Page 71 of A Wolf's Heart

“Also, the DNA results are in. As suspected, she comes from an old bloodline, however it isn’t listed.” I got to my feet as I pulled the results back up on the tablet, handing it to him. “Have you heard of Scarad Pack?”

Kage frowned as he took the tablet, looking over everything and scrolling down with his finger to continue reading. He wandered over to the map on his wall, then dropped to the bookshelf below. He set down the tablet before thumbing through the books, pulling one out, skimming the pages, then grabbing at another. They were his father’s journals.

“What are you looking for?” I asked.

“A specific passage.” Again and again, book after book, he pulled and flipped through. At first, I thought maybe he had forgotten, and it was in someone else’s journal, because there was no way he had forgotten where anything was in his father’s journals. He had those things memorized from front to back and front again.

Getting to my feet, I walked over to the mess he had made, which was completely out of character for him. I placed my hand on his shoulder. “I have all your father’s journals saved online. Do you have a date? We can search for it from there.”

“What year did the link between us open?” Kage asked.

“I was ten. It was around the same time the beast became known,” I said, picking up the tablet and thumbing through it.

“It was shortly after my first hunt, the first heart I had consumed,” he said.

“Then it will be simple to pull up.” I picked up the tablet, opening the program that held the passages.

“It’s the year Lila was born,” Kage said.

I frowned. “How could—”

“A suspicion.” He faced me, but his eyes were on the tablet. “Rain, whatever we find, we discuss it before we tell her.”

“You know something.” I had never seen regret in my alpha’s eyes like I saw now.

“Her pack didn’t abandon her. They were all massacred, and I’m fairly sure we were the ones to do it.”

Lila

I rolled onto my back,my body slick with sweat and the chill creeping in. Kage had wrapped a blanket around me before he left. I didn’t question it, didn’t question him, since it wasn’t my place to demand he stay with me. Instead, I focused on what I needed right now, and that was to get warm.

I had learned after a few waves last night that the better the orgasm, the worse the cold after. Warming up in their arms, being passed between Rainor to Weylin, had felt amazing. Even though Kage held me early this morning, he had done so in his sleep. He never partook in the warming process with his physical body, though he seemed to know my needs because, as he had done so now, he always ensured to wrap a blanket around me.

It wasn’t enough.

My wolf begged for skin-to-skin contact. She whimpered to feel that deep purr they all hummed post-orgasm. If I didn’t restrain her, I was fairly certain she would wrap herself around one of them and refuse to allow them to peel her off.

When Kage had left, he barely even glanced at me. It was a reminder that this was a task he was supposed to do. This was his job—to help me through my waves. As much as he now seemed to enjoy sex in the moment, afterwards he was already moving on to the next task.

I had woken up that morning in a low king-size bed. The room was nearly the size of my house, and it screamed of Kage. His scent saturated everything in here, but that wasn’t what gave it away. Modern and minimalistic, there was nothing in this room that was personal. The artwork on the wall was generic, though it looked hand painted. And that was Kage, nothing personal. Nothing expressive. Just cold and distant.

Maybe another blow job would fix it. The glimmer of emotion he’d displayed as he held me after his release had me aching for more.

The most amazing smell came to me, and my eyes swung to the open door. That sweet citrusy scent of Weylin calmed something in my body, as if my wolf knew she was about to be taken care of. It was followed by the smell of pastries or pancakes and sugar and—oh my, I think I just came again—coffee.

Weylin rounded the corner into the room and paused with a confused frown on his face. He held a tray of food and coffee low, around his hips, the move causing me to take in each delicious, perfectly sculpted curve of his skin, every groove and line. Even his scars did nothing to take away from the sexy appeal of the man before me. If anything, they added to it. If it ever came down to him or one of us, he would protect us first, which told me I needed to do what I could to protect him.

“Did he just leave you?” he asked.

“I’m a burrito,” I said, wiggling in the plush blanket I was completely wrapped in. Weylin gave a faint growl. Days ago, I might have even missed the growl, it was so low, but now that I was used to the sound of his voice, I seemed to be more attuned to him. “Is that for me?” I asked, sitting up and trying my best not to shiver. It was difficult when his eyes roamed my naked body.

“Yes, I hope you like it.” He brought the tray over and set it down over my legs.

My mouth fell open. If I wasn’t careful, I’d start drooling. “You made this for me.”

He gave a nonchalant shrug. “The waffles aren’t frozen—Kage doesn’t have frozen food here—but if you don’t like them, I can go out and get you the frozen ones.”

I stared down at everything. The waffles were light and fluffy, covered with powdered sugar, as if done professionally. The toppings were all laid out in individual serving bowls and placed in specific spots to give off a certain aesthetic. Time and effort had been put into each aspect on the try.

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