Page 84 of Wulf's Pack
“You want your dad to go first so you can see it’s not so scary?”
She nods again.
“Okay. I’m going to shift now. You can keep holding your dad’s hand the whole time. It will all be done in a minute, and then you’ll be part of the pack.”
She gives me another nervous nod and squeezes her dad’s hand. He lets her crush his fingers and gives me a somber nod. “Thank you, Alpha. You have my loyalty for life.”
I don’t waste any more time. I strip down and shift quickly, but I approach Dennis slowly so as not to scare Abby. Dennis climbs off the bleachers and takes a knee on the floor in front of me. He holds out his hand, and I clamp down on his forearm. Once the bond is in place, Dennis motions for his daughter to join him. She slowly kneels on the floor beside her dad and takes his hand in another crushing grip. I wait for her to let me know she’s ready, and my wolf is surprisingly patient. He’s already in love with the pup and doesn’t want to scare her. She takes a deep breath, then slowly holds out her shaking arm. I press my nose to her forearm first in a gesture meant to soothe, then, as gently as possible, I bite down just hard enough to break the skin. Abby whimpers, but she doesn’t cry. I release her and then lick the wound, wanting her to feel her new alpha’s love. The pack bond flares to life, and I reach out to her.You okay, sweetheart? You did great. You were so brave.
Abby gasps. “I can hear you!”
It’s the pack bond. You can always reach out to me, and I will hear you. You just have to send me a thought. Go ahead and give it a try.
Like this?
Exactly. Good girl. Now you’re connected to me. As your alpha, I’m always here for you, just like your dad, okay?
Abby nods again. Her eyes mist over, and she flings her arms around my wolf’s neck. If he were a cat, he’d be purring. As it is, he’s seconds away from rolling over and giving her his belly, the softie.
He huffs at my mental teasing.Need pups, he says, pushing a picture of Skylar, stomach swollen with our child, at me. It doesn’t take a genius to decipher that demand.
We’ll give her pups, I promise.But we need to bring her home first.
Find mate. Kill alpha.
Couldn’t agree more, buddy.
After I shift back and dress, I open up the pack link and speak to everyone.Hey guys, we have two new members. Dennis Madsen and his daughter, Abby. Please be welcoming, and introduce yourselves when you can.
“Welcome to the pack.” I shake hands with Dennis, and Abby surprises me by holding her arms out in a silent request for me to pick her up. She’s too old to want to be held, but I’m sure she’s overwhelmed by the pack bond right now and is instinctively seeking comfort from her alpha.
I pick her up and melt a little when she lays her head on my shoulder and wraps her arms around my neck. Dennis watches her with such a pained expression. His emotions are tumultuous and so mixed. He’s relieved and happy, but seeing how much she needed this has him feeling sad and guilty as well. “You’ve done right by her,” I say gently.
Dennis wets his lips and swallows hard. “Thank you, sir,” he rasps.
“I wish I could give you time to settle in and meet everyone, but we’re in crisis mode at the moment. If you’re truly serious about Abby helping, it would be best to do that as soon as possible.”
“Of course. Baby girl, are you ready to help Alpha Winters?”
Abby pulls her head off my chest. “Yes. I’m ready.”
Dennis wrings his hands and looks around the room. “Is there somewhere more private we can go? Abby’s very vulnerable when she falls into a trance. I trust the pack, but it still makes me nervous, and she needs to be able to concentrate without distractions.”
“Of course.” I don’t blame the man at all for being nervous. He hasn’t had a pack for nearly a decade and doesn’t know any of us. I’m not sure if I had a daughter, I would be able to let her do this at all.
I lead them up to my apartment. “Will this work?”
Dennis and Abby look around and both nod. “Do you have something of your mate’s?” Abby asks. “Something that belongs to her?”
For a moment, I panic. “Skylar has only been here days, and she came with nothing. I’ve got clothes for her, but will they work if she’s never even worn them?”
Abby frowns in thought, then says, “What about a hairbrush or a toothbrush? Those would work better because they’ll have her DNA on them.”
I sigh in relief. “Yes. I have that.”
I hurry to my bathroom, startling Sophia, who is watching over Audrey, when I burst into my room. “How is she?” I ask as I head into the master bathroom.
“Clean,” Sophia says. “Comfortable.”
