Page 43 of Bait Wolf
Coal shook his head, watching me.
“I can’t wait until you taste the good stuff,” he remarked breathlessly.
I blushed, pleasure unfurling in me. Whatever he saw in me that made me attractive to him, I wasn’t going to question it. It was starting to feel how I imagined winning the lottery did.
ChapterSixteen
Coal
When I said I was going to spoil Ember, I meant it.
After the shit he’d been through, he deserved the world, and I would break my back to give it to him. Even with Asha out there somewhere. Even with my heart in my throat every time I thought about her. Ember shouldn’t have to worry the way that I was worrying. He was too special.
There weren’t many omegas out there who wouldn’t complain after being left alone on their first mating day. There were even fewer who would pick out the cheapest items in the store to try on.
“Stop checking the price tags,” I warned as his eyes popped at the price on a pair of pants.
“These are three hundred dollars!” he said. “You can get the same thing for twenty at—”
“They’re not the same,” I insisted. “These ones are designer. Those ones were made in sweatshops by children.”
He grimaced, still looking hesitant.
“But—but what if you need the money to get Asha back?” he asked quietly.
My gaze dropped to the floor, taking in Ember’s loose clothing on the way down. He was even in a pair of my shoes. They had to be tied as tightly as possible and he was wearing two pairs of socks to fill them out, but he was still shuffling around in them.
It was sweet of him to worry and he wasn’t wrong. I might need all the money I had to get either Asha back or to keep Abram from trying to take Ember back. This wasn’t the life that I wanted to give my mate. This wasn’t the life I normally lived.
Aside from training with the team and fighting, I took Asha swimming at the local pool, we went to the playgrounds, we snuggled in front of the TV, and so on. On weeknights, I made her lunches for the next day and I walked her to the school bus every morning. I wasdomestic.
I wasn’t someone wrapped up in gangsters and fighting out of the ring. Not since I’d joined the fight league anyway.
That was the version of life that I wanted to welcome Ember in to. Not this.
The fact that he hadn’t evenmetAsha yet made me ache.
But I pushed that aside once more to try to reassure him.
“Youneednew clothes. Also, I don’t think a couple hundred dollars will stop me from paying for her safe return. I’m not counting down to the dollar,” I lied, letting my hands run down the length of the loose sweater he wore.
“Really?” he asked, looking up at me hopefully.
I nodded, smiling softly at the relief in his eyes.
Asha was going to love Ember when she met him. Hopefully soon.
It had been hours already. Was Alvy close to finding her yet? I opened my mouth, on the verge of telling Ember about that part of my plan. But he’d already had enough on his plate.
Instead, I stroked back his long, wavy, black hair. There were tangles in it and I made a mental note to pick up other things for him too. A comb, toothbrush, other toiletries. He was starting from scratch in all ways.
And he seemed to understand that, because he stopped arguing. Although he still seemed overwhelmed with the choices until I started picking things out for him.
“What about this?” I asked, holding up a green shirt.
He shrugged, still looking lost and I guessed the biggest part of his issue with this was that he wasn’t used to shopping in general, let alone when someone else was buying.
I showed him a few more items before realizing that he was just nodding ateverythingI suggested.
