Page 46 of A Wolf's Heart

“I can try.” She took out her phone, bringing up a memo app. “What do you want to know?”

“If I could just get his contact information…”

She hummed to herself for a moment as she wrote herself a reminder. “I might not have access.” She paused, looking as if she wanted to say something but was holding back.

“What is it?” I gently encouraged her, making sure not to demand information from her or push her to say something that made her nervous.

“It’s just, he was exiled. Usually, if that happens, which is unheard of, because Kage doesn’t let people he deems as threats just walk away, but if it does happen…well, he will be stripped of everything. He will be lucky to walk off the territory with the clothes on his back. Exiled wolves tend to go rogue, which will make it nearly impossible to find him.”

I deflated, guilt settling in. I had cost this man his job, family,andhome. All for what? I took a large gulp of wine.

“It could’ve been worse,” Emma said in a small voice.

“His choice was death or exile. The more I hear, the more I wonder if he would’ve preferred death. This whole thing is corrupt. The task force, the ranks, the territory. There’s no order or reasoning.”

“I know it doesn’t seem like it, but Kage keeps the order. I don’t think he has an off switch when it comes to running the pack.”

“You can’t tell me he’s not corrupt.”

She was thoughtful for a moment. “Corrupt…no. He’s fairly upfront with everything, and the pack will always come first to him.” She took a drink of her wine before shuffling a little closer to me. “What was it like living with humans?”

I shrugged. “Uneventful. I had a normal childhood, other than wolfing out and hiding that part of me.” I put an elbow on the table, resting my head on my hand. “What was it like living with shifters?”

“Normal, for a shifter, I guess. I was fortunate enough that our pack has schools for shifters, so I didn’t have to worry about wolfing out in front of human.” She smiled at my terminology. Emma started telling me about school on pack territory, though it sounded more like boarding school, and that lead to questions about her home life. I didn’t mean to interrogate her, but I was starting to understand her personality a bit more now. Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with Kage.

She was raised in one of the main clans in her pack, though that didn’t mean she had any allowances. She was prim and proper, taught all the ways to be the perfect mate to a worthy alpha. While Kage was trained at a young age to be a leader, she was trained to be a breeder, to complete mate duties and never question anything an alpha said. I felt sick for her. It didn’t feel right and it wasn’t. When she became part of Cridhe Pack a year ago, she learned they didn’t follow the same customs. She was working on relearning different parts of herself.

We toasted to that.

To lighten the mood, I told her stories about being a wolf in a human world. There were a lot of funny mishaps as a child, many of which happened in kindergarten, though the teenage years were the best. The bottle of wine became more and more empty as we laughed our way through my awkward years.

Emma was grinning ear to ear when I told her about my fangs extending mid-makeout session with a boy I really liked. “Wolves have canines, not fangs.” She giggled. “Wow, I never thought of all the things that would be hard to explain. How did you make it through your heat cycles? Do humans respond the same way as male shifters? I don’t think they can satisfy the pain. How did you get through it?”

I sighed. “I’ve never had a heat cycle. I think I’m broken”

She sighed. “You’re not broken. That’s completely normal.”

“Wait, what?”

“Did the troublesome trio not tell you?”

I smiled at the fact she used my nickname for them instead of the triquetra. “No, I’m pretty sure they think I’m broken too. Kage called me sickly.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s because all he can do when he sees a shifter, male or female, is categorize them to see where they would be most beneficial for the pack. Breeders tend to have nicely set hips and a good extra layer of body fat. Newsflash, not everyone fits into boxes.” Emma shook her head. “I should’ve known they wouldn’t be able to explain anything to you, since it’s not like they know themselves. It’s very normal for some female shifters to not come into heat at all until they are in the presence of their mate or someone their wolf deems worthy enough to be their mate. Just another way evolution ensures survival of thebloodlines.” She wrinkled her nose with the last word.

I slid the now-empty bottle of wine away. “Okay, I think that’s enough for you.” I cringed, looking around to make sure no one had overheard us. Not me corrupting anyone over here.

“It’s true, though. It’s all anyone cares about. Why couldn’t I follow my dream and be a detective?”

“You wanted to be a detective?”

“No, but I like photography.” A contented smile rested on her lips, making me feel lucky that she’d shared that with me. Beyond the anxious, quiet girl was a hidden photographer.

“Emma, if my heat does start sometime soon, what should I expect?”

“Oh, it's horrible. Absolutely dreadful. Males complain all the time about challenging one another and competing for higher ranks. Yeah, well, I’d like to see them experience even an ounce of the pain and need we feel during that time. So much so that many of us ask for drugs to help us sleep through it. Seriously, the doctors will put us in a five-day coma.”

“Five days?”

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