Page 3 of The Wolf's Plus-Size Bride

The situation is too familiar. Looking around, I catch sight of other Green Lake wolves sneering, and just like that, I’m at prom all over again. Back then, someone dared Lenny Carlton to kiss the chubby orphan girl, and I fell for his act and suffered the consequences of believing it could be real. Prom night ended with pictures circulating throughout school, calling me fat and laughable.

Yes, I’m incredibly familiar with this prank. Even after all these years, I fall for it, and I feel like such a fool.

Except now, it’s twice as humiliating, and the pain is triple anything I felt that night.

His laughter is deafening, directed entirely at me. Somewhere nearby, I hear the chuckling of others joining in, their cruel mockery wrapping around me. Tears sting my eyes, and I shove at Reiner’s broad chest, pushing him away from me.

The touch of his lips had my body burning with intense flames, my clothes too constricting and too warm. But now, as I push him away and look down to hide the tears in my eyes, those sensations are different. The flush from a few moments ago feels like a burn of shame, and my blood runs cold.

Escape. I have to escape and find a quiet, private spot where no one can see me cry and make fun of me for having the nerve to think someone would find a plus-sized girl like me attractive. It was all a prank, just like it was in high school, and now I’m so embarrassed, I could die.

Chapter 1 - Reiner

One Year Later

Pack parties. There are days when I can’t stand them, and today is turning out to be one of those days.

It’s our turn to host Stardust Hollow and their wolves, but I’m really not in the partying mood. I’ve been working for twelve hours at the steel mill in town, and I’m just ready to get home and curl up on the couch with a beer or three and let the brainless drones of reality TV wash over me like white noise.

Yeah, I know. It’s no fun, it’s boring, blah, blah, blah. But even highly social animals like shifters need alone time, and after sweating over a welding torch all day, I’m definitely ready for some solitude.

Sadly, though, the next month or two is dedicated to Stardust Hollow’s visit, and we’re all under orders from Alpha Evan that all pack members are expected to be social and supportive. Ugh. Yes, our alliance is very important to keep things in check, but there’s a point when a wolf just needs a break.

They’ve set up a bonfire in the center of our commune, and from where I’m parked and gearing up to attend the shindig, I can see packs gathered from both areas. Green Lake wolves, Stardust Hollow wolves—all of us packed together in one area. For all that these visits are supposedly peaceful, we still naturally gravitate toward our own packs, keeping to ourselves and not really fraternizing with the other crowd.

I feel it when I get out of my vehicle, the apprehension and distrust. It’s an energy in the air and a general tension that no amount of pack politics can push under the rug. But both ouralpha and our beta married she-wolves from Stardust Hollow, so maybe we should be warming to the idea of mixing it up.

Shaking my head, I start up the hill, slipping my hands into my front pockets as I go. The dirt under my boots is packed hard from the summer heat, and I feel a shift of pleasure when my eyes move to the dark nighttime sky. From there, the stars above me look impossibly bright, all the colors in the rainbow sprinkled across the inky black. You don’t get a view like this in Stardust Hollow, with all the city lights and pollution messing with your ability to see the splendor above. Yeah, the city can be a hoot and a good place to party, but sometimes the country speaks louder than boisterous crowds and neon-light club scenes.

Tonight, however, my little piece of heaven isn’t so quiet, and my eye begins to twitch again.

“Hey, there he is!” my younger cousin Jack calls, lifting his voice until he’s shouting over the general ruckus. “What’s going on, Reiner?”

“Fine, Jack. Just exhausted from spending all damn day welding flaming-hot pieces of metal.”

Jack laughs. “Oh, quit with your moping. Would it kill you to be friendly? All this time, and you still can’t make nice with the other team.”

My face hardens, and I sigh with irritation. Jack is a good guy, and we get along well enough. If pressed, I might even consider him a friend, but just because it’s pack-bonding day or whatever, he’s trying too hard to get along, and I hate the fake-ass bullshit of it all. We’re shifters, for Christ’s sake. We’re supposed to keep to our own people. There’s enough fucking drama without inviting outside elements into the mix.

“I’m nice when I want to be. I just don’t like this parade, and you know it. We have no business mixing with those city slickers.”

As if to prove my point, I hear a table go crashing to the ground on the far side of the encampment, followed by a chorus of whoops and clapping. Now, generally, I’m the first guy to go running to a fight and the last to back down from a rough-and-tumble tussle. I may not always be ready to talk about my feelings or whatever, but I do like excitement. Fighting is my jam. Excitement is my drug.

At least, it usually is. Lately, though, I’ve been feeling restless. I’m not sure what’s wrong, really. All I know is the thrumming and frenetic energy doesn’t entice me like it once did. Instead, the crashing, splintering wood and the thumping, brawling bodies feel like a headache, and the sound of breaking glass inspires more annoyance than rabid enthusiasm. The things I usually find enjoyable nowadays only leave me feeling drained and cranky.

I must be getting old. Damn.

“Come on,” Jack grumbles, leading me closer to the crowd. “Just because we’re different doesn’t mean we’re better. You’d do well to remember that, Reiner.”

“Sure, Jack. Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

Avoiding looking at the fighting and wreckage around the party, I shrug, shoving my way through the crowd and heading straight for the cooler. Surrounded by several of our shifter wolves, including Evan and Rafe, along with their respective wives, Mia and Piper, the conversation doesn’t stop when I pop open a beer and spin the top off. It’s very rare that Alpha Evan steps away from his duties these days. But tonight is definitely one of those nights when our whole pack gathers in a sea of tentsand motorhomes for Stardust Hollow, and even our fearless leader is chilling.

“Lots of pretty new she-wolves out there, Reiner,” Rafe announces when I sit. Leaning back in my camping chair, I kick out my feet in front of me, raising the bottle of local brew to my lips for a long pull. “You should go and take a look, see what catches your eye.”

“Nah,” I give the same answer as I’ve done for the last year. “I have no interest in settling down with the sort of girl who can’t even catch a fish.”

The joke earns me some laughter and rolling eyes.

---