Page 57 of Wolf Forsaken

"It's barely eight, old man." Silas threw a piece of popcorn at me, and I let out a half-hearted growl. If I were in the mood to fight, I’d have taken the bowl and dumped it on his head.

"It’s been a long day. The other pack will hopefully be here tomorrow, so I need to get some sleep." Before anyone could stop me, I walked toward the hall with the bunk rooms.

I hated to admit it, but I liked the setup Silas had, which allowed any of the pack members to stay in the den. A few did often, but most had homes throughout the territory. Silas even had a house; he just chose not to stay in it for whatever reason. It was pretty far away from anyone else, but it was where he grew up.

After getting ready for bed, I went into the room we'd taken over as our own. We had moved three of the twin mattresses onto the floor to make a giant bed. We could have slept in separate beds, but what was the fun in that?

I didn't realize how well I'd sleep in a group until we tried it the night before. It brought a level of comfort that sleeping alone or even with just Ivy didn't bring. They were my family now. My own little pack.

And as much as I hated to admit it, Silas was part of that.

I laid down and shut my eyes, hoping sleep would take me fast. I'd not gotten a lot of sleep the night before, but my mind raced with thoughts about what-ifs.

What if Dante beats me when we go head-to-head?

What if Ivy is hurt?

What if there are people doing horrible things to our kind?

The door opened, and I knew who it was without opening my eyes. Her scent was one of my favorite things in the world, and I was just realizing it.

"Are you asleep?" The mattress dipped as she laid behind me, her hand sliding over my back and around to rest on my stomach.

"Not yet." How could I sleep when there were so many things on my mind?

"You've been quiet all day. I’m worried about you." She moved a leg between mine, and I sighed. "You're sad."

"I'm not sad." I put my hand over hers to stop her from stroking along my scar. It was too much of a reminder of my failure. "I'm just... disappointed."

"In me?" She tensed behind me but didn't pull away.

"No. In myself." My voice was barely a whisper. "I failed."

She was quiet, and I thought maybe she'd fallen asleep, but then she kissed my wolf tattoo. "You didn't fail. You were ambushed, Cole. No one could have guessed he would stoop that low and do such heinous things to take the pack away from you." She moved the hand from my stomach and began tracing my back tattoo.

"My father warned me years ago that if anyone challenged me, I had to take them out. I thought Dante was just running his mouth with his toxic masculinity bullshit." I shook my head, not believing I could be so foolish. "This is on me, Ivy, as much as it’s on him. Three lives are lost because of my pride. I thought everyone in the pack was satisfied with me as alpha. I didn’t think anyone would dare challenge me or stab me in the back. But he did, and I almost lost everything."

"It's going to be all right, Cole. We're going to get your pack back." She kissed the center of my back and moved her hand to my arm where she ran a finger up and down the muscle. "Maybe the two packs can even become one again. Stronger together."

I snorted. "When hell freezes over."

"Hell is a place that does actually freeze over." She laughed and then grew quiet for a minute. "We need to find out what really happened to Xander and his pack."

I rolled to my back, and she ended up sprawled halfway on my chest. "We will. If anything would have happened to you today, I..."

My eyes watered. Fuck. I was more fucked up than I thought.

"I’m fine, Cole.” She took my hand and put it over her heart. “I feel like all of this… turmoil is happening because of me.”

“Don’t. None of this is on you. You barely got here.” I pushed her hair behind her ear. I loved when she wore it down. “This has been brewing for a long time, and as for Xander… how many other wolves have suffered like he has but not made it out of wherever they were?”

A tear slid down her cheek, and I caught it with my thumb. My entire body ached with the need to make sure she was safe and happy. So far, I was doing a horrible job of it.

“We have to stop them,” she whispered.

“We will. I promise you, we will do everything in our power to stop them from hurting any more of us.” I moved my hand to the back of her head and pulled her toward me, pressing my forehead to hers. “I’m glad that we all have each other, as much as I don’t care for sharing you.”

She smiled. “Ah, so now he doesn’t mind. Could it be because you like the sexy times?”

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