Page 62 of Redeemed Wolf

“Oh, nothing. I just didn’t realize Pacey was into women. I actually thought he had a thing for you when I first met him.”

That startled a laugh out of me, the sound making Kris sigh in his sleep. “You did?”

“Oh yeah. He was always hanging around, doing anything he could to make you happy or proud. I didn’t have a clue about shifters or pack hierarchy. How was I supposed to know? I just thought he was clingy. I was super jealous,” he admitted.

That made me grin. I loved it when he got all possessive on me. “Oh yeah? Was that why you marked me? You wanted to show Pacey who I belonged to?”

He nudged me in the ribs with an elbow. “Don’t get all cocky on me. I didn’t understand what biting meant either.”

“Hey, guys.” Jesse and Joe came over to join us. I tried not to acknowledge the blatant look of hope on Jesse’s face. He’d been trying so hard to reconnect with all his children, but while Isaac and Amelia had been eager to get to know their dad, it had been a lot harder for Carter. His memories had been a jumble at first, buried under a layer of brainwashing, but we’d spent a lot of time talking things out. He’d been learning to forgive Eric for his misguided beliefs, to forgive Jesse for not being able to save him, but even more importantly, to forgive himself for not being strong enough to break free on his own.

“Hey,” Carter said, a new kind of smile on his face. When Vesta began to fuss, Carter stood and closed the distance to Jesse. “Wanna go see your grampa?” he cooed to Vesta as he repositioned her to be passed over to Jesse.

“Grampa? Really?” he gasped, scared to hope as he reached to take her.

“Yeah, of course. Is that okay… Dad?”

Jesse’s eyes went glassy as happy tears pooled. “It’s more than okay.”

“In that case…” I said, passing Kris over to Joe so quickly that he whipped his arms up to catch him. “Are you guys good to watch the twins for a bit? I wanna take my mate for a quick run.”

I didn’t wait for them to respond before I grabbed Carter by the hand and dragged him toward the woods. “Come on, baby, keep up,” I hissed over my shoulder.

“Where are we going?” he asked, laughing but doing his best to jog faster.

I stopped at the tree line and started to peel off my clothes as quickly as I could. “We’re going to see about making a baby, that’s where.”

“Shh!” He slapped a hand over my mouth. “They’ll hear you!”

I smirked behind his hand, licking his palm, and he pulled it away with a needy gasp. “If I do my job right, in a few minutes, they’ll be hearing you scream.”

“You’re such an alpha,” he said like it was a bad thing, but his fingers were trembling as he reached for his belt buckle.

“And you love me,” I said.

“I really, really do,” he said, pausing in his undressing to give me a lingering kiss. His fingers moved up my torso, following the path of my scars up to my mating mark.

Carter made me feel alive in a way I never could’ve anticipated. I’d always been the bad guy, the one who took the blame and always came last. Through my mate, though, I’d finally found where I belonged. I’d found my redemption and made peace with who I was.

Together, we shifted and ran as wolves, side by side, partners in this life we were making for ourselves. The future of these woods was bigger than us. Bigger than me and Carter, than shifters and humans, all the packs and towns. Fate had brought us together for a reason, and while I couldn’t tell what the future would bring, I knew our children would be a part of it and that it would be magnificent.

The others eventually joined us, filling the woods with their howls of love, happiness, family… of pack. I couldn’t wait to see what came next.

The End

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