Page 94 of A Wolf's Heart

However, with the three of them, I was wolf first.

In the shifter world, I had three mates. I hadn’t met a single gamma that blinked twice at me holding Weylin’s hand, only for Rainor to dip down and kiss my neck, as he often did when he was leaving me.

Gamma. Task force, police officers, cronies, minions—they were the bulk of the enforcing group in the Cridhe pack. They looked after everyone, upheld the laws, and ensured the safety of the pack. Learning these terms meant something to me. I was part of my own kind. I wasn’t standing in a room full of wolves and feeling like an outsider anymore. I was no longer someone who missed the joke or was ignorant to the cultural situation as I had been during my first debriefing.

Weylin and Rainor made me feel included. Kage was… Kage, but he treated me the same as any other shifter. It meant something. I wasn’t integrated into their pack—I remained a separate entity on my own, Rainor had assured me—but still, I felt part of the pack.

“What do you think?”I asked, holding up a little black dress and a red dress.

Max turned his head to the side.

“Supposedly, every girl needs a black dress in their wardrobe, but I’m kinda partial to the red.” It was a deep red, and it reminded me of those times the beast and Rainor shared the light together. Rainor had said they were working on it, making slow progress but working on it all the same.

I blinked and looked back down at Max. I held the dresses out. “Touch,” I said.

Max stood up, walked the couple steps to me, and then placed his nose on the red dress. I smiled. “Who needs girlfriends when you have man’s best friend?”

I got to work dressing, applying some light makeup, and styling my hair. Putting it partially up, so it would be out of my face, with strands of soft curls coming down. All the while, Max watched me like the best wingman a girl could ask for.

The guys had invited me out on a date, a night out with the three of them. It wasn’t just that, though; it was a night out with other shifters, immersed in their world. I had gone out and bought the two dresses, since I wasn’t able to settle on which one I wanted at the store. I knew the brands were cheaper, when compared to the guys’ clothing, but I loved them. That’s all that mattered to me.

When I went into my room to get ready, the house was empty, just Max and me. When I stepped out of my room and walked into the living room, three large, devilishly sexy men stood before me.

Rainor leaned against the counter, arms crossed as he watched Weylin and Kage banter back and forth about something. He wore one of his usual dark suits but with a twist, no tie and the first few buttons undone. Apparently, this was Rainor’s way of relaxing and letting loose. I loved his exposed neckline and wanted to run my tongue along his collarbone while slipping my hands under the warmth of his jacket. The thrilling part was, he would let me.

Rainor caught me staring at him and gave a slow perusal of my body with his red eyes. I could feel myself flush under his gaze, but I wore it with pride.

Only then did Kage and Weylin cool off, both of them sniffing the air. Pheromones weren’t reserved only for heat cycles, I had learned.

I didn’t get a chance to fully take Kage in before I was spun around in Weylin’s arms.

“I vote for staying here,” he said, then he dipped his face to my neck, his tongue doing exactly what I had wanted to do to Rainor just moments ago. “Fuck, you are delicious.”

I slipped my hand under the lapel of his vest, right over his heart, and a shiver racked through him.

Rainor stepped to my other side, taking my hand and gently pressing a kiss to my knuckles. “We have a reservation.”

My eyes lifted to Kage’s. He held himself back, hands in his pockets as he watched us through heated eyes. Kage wore a dark blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, despite it being a cold autumn evening. He had on dark pants with a black belt. His wrists were bare, his usual watch still missing, even though I had searched the entire house for it.

Kage cleared his throat, catching the other guys’ attention. He tossed the keys to Weylin. “You’re driving.”

After giving Max some extra pets and loving, I fed him quickly before saying my goodbyes. “See you later, Maxy! Be good,” I called back to him.

To my surprise, Kage got into the back seat with me. Weylin and Rainor didn’t show a hint of surprise as they took the front seat.

“We need to set some ground rules,” Rainor said as soon as we left the driveway.

“Oh?” I asked.

“Yeah, no accepting any damn challenges. I swear to the fates, Lila, I will spank you.” Weylin used his serious voice, the one he normally reserved for talking to the gammas.

“I’m not backing down.” I couldn’t back down. Maybe I was too confident in my abilities, but I refused to work at the head of a task force and not prove my spot in the pack. Even though I wasn’t part of the pack, there was still a pecking order.

Kage placed his large calloused hand on my bare thigh, his fingers long enough to curl along the inside of my leg. “I thinkshe handled herself well the last time,” Kage said, and my jaw dropped.

“You chewed me out.” I glared at him. “I got a man exiled.”

“Shifter,” Rainor corrected.

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