Page 60 of Taken By The Wolves
To Scarlet, I say. “Be ready to leave. It’s time.”
“Okay.” Lines bracket her mouth. I’m impressed with how calm she’s remained, and the way she’s avoided asking questions as though she can sense that it isn’t the time to reveal anything about our situation.
***
We leave the boundaries of Braysville before Scarlet asks, “Who was that man?”
“One of Gregory’s pack,” I tell her. “We have to assume he knows about Ahya.”
Her expression falls. “Will he come for her?”
I reach out to cup her cheek. “I don’t know, Scarlet. Gregory is unpredictable, but we can assume he’ll be interested in her existence. Not necessarily because she’s Aura’s child, but because she’s a she.” I reach over to touch Scarlet’s wild hair. “Don’t worry. We’ll keep her safe. We’ll keep you both safe.”
“I believe you.” Her hazel eyes are soft as they gaze at me, giving me the confidence that now is the time.
“But while you’re unclaimed, Scarlet, your life is at greater risk.”
She blinks, the softness morphing into something immediately more suspicious. I touch her lips before she replies. “I know you’re unsure and you have questions, but sometimes in life, our hands are forced. Sometimes we can’t wait for the perfect moment, and we have to jump in feet-first, regardless of the dangers ahead. This is one of those times.”
She shakes her head, but I lean in to kiss her, showing her with the softness of my lips all the emotions that I hold in my heart for her. Ahya gurgles, and I pull back to look at the sweet little girl whose existence is still a mystery.
“Sometimes we have to trust that the goddess’s plan forus is greater than the plan we made for ourselves.”
“The goddess?” Her eyebrow arches in question.
“She was wise enough to send you to us, and Ahya to you.”
I steel myself against a shiver. The world we live in is shifting, and “ours” means more than shared love. It’s a promise to protect. To defend to the death. It’s ownership and territory. It’s fate solidifying beneath my skin.
Scarlet might not be ready, but it’s time to do what is required. It’s time to claim our mate.
29
SCARLET
The tension in the cabin is palpable. The threat to me and Ahya looms over the men in this house in a way that I’m struggling to comprehend. I’m not from this dark corner of the world, and trying to understand the relationships and the customs of wolf culture is complex and baffling. All I know is I haven’t wanted to put Ahya down all day. Keeping her close is a fierce instinct. I’m not her mother. I’ve never spent time around young babies, and yet, I seem to know what she needs as though she’s my own.
I love her.
And watching stoic Nixon, rugged Reed, and gentle Finn fight for her smiles, try to anticipate her needs, and hover around her like silent guardians has me melting over them, too. There’s something about a man showing kindness to children, especially when they’re not blood, that reveals an essential inner trait that ticks all my female boxes.
They’ve even started to override my fears about this strange world I find myself in.
They think I’m their mate. A woman fated to join their pack. But I’m just Scarlet, an ordinary human woman with a splintered past and a sharp tongue. I came to Braysville for lumber, and now? Now, I find myself aching when one of them leaves the room, caring for a child, and at the center of a poly relationship with men who are also wolves. My mind is blown at how fast my life has changed.
My mother warned me about strangers.
But how can I be afraid of men who treat a foundling child with such tender care? How can I run from protectors who see me, all of me, and never once ask me to be less?
Still,I ask myself quietly,Is this really what I want?
After we returned home from town, Reed disappeared into the woods. Nixon and Finn engaged in much low, angry conversation. Then Nixon disappeared, and Finn encouraged me and Ahya to join him in his workshop. It was so calming to watch him take tools to wood, smoothing surfaces and engraving marks. Ahya watched calmly from my arms, clutching a miniature wooden horse Finn had whittled for her. Outside, birds called, and the trees rustled their secrets, and the scent of an unfamiliar world seeped into my consciousness. I realized that I’m settled in a way I never had in my life back home.
My mom’s warning voice that’s always there whenever I’m thinking about making changes or decisions, interrupts my calm.
Beware of strangers, Scarlet. They’re wolves in sheep’s clothing. You never know what they want from you until it’s too late.
But I know what these men want from me. They want to love me, claim me, bind us together forever in a way no paper or ring ever could, and that should terrify me. It should make me want to run for the hills, but I’ve seen theway Hunter, Robert, and Evan look at Goldie like she hung the stars for them. I’ve seen the gentle way they touch her, and the softness in their eyes when she speaks. They’ve shown me the mate bond, and from the outside, it looks beautiful.
