Page 54 of Shadow Wolf
He rubbed the back of his neck and looked a little sheepish.
“Sorry, if I scared you. I was just so happy to see you. I haven’t seen you in over a year and I missed you.”
Well now it was my turn to be sheepish. Nash Lovell missed me? The grumpy eldest brother of the Lovell boys, missed Clare Briggs? Really?
“It’s okay, I just. I didn’t think you would miss me. I missed it here.” That was the truth, and even though I wasn’t close with Nash, I did miss his commanding presence around the house.
“You were the first female in our house after my mother died. You were here, every day, for almost two years. I might not say a lot, I’m not the best with words.” He shifted his weight and rubbed the dark scruff on his jaw.
“I loved when you were here. It felt like home again, and I missed that. I missed you, we all did. I kicked their asses when I heard what they had done. I’m so sorry that happened, none of us knew. Not even the Alpha, so don’t be surprised when he’s excited to see you back too. Welcome home, Clare.”
I felt like crying and laughing at the same time. The past year I had been a mess, not understanding where I fit in this world. My own family couldn’t be around me, and I couldn’t stand them. I felt like I only had Vicki, then Frankie in my life. But all along, there was a house full of amazing guys who missed me. And now I was here, my memories of this house… no, this home, were flooding back. This was a happy place, one I would escape to. It was always brimming with love and happiness and someone always here. There was never a quiet time in this house.
I smiled and held his arm, to stop him from rubbing all his facial hair away.
“I missed you too, now most of my memories are back, it feels surreal coming back here. But I’m not sure I’m back yet. I need to talk with them first.”
He nodded and pulled out his phone.
“I’ll text them, let them know you're here, that you’re home.”
“I have a mate back in Colorado. His name is Frankie and I love him. He’s a panther shifter, so before I even try to navigate all of this, I won’t be giving him up for your brother and Mekhi.”
He held my hand and looked down at me. He was the tallest and most muscular of the Lovell brothers. He would also be the next Alpha one day. I always felt he had to hold himself back from having fun, because he had to be the big brother. The future alpha, but I had seen him have fun a few times.
The memories were flooding in of him wrestling with Ranger and Jett. Or throwing popcorn at Lyell, who thought it was Ranger, and they shifted in the theater room and got in big trouble from Alaric, their father and Alpha. I kept my mouth shut, I didn't want to rat out Nash. I thought it was funny to see him like that.
I had seen Nash shift many times, one of the perks of being the only human female around all these shifter boys. They were naked, a lot. At first, I would cover my eyes, and hoped I didn’t catch a glimpse of anything. After a while, it was easy to maintain eye contact, or if I did see a swinging dick, I didn’t think anything of it. It was the way they lived here.
“Whatever happens with dumb and dumber, know that this will always be your home. You will always be welcome here. Including your mate. Are you staying here? You can have Lexi’s old room. I know you used to share with Jett, but until things work out, you can stay here with us. I’ll protect you from the dumbasses.”
I wasn’t sure if I would want to stay here, I think I might need to go home and have my own space. If I wanted to stay somewhere, I would go to Mekhi’s house. I love his mom, she was older than the other moms and was a real homebody. His two fathers were very similar to him, sweet and caring. Mekhi was an only child. She couldn’t have any more children, she said it was sad she couldn’t give Mekhi a brother, but he didn’t need one when he had Jett. But wait a moment.
“Who is Lexi?”
Nash chuckled.
“You missed a hell of a lot being away. Probably for the best. But Lexi is my sister-in-law. She was claimed by Ranger and Maverick.” My mouth dropped open.
“No way, they became packmates? What happened to Ranger’s packmate Callum?” I didn’t really like Callum, but something huge must have happened.
Nash shook his head and let out a groan.
“I would be here all day if I told you everything. I’m sure the boys can fill you in. But just know, you’re always welcome back here. If you want to go to college in Port Angeles, Lexi and Ada go there now. But go inside and wait in the kitchen, fix yourself a snack. Jett and Mekhi are on their way, I can sense them getting close.”
Chapter36
Jett
“Let me do the talking.” Mekhi shoved past me as he entered through the backdoor of my house.
We had been over at his house when we got the text from Nash. He wasn’t the first one to message either. We had three more, Elijah knew who it was the moment she parked outside the gate. He had messaged saying he was waiting for her to come in before messaging us and to keep it cool.
Nash’s message held a warning. To walk. Not run. He was talking with her first and wasn’t to be disturbed. So, we spied on them, listening in. It wasn’t nice of us; we shouldn’t have listened to their private conversation, but it would help with how we approached her. And apparently, I was going in like a hot head.
“I wasn’t going to attack her.” I grumbled behind. Everyone called me the fun, happy one, and now I was the miserable one. No one wanted to be around me these last few months. But I knew seeing Clare would turn that around. My wolf was so excited, he could smell her, and he wanted to mark her so bad.
Mekhi could sense that and shot me a warning glare.
