Page 37 of The Wolf's Prince
Nikolai nearly melted into a puddle at the press of his lips.
“Why do you have such an effect on me,” he wondered aloud. “Even your jacket made me feel a little bit better.”
“It’s my scent,” Soren said, stroking back his tangled hair. “Maybe you can’t catch it with your human senses, but I am still your mate and therefore, I calm you.”
“Yes,” Nikolai agreed. “That’s it.” Althoughsoothedwas a better word for it. Soren’s presence was like a balm.
He leaned forward, allowing his weight to rest against Soren for a minute while he took a steadying breath.
Soren was a rock for Nikolai to lean on, it seemed. He didn’t know how or why they had been brought together, but despite the events that had transpired, Nikolai found it hard to regret any of it.
“What next?” he finally asked.
“That is for us to decide together… but perhaps after we find your brother and get clean.”
Nikolai pulled back, nodding and turning to leave, but he didn’t get far before Soren took his hand, steadfastly supporting him as they emerged into the morning light.
It didn’t take long to find Andrey.
The wolf shifter village wasn’t exactly small. It was stretched over the mountainsides, each cliff and platform seeming to hold a dozen wolves stretching above and below. But the main area, a large, flat plateau acted like something of a village square.
A huge, permanent bonfire area was set up there with carved logs all around it to act as seating. It seemed to be the place where everyone congregated and it looked like the entire pack could gather there if they needed. Perhaps they did, each evening around the fire.
The thought of a community like that warmed Nikolai. He loved his family, but there were no children or grandparents. Even his friends, when they visited, did not sit for hours at the dinner table to chat. They always planned for things to do instead. Not even their dinners at the castle were organic.
Here, even in the late morning, countless people sat in the area, chatting and Andrey was among them.
Nikolai tugged Soren to a stop and watched Andrey from a distance as he smiled and laughed with the woman who had helped them yesterday. He looked far from the stuffy brother that Nikolai knew. He was sitting on a log on the ground with his hair unkempt, his jacket nowhere to be seen, and buttons on his shirt undone. While Nikolai watched, a small wolf cub pranced past Andrey and he bent, chuckling, and scooped the little thing into his arms, laughing when the pup began to chew on his shirt sleeve.
“What is this?” Nikolai asked, slowly approaching.
“It looks like one of the humans is already settling right in,” Soren said.
Andrey started and looked up at them, hastily releasing the pup when the fangs began to gnaw on his hand instead of his shirt.
Finally, he looked back up at them with a bashful shrug.
“Everyone has been quite kind to me,” he said. “Especially Anzu’s family. I like it here.”
Nikolai stared in shock.
“Well… hell, you should have been the one to mate with one of them then, it certainly seems to suit you.”
It was meant to be a joke. Andrey knew him well enough to know that and chuckled, as did Anzu, but Soren stiffened at his side.
“By the looks of it, you like it here too,” Anzu said, winking. “Or at least, you like it in Soren’s bed.”
Nikolai blushed, glancing around at all the others there, who were smiling and openly listening.
“Yes, well...”
Soren tugged him in closer, releasing his hand so that he could wrap his arm around Nikolai's shoulders instead.
“Don't tease Nikolai,” he chastised. “This is all new to him.”
Nikolai smiled.
“It's fine,” he muttered, although he was still blushing. He couldn't exactly pretend that he hadn't arrived here in heat and needed to get it fucked out of him.
