wrong? You look… pained.”

She took the boxes and tape from me, and our fingers brushed, sending a jolt of desire straight up my arm, through my heart, then right down to my cock. Her hand lingered for a minute before she turned and walked into her bedroom.

“Just wolf stuff.” I followed her in and looked around the space. It was a typical bedroom, but it was so much more than that. It was where she laid her head every night and probably brought men up to. I tamped down on a growl.

The unmade bed had enough pillows to accidentally suffocate someone. The chair in the corner had a book on the cushion and an empty wine glass on the small table next to it. And the smell… I shut my eyes and inhaled.

“Did you just smell my room?” She sounded amused and taped the bottom of a box shut. “That’s weird.”

“You can tell a lot by what you smell. You should try it.” I wasn’t sure what to do to help, so I went to the chair and picked up the book, looking at the back. “Reverse harem?”

“Yes.” She snatched it from me and threw it in the box. “There’s nothing quite like a woman bringing multiple men to their knees.”

I snorted and sat down, watching as she dumped her underwear and socks into the box. I felt useless, but it was better if I didn’t touch her stuff.

“What did your nose tell you?” She opened her closet, and her scent hit me again.

I shifted in the chair and then widened my legs and leaned forward with my forearms on my knees. That should cover up what was happening to me. “That you haven’t had a man in this room.”

---