Page 30 of Wolf's Claimed Mate
“Kitty.” I smiled widely, tilting my head to the side, widening my eyes innocently in the way that men like Conall liked to see because it made them feel powerful. “You want me to wear a tail and a bell on a collar to go with that?”
He stepped close to me, his hard chest flat against mine. “It was your suggestion, not mine.”
Suddenly, I could imagine it. Him, flicking a damn bell on a collar, pushing me to my knees.Good girl—my good girl.
I flushed stupidly, hating myself.
Conall smiled. “I could even get it engraved for you. Property of—”
“I’m no one’s property,” I snapped and walked past him, shoving him backward. He was a thick wall of muscle, so I endedup side-stepping him. Then I paused. “Where the hell are we going?”
“I was going to take you to Fayetteville,” he told me. I stilled. He noticed, of course, he did. “What?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Nothing to do with this, at least. I spent some summers there because it was where my dad grew up. My grandparents lived there.” I cringed at the next part, unsure of why I confessed it. “I went to summer school at Fayette High School for one year. It wasthe worstsummer of my life.”
“That sounds rough,” he said. “Want to know what my worst summer was?”
I rolled my eyes. “Something tragic, I suppose?”
“Actually, it was the summer I hit puberty. Balls dropped, voice cracked, my dick wouldn’t go down, like, ever. It chafed like a bastard but the hard-ons never—”
“Okay,” I shouted, half snorting with laughter. “What was it really?”
He hesitated. “Honestly, it was probably the summer after Fen’s dad died. He got trashed every night, swore me in as his beta, made me clean up the parties to prove that I’d be there for him. I always told Dakota those stories of how you gotta sort the shit before you rule the house.” He scrunched his face up. “Or whatever, you know. But anyway, we all struggled to be there for him. He was lost.” He cocked his head. “What was your actual worst summer?”
The summer, my dad realized I had a boyfriend and started commenting.
The summer, Jackson broke up with me.
The summer, my mom stopped answering my calls.
“My summers have been great,” I lied. “I’m a beach girl. Obviously. What’s not to love about the beach?”
“Best summer, then?” He didn’t look at all convinced by my lie but I wouldn’t tell him the truth. He could be vulnerable, but I didn’t have to be.
“I went to San Francisco for my eighteenth birthday,” I told him as I led the way to the woods. “That was probably it. I celebrated on the beach around a campfire with a ton of people I didn’t know.”
“Sounds great,” he muttered sarcastically. “An important birthday with no friends.”
“I had Jackson.”
“Ah. So you had sex all night on the beach and passed out from cocktails?”
I grinned. “Pretty much.” Again, the lie to keep up my façade went smoothly off my tongue.
He picked up on what he was saying before. “I was going to take you to Fayetteville, but I changed my plans.”
“What sort of change?”
“Yourchange,” he said simply.
Chapter 14 - Conall
The more time I spent around Sasha, the more I noticed things like her tells that gave her away. I still didn’t know when she was lying entirely, but I could see the seeds of pretense she planted to a degree. I never gave a shit about opening up; my life had happened, I didn’t care. Talking about it didn’t take it away or belittle it, so I gave information out whenever I wanted to.
It never really occurred to me to lie about things unless they were my feelings about Sasha.
“You know, it’s just as fun to kiss you as it is to argue with you,” I told her with a smirk. I initially had wanted to take her to Fayetteville, as I’d said, but there was a vacant look in her eyes whenever she stopped talking, and I feared that I’d lose her for a while if I talked about the pack too much.
