Page 14 of Claimed By the Feral Wolves

To my surprise, Cayson’s dark eyes find mine. “My Jelly Bean takes up too much of my time for me to have any left for someone else.”

I lift a brow. “Even at night.”

He flashes me a dirty smile. “Oh, it’s usually late at night when I’m thinking about my Jelly Bean. Pants down, cock in hand–”

“Cayson!” I shout, my face flaming, even though I’m happy that’s the only thing he’s doing at night.

He shrugs. “Ask an honest question, get an honest answer.”

Ezra stops beside me on the bed and reaches out, touching my throat in a strangely intimate way. “You’re healing.”

I swallow hard. “The bruises aren’t so bad.”

Our eyes meet and tension sings between us. I remember his light kiss after the runway show. It’d been short and sweet, but it’d also whispered of so much more. I wonder what Ezra is like when he loses control. For some reason, just the idea of it makes me feel warm and uncomfortable.

Ezra looks away, clearing his throat. “Well, I’m glad. Even though I do kind of wish Kurt had given us a reason to mess up that face of his.”

“You mean, mess it up more, right?” Cayson asks, smirking. “Because Kurt is one ugly motherfucker.”

I laugh. “He looks like a human in pug form… It’s a look that works for a dog. Humans? Not so much.”

“She’s right,” Cayson says, smiling at me.

“Did you see his face at the fashion show?” Ezra asks, smirking.

“Oh, he had a definite squirrel up his butthole,” Cayson mutters.

I smile, but then remember the ultima. “Brock saw it all though, and he didn’t look happy.”

Ezra sighs and leans back, his gaze meeting mine. “This fake relationship thing we’re doing is really tricky. We have to convince everyone, including the council, that we’re all in love. We have to make it clear we’re not getting along with Kurt, and that he can’t possibly work as your mate because he doesn’t fitwith us.Whileat the same time pretending to be giving him a chance.”

“In my opinion,” Cayson says, popping his fingers, “the way we’re acting just solidifies just how much we don’t like him. They’ll hardly be able to deny us when it comes time to refuse the connection with him. Everyone will have seen how much we hate him. This whole ‘giving him a chance thing’ is just so Kurt’s big, bad daddy doesn’t come down on the council when he’s throwing a tantrum because he didn’t get the mate he wanted.”

“I just don’t want them getting mad at me,” I say. “I don’t want their attention on me at all.”

Ezra gives me a gentle smile. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about them. We’ll handle any issues if they come up.”

And I believe him.

Cayson and Ezra work together to get the game set up on the bed, spreading the board out so we can all reach the pieces. Once it’s set up, we’re all poured a generous glass of the best tasting wine I’ve ever had. I never really remember having red wine before. Maybe a sip or two when I was a girl. But I don’t remember taking a sip of a wine and thinking,wow, this reminds me of blackberries and strawberries, in the most amazing way, like I do now.

“This is amazing,” I say.

“Really? I thought it was just decent,” Cayson says, looking at me curiously.

I feel embarrassed. “To be fair, I haven’t exactly had a lot of opportunities to try wine.”

“What?” Cayson sounds shocked. “I’ve tried about a thousand different wines, from all over the world. Wine is the stuff of dreams. A full life requires wine.”

Ezra lifts a brow. “Not everyone is privileged enough to have a wine cellar.”

“Oh, right,” Cayson says, wincing and rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s okay,” I say, waving his comment away. “My cabin has a lot of things: a beautiful lake nearby, a wonderful garden, places to find wild mushrooms, and the most beautiful wildflowers. The silvery lupines are my favorite. But it also has a lot of disadvantages: no people nearby, which I’m actually starting to see as not as great a thing as I thought, no modern comforts, food can be scarce and food variety is limited, meaning sometimes you have to go hungry even from basic things, and the cabin tends to get pretty cold in the winter, since it doesn’t have proper insulation.”

Both men are staring at me. I suddenly feel nervous.What did I say?

Ezra’s mouth pulls into a thin line. “Your alpha should have helped insulate your cabin, and he should be making sure you have enough food.”

---