Page 69 of Feral

He didn’t move, but eyed the others in the room as if he were expecting trouble.

Gran just laughed and shook her head.

“Don’t worry dear, it will pass. Why, when I mated my Gerald, he wouldn’t set me on my feet all day! Carried me around like I was a child, but it was better than him fightin’ with the others.”

I gave her a shaky grin and tried to be at peace with it but it felt so odd to be carried around like this.

“Now, this is Angus,” Gran pointed to the very large Were next to her, “Liam,” to the one that looked nearly identical to Lowell, “Ruben,” to the one scowling in the back, “and dear Lizzie,” she pointed to the woman.

It was disconcerting to be the focus of so many pairs of eyes that all held such different feelings within them. I wasn’t sure if Ruben wanted to toss me out or slice me up. And Lizzie looked like she was ready to snarl at me. Liam was the only one, besides Gran, who was smiling.

“It’s nice to meet you all.”

“Isn’t that nice?” Lowell said. “Can we eat now?”

Gran smacked him again, more playful this time, and walked past us to what I assumed was the kitchen. Fraser stood there, hands tight on my body as the rest of his family walked past us. I half expected him to snarl at Angus when he came near. And while Fraser did tense, he didn’t make a sound.

“Welcome to our family,” Angus said, his voice impossibly deep. “I had someone pick up yer bag from the train station. It’s in yer room upstairs. I look forward to getting’ to know ya better.”

“Thank you,” I said weakly.

Next came Lowell, who winked at me, oblivious to Fraser’s thin restraint being taxed, and then Liam, leaning heavily on his cane.

“I hear yer an academic,” he said.

I swallowed, nerves ricocheting through me. What had Fraser said to them? And what did “academic” mean to them? Would I be expected to have a certain level of knowledge about a range of subjects? To act a certain way?

All I could think of was how I constantly didn’t measure up in my family, and how devastated I would be if that were the case here. Which didn’t make any sense considering I’d only just met them, and this relationship wasn’t real.

Still, the feelings were, and that’s what was winning at the moment.

“I-I am,” I finally said.

Liam’s smile widened and I could almost picture the Werewolf with a pair of glasses on his snout, pouring over books in a library.

“I am somethin’ of an amateur scholar, mostly antiquities and such. If ya have the time, perhaps we could talk about our areas of interest? I have a small library here, if ya ever want to peruse it?”

Something loosened in my chest at his simple, gentle words and I smiled.

“That would be lovely, thank you.”

Ruben was next and the moment he was near me, a dread settled in my stomach. He radiated fear and something else that I couldn’t quite pin down. He swallowed, eyes darting around, before giving Fraser a quick nod and making for the kitchen. The last one was Lizzie. She was quite pretty, with dark brown hair and gray eyes, a smattering of freckles on her face. I had assumed that since she was part of the clan that she’d be in her true form but perhaps the women didn’t do that.

“So,” she said, crossing her arms and giving Fraser a hard look, “you can mate whoever the hell ya please, but Angus and I have to suffer? Must be nice being the second son. No one needs ya to do anythin’ other than rut and be obedient.”

“No one wanted to hurt ya,” Fraser whispered. “It was an unfortunate circumstance.”

“Yes, unfortunate. But for who? You were the one that negotiated the terms. You were the one that told Angus he had to put me aside. Do ya have any idea how much it hurt? How much we both…” she swallowed, and closed her eyes, collecting herself. When she looked back at us, the hard glint in her gaze was breathtaking in its cruelty.

“I just hope ya both have better luck than we did.”

The threat was thinly veiled at best, and Fraser bared his teeth at her, his arms holding me very tight.

“Ya touch her and—”

“What, Fraser? What could ya possibly do to me that is worse than what has passed?”

“Why are ya even here?” he asked.

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