Page 34 of Wanted By the Wolves

Except I don’t think it would have mattered. I would have been devastated if it had happened at all. Even knowing that, the rational part of me can’t seem to completely win over my omega, who worries about why they didn’t want me.

“Why didn’t you—” I can’t even finish the words.

“Spend your heat buried inside you?” The lilt to Gage’s voice is light and teasing, pushing back against some of the anxiety that seems to be rushing in from all sides.

“Yes,” I whisper. I feel the heat burn across my cheeks even though I’m hidden from his gaze.

Gage gives a throaty chuckle. “Believe me, there was no being around you without wanting to. It took everything I had not to join you when I first saw you in the bed. You were presenting, and it was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.”

My omega preens at his words even though they make my face burn. “But then, why the potion?”

“You couldn’t consent,” he explains as his hold on my hip tightens. “But don’t go thinking me gallant. That was all Dex.”

“What do you mean?” I peek my head out from my hiding place to study him. Even in half darkness, he’s strikingly handsome.

He cups my face, his thumb brushing my cheek. “Dex is your mate. I can see the bond already forming between you two. He was torn up by being unable to help you through your heat. He stayed by your side the entire time, even though it was agony for his wolf. But he insisted on the potion, wouldn’t hear a word about bringing you through it naturally.”

“Why?” I barely manage the word, my throat choked by a cocktail of mixed emotions.

“He said people had taken enough from you and refused to let your heat be another.” Gage’s thumb strokes under my eye, and it takes me a moment to realize it’s because I’m crying. “Dex was right, you know.”

I owe Dex and Briggs my life. They brought me here, saved me from the king and ferals, took care of me. Gage too, even though he tries to downplay it and pretend he didn’t have any part in this. What they’ve given me shouldn’t be more thanbasic human decency, except in this feral world, it's anything but typical.

“They don’t make wolves like the brothers much anymore.”

“That’s because they’re old,” Gage teases.

He’s back to hiding behind a joke. I find I like it, so I tease him back.

“They’re your age,”I remind him. I rest my head on his chest, tracing the black ink of the runes.

“Like I said,old.”

They haven’t even reached the age when wolves stop aging, which means they’re younger than fifty. Most of the elders are gone now, so I guess age is relative. Living like we do, twenty feels like the new one hundred.

“How old are we talking?” I get bolder with my exploration, brushing past his nipple.

Gage’s breath stutters, and his fingers dig into the curve of my ass. “I’m thirty-seven. Dex and Briggs are thirty-four, give or take.”

I twist his nipple. “Yeah, you’re right. That’ssuperold.”

He yelps, his big palm swatting my thigh. “No biting. No titty twisters. Or else they’re fair game for me too.”

“I make no promises,” I say with a laugh, wiggling out of his hold. I shield my boobs from his wandering hands, but he lands a pinch on my ass that smarts.

It devolves from there into a tumble in the sheets, each of us landing at least a nip. When his lips cover mine, I surrender without thought. The kiss is passionate and reassuring. I let myself get lost in it until my stomach interrupts with a growl.

“Come on. Let’s get you a snack.” Gage smacks a kiss on my cheek and rolls off the bed.

Chapter 20

Nova

Since coming to this cabin, I swear all I do is eat and nap. It isn’t easy for a small wolf alone in the forest to hunt, at least not enough that I ever felt satiated. I get why I’m hungry, but just being able to eat feels weird.

Gage hops into jeans andgrabs his T-shirt from the chair in the corner. “Arms up, little star.”

He pulls his T-shirt over my head, and my omega instincts give a happy little dance. It’s worn and smells of his earthy garden scent. I tug up the collar, sniffing like a lunatic as I follow him through the dark house. Outside, the storm still rages, and the windows in the living room let in the eerie white glow. It’s late, or maybe early, and the others are still asleep.

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