Page 37 of Redeemed Wolf

“I can help,” Pacey offered, looking far too eager for my liking, but I was already out of my seat, following Silas.

“No, I’ve got it,” I snapped, shocked by the wave of irrational anger that rolled through me. I was not normally someone who could be described as aggressive, but damn, if I wasn’t ready to tear his head from his shoulders. It didn’t seem to matter than he was almost twice my size, I was sure I could somehow take him.

Lucky for me, he backed down, dipping his chin in a strange kind of deference I didn’t understand as he headed for the living room. It made me feel… powerful.

It wasn’t until Silas growled under his breath and reached under my shirt to grab my bare ass cheek that I remembered I wasn’t exactly dressed. He tightened his grip and used it to pull me to him, flush so that I could feel his thickening shaft beneath his pajama pants. I gasped and braced my hands on his chest. “As much as I am enjoying the quick access, I don’t love the possibility of my Beta catching an eyeful. This ass ismine.”

The independent omega in me should’ve bristled at his caveman attitude, but I found myself preening for him instead, a smirk curling the corner of my lips up. “If my ass belongs to you, then what part of you is mine?” I danced my fingers up his flexing pectorals and over his shoulders, enjoying the glide of his smooth skin.

I’d expected a sassy reply, probably offering me his dick, but instead, it took a turn toward the sentimental. “Any part you want,” he said, resting his forehead on mine and closing his eyes, breathing deeply. “Everypart. I am entirely at your mercy.”

I threaded my fingers through his hair, melting into him. I might not have felt my best when I woke up, but I was suddenly feeling much,muchbetter. Drawn to get impossibly closer to him, I brought my nose to the curve of his neck, tracing my nose along the arch. My mouth flooded with saliva, and I had the strangest urge to bite him, hard enough to draw blood.

Instead, I merely grazed my teeth along his flesh. “Should I go put some pants on?” I asked. Goosebumps prickled his skin, and with a final squeeze, Silas reluctantly pried his hands off my ass. With a final pat, he drew away, leaving me cold.

“Pacey, make yourself scarce,” he called toward the living room, before turning to grab a cutting board.

I heard the squeak of springs, and then without a single word or moment of hesitation, Pacey walked out of the apartment. The door closed behind him with a click, and I was left blinking.

“There. Now you don’t have to put on pants,” Silas said, flashing a smirk over his shoulder at me before he pulled herbs from the bag and laid them out on the cutting board.

“He left just because you told him to? Is it because he’s your Beta?” I asked.

“What?” he said, his shoulders stiffening for a moment.

“You said Pacey was your Beta. What’s that mean? Does he work for you?”

The aroma of the herbs grew sharper as Silas worked the knife through the leaves, chopping them finely. “Sort of.” He didn’t add anything to that, dropping a handful of the herbs into a pot and adding water.

“That’s it, that’s all you’re going to give me? Sort of?” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest as frustration niggled at me.

“What more do you want me to say?” He kept his back to me as he turned the stove on low.

I gritted my teeth hard enough that my jaw ached. “Silas, I don’t get you. First, you act all sweet and caring, feeding me, bathing me when I’m sick. But then whenever I ask you a question, you get all evasive. I know nothing about you!”

He braced his hands on the counter, his shoulders bowing. “It’s not because I don’t want to tell you,” he said. Finally, he rubbed his hands over his face and turned, and I was surprised by the anguish so plainly visible in his expression. “Will you take a walk with me?”

“Right now?” I frowned. “I… I guess. Sure.”

Silas turned off the stove. “The tea can wait until we get back.” He took me back to the bedroom where he found some loose-fitting clothes for me, then with our fingers interlaced, he led the way outside. The whole time, he didn’t say a word.

For a moment, I worried that this was his way of breaking up with me, though I wasn’t even sure we were dating in the first place. Had I pried too deeply into his personal life, so now he was done with me? Maybe I wasn’t worth the trouble of opening up. But as I watched him in my peripheral, he didn’t seem so much closed off as he did lost in thought. His entire body was tight with tension, and he kept looking over his shoulder, but there was a determined set to his jaw as we walked down the block.

I had a feeling I was about to get my answers.

Chapter 17

Silas

I wasn’t an idiot.I knew there was a good chance that Eric was having me followed—especially after I’d appeared on the security cameras putting his incapacitated son into my car—but I took whatever precautions I could. Our phones were back at the apartment, and I’d dressed us both in baggy clothes and pulled up the hoods on our sweatshirts, hopefully disguising us enough that someone might not recognize us at first glance.

I hoped it was worth the risk. Carter deserved to have answers. He was completely in the dark about his past, his family, about who he was at his very core. And while I knew there was a good chance that he wouldn’t believe me about anything I had to say, I had to try, because he would never leave with us if he didn’t know.

There was a shady park at the end of the block, and there was only a handful of people present. A small group of kids from the daycare climbing on the play structure, a man walking his dog.I led Carter by the hand over to a bench and sat down, drawing him as close to me as he could get without sitting in my lap.

Sighing, I debated how to start this conversation. “Carter, I… like you.” I grimaced, hating the way that word tasted in my mouth. “That’s an understatement, but I don’t want to scare you off.”

Carter leaned in and rested his chin on my shoulder, his breath ghosting over my cheek. “I’m not going anywhere,” he assured me. “You can tell me anything.”

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