Page 44 of Wolf Forsaken

He shrugged. “At first I did. Neither of my parents were the omega, and the previous one wasn’t that great. So, when our wolves started showing their places in the pack, and Sara was clearly going to be the lowest, I decided it couldn’t be that bad of a role. And it hasn’t been besides having to fight my wolf about it.”

“It's not that bad of a role unless you’re dealing with wolves like Dante.” I sighed. “Silas’s pack doesn’t have an omega. It seems that anybody that wants to be around him kind of takes care of the pack.”

“It could also be whatever magic that has created us, trying to tell us we should all be one pack. I’m fairly certain that if the packs combined, Bone would not be a beta.”

“How do you know?”

“My wolf knows. All of our wolves know their place in the pack. Most of the time we can get a sense of where a wolf ranks from another pack just from being around them. To my wolf, you’re overwhelmingly alpha.”

The only thing my wolf could sense was she was higher ranked than others. Maybe it was a learning process, and since my wolf had just come out to play, she would need time to learn all the intricacies of being a wolf.

“Do you think there are other types of shifters out there? Can you sense them?” I’d had no clue my best friend, who I’d grown up with, was different. But then again, neither did she.

Eli moved to the refrigerator and grabbed a carton of eggs. “When I went to college, I got a vibe from some people. There weren’t very many, but when I looked at them or smelled them it was like my Spidey sense went off. I think the coalition probably knows if there are.”

What the hell was the coalition?

I didn’t want to pester him with too many questions about wolves, and I didn’t want to overwhelm my brain with information, so I decided to bring up the night before. He had seemed sheepish after I came into the room, and I didn’t want him to feel weird about it.

“So, last night actually happened, didn’t it?” He handed me the empty container from the blender that he had just dumped into a pan, and I set it on the counter. “How… uh… was it?”

I was genuinely curious about his feelings toward Xander. Just like with me, things had moved rather quickly. It made me think other factors were at play other than just libido and attraction.

“You really want to talk about it? Doesn’t it feel kind of like… I’m cheating?” He sounded very unsure of his words. Hell, I had the same feelings when I’d slept with him after already sleeping with Cole.

“No, we talked about it. If it was another female… geez, I sound like a hypocrite.” I didn’t even understand myself why I was okay with him being with another man, but if he were to suddenly have feelings for another female, I’d probably rip her head off.

“You don’t. Maybe it’s because all four of us are your mates. If I told you I wanted to do the same things with David, how would that make you feel?” Eli put chips into the sauce he had poured in the pan.

“First off, who the hell is David? And second, it makes me feel murderous.”

He laughed. “David is Bone. Rover’s name is Dax. Silas has an odd way of coming up with nicknames. David told me his is because the lead actor in the showBonesis David. And Rover? Because of Dax Shepard and the word Shepard reminded Silas of a dog.”

“Say what?” It took me a minute to process that. “So how the hell did he arrive at bunny for me?”

“Maybe because your hair is red, and Jessica Rabbit has red hair? Nicknaming people like he does is endearing. David says it means he really cares about you.” He chuckled and started cooking eggs. “If at any point you're uncomfortable with me exploring things with Xander, you need to tell me. It’s just… I feel this connection with him, that goes beyond normal…”

That was exactly how I felt about my connection with all of them. It wasn’t typical, but it was so strong I couldn’t resist.

* * *

Breakfast was delicious,but I expected nothing less from Eli. Since I “helped” him in the kitchen, I got out of doing dishes, and I wasn’t going to argue otherwise.

“Come with me. I want to show you something.” Eli took my hand and pulled me toward the door as everyone else cleaned up the table and went about their business.

“It’s not how to dance, is it?” I was stuffed, and if he were about to teach me to dance, I would have probably puked. At breakfast, they had talked about working out in an hour or two, and I didn’t even think my belly would be ready then.

We went out the back door and headed for the trees. Eli laced our fingers together and hummed softly as we entered the cover of trees. The last snowfall seemed to have brought on spring; the forest was coming alive with new growth.

Now that my senses were heightened, I could smell the animal life too. Luckily I didn’t want to eat any of it since I was full. But who was I kidding? There was really only one thing my wolf wanted to eat.

“I haven’t seen or heard about your wolves hunting any animals for food.” I looked to the side, and he tried to hide a grin but wasn’t successful. “What do you hunt and why do I get the feeling that my deer cravings aren’t normal?”

“Our wolves can go a while without hunting. Yours seems to have a voracious appetite, but maybe that’s because she’s been locked away for so long. I enjoy a good squirrel. They satisfy my hunger and help my garden.” He threw his head back and laughed when I scrunched my nose. “If you didn’t fancy deer so much, I’d take you out squirrel hunting.”

“Do they have a nutty flavor? Maybe squirrel can be dessert.” It was a horrible joke, but how else does one who turns into a hunting machine deal with it? I was embracing it because otherwise I’d beat myself up over it.

“You aren’t grossed out about all of this?” He rubbed his thumb over my hand. “It’s okay if you are. When I was younger, I had a hard time the first time I hunted.”

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