Page 47 of The Weakest Wolf

“I do some of my best thinking on a run,” he murmurs.

“Do you? That’s nice.”

“Would you like to know what I thought about during my run?”

Briefly, I close my eyes. “I have a feeling you’re going to tell me anyway.”

“That thing Bowen took. It didn’t happen to be the necklace you’re suddenly not wearing, did it?”

I wish he’d drowned me in the soup.

Evasion. That’s going to be the only thing that saves me. “If you must know, the beating was because of you.”

“And what did I do to cause your—” Before he can finish, his phone rings, cutting him off.

I lift my head and watch as he pulls an expensive cell phone from his pocket. “What?” His eyes remain locked on me.

The male voice on the other end is as clear to me as if he were in the same room. “Why not Chloe?”

“You have my answer,” Galen says and hangs up. Just like that.

The phone disappears into his pocket.

I raise my eyebrow. “Chloe?”

Please tell me the reason I hate a woman I’ve never met isn’t what I think it is.

One corner of his mouth turns up. “You jealous?”

I snort. “Why would I be jealous?”

He shakes his head as if he doesn’t believe me, and he’s right not to. “You were telling me how I caused your fight.”

I return my gaze to the soup so he can’t read my terror at being ambushed in my eyes. “Some of the women think I’m distracting you when you should be busy picking one of them out as the new Luna.”

It’s the truth. Partly.

“The women did that to you?”

I have a flashback to Erin slamming my head against the washing machine before she dragged me out by my hair to where Tera and the others were already waiting.

“A few started things, but then everyone else was only too happy to pile in. As usual.”

I’d known the likelihood of Erin and Tera cornering me was high, but with Galen gone… wherever, and no clean sheets or even fresh clothes, I couldn’t put it off any longer.

The rest of the pack might not give a shit about hygiene, but I do.

“So that was because I haven’t chosen a Luna?” his eyes sharpen. “Or because I chose you as my second?”

Finished with my soup, I return the spoon to the bowl. “I’m no second, and it was an excuse. Maybe you should tell them about Chloe, and they’ll hold off next time.”

“That right?”

I reach for my glass of water. “Doubt it. I’m surprised you haven’t found a naked woman in your bed yet. Some of them have a desperate need to climb the ranks, and being Luna is the biggest prize.”

Galen’s eyes slide down my body, and even though I’m wrapped in a sheet, I swear I feel the heat of his touch as if I was naked. “They’ll find it occupied.”

“Well, I’ll be out of your bed soon enough,” I say as I lift the glass to my mouth.

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