Page 70 of In the Mouth of the Wolf

He patted my knee. “You’ll see.”

33

MARLOWE

Archer and Camden were pacing the floor when we arrived, talking over each other until Elias held up his hands. “She doesn’t want to talk about it yet. Let’s give her some space.”

Cam pushed past him and hugged me anyway. “Your apology chocolates are in your nest.”

“My nest?” I felt my wolf stir under my skin, the first time since I’d shifted that night at the hotel. She was… happy. Excited.

“Dammit, Cam. I was just about to surprise her.” Elias huffed.

Cam turned around, a snarl overtaking his lips. “You took her initial bonding from me; I’m just making things square.”

Bonding.

I was bonded to this pack now. Forever, by the way it had been described to me, which meant there was no escape. Even if they all turned out to be violent psychos. Had this been a giant mistake?

Elias clutched his chest and winced in pain, looking towards me in horror. “You regret the bond?”

Archer stood up to Elias and grabbed him by the shirt. “This is why I wanted to wait. The bond is new enough that she can still reject it. Do you haveanyidea what that would do to us?”

“Guys,” my voice was barely a whisper. The tension, the fighting, the anger… I felt every negative emotion running through the pack and wrapped my arms around my stomach. “I can’t take this. Everything hurts.”

Cam picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist while he held my chest against his, purring deeply. “I know. We fucked up today, huh? We got just the place for you to feel better.”

He brought me upstairs to a room I hadn’t been inside yet, setting me down in front of the door. It opened with a gentle push. “Surprise!”

I couldn’t explain why, but the space instantly calmed me. Everything about it was soft and cozy – big, fluffy blankets and pillows were piled everywhere, and small fairy lights were strung along the wall. An air diffuser in the corner released a steady cloud of lavender-scented mist near a large potted plant, and a white noise machine played soothing nature sounds. Even the carpet was covered in plush rugs.

As promised, a box of chocolates waited for me on a nightstand, next to a giant bed covered by a light, gauzy canopy.

“This is a nest?” I asked, running my fingers along a blanket draped over an overstuffed, boucle-upholstered armchair.

“This isyournest. Omegas sometimes need a breather from dealing with their alphas, so it’s tradition to build a little sanctuary filled with their favorite stuff where they can get away from us. Most of the credit goes to Elias, he probably has the best taste. At least that’s what he told us. Of course, I don’t want you to hate it, but if you do, I’d be happy to rub it in his face.”

The console table under the mounted TV included a little token from each of the alphas – a Packers bobblehead from Cam, a Bluetooth speaker for music from Nolan, a coffee mug emblazoned with the California state flag from Elias, and a book on the history of shifters from Archer.

My breath caught in my chest, and Cam’s face fell. “Shit, you do hate it?”

I shook my head. “No, I absolutely love it.” I might rearrange some things, but other than that, it really did feel like my own personal refuge from the storm of aggression and frustration I felt raging through the pack bonds.

He released a sigh of relief, bending down to kiss me. I stopped his lips with my finger. “Now get out.”

Cam grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

I waited until the door closed until I let myself collapse on the bed. Everything was so soft – I just wanted to wrap myself up like a burrito, eat the chocolates, and watch the terrible new Christmas romance that had just been released on Netflix in peace.

But the book that Archer had selected was calling to me. I went up to grab it off the table and brought it back over to my bed, hoping to find some solace and perhaps a little insight into a world I was struggling to find my footing in.

The text was dry, but the contents were fascinating. Unlike humans, who could trace their origins to a specific place, large groups of shifters seemed to spring up randomly at different places and points in time. Cultures all around the world had different myths about us, so it was somewhat easy for historians to pinpoint when certain populations came into existence. The Navajo had skinwalkers, the Celtics had the Fianna, India had the Rashasa, Japan had kitsune, and so forth.

Some scientists and historians wondered whether shifters were simply humans with mutated DNA – after all, we looked nearly identical and could have children together – and that perhaps some perfect storm of weather or disease or natural disaster could trigger an entire population to change in the same way.

Once I got to how shifters escaped the Black Plague, my eyes began to gloss over a bit. I set the book aside and decided to give my brain a break with that awful movie.

34

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