Page 25 of The Strongest Wolf

With my attention still focused out of the window, I nod. Weeks ago, in a highway motel, we both accepted that neither of us were particularly blessed in the sharing department. But it looks like Galen is actually doing something about it.

Other than telling him about my parents' murders and why I wanted revenge, I’ve been just as closed-mouth as I’ve always been. I don’t know when or even if that will ever change.

“Dom and I dealt with the guys in the alley. We fought well together—so well that we stopped at a bar to celebrate. After we’d drank some more, we decided to stick together and travel a bit, work whatever jobs we could, and find a place we could call our own. Along the way, we met shifters that we thought we’d get along with. Aly, Louisa, and Jones were the first, so they tagged along with me and Dom.”

“How did you know you could get along with them?” I ask.

A smile kicks up one corner of his lips. “Well, them not trying to kill us the moment we stepped foot in their city was usually a good indication we could trust them, at least a little.”

I snort. “Smartass.”

His smile grows. “There aren’t many places where you won’t find a pack, so we could usually tell on the first day if we could risk staying, or if we should continue looking for a job somewhere else.”

My amusement fades. After Mom’s family threw her and us out because she’d mated with a man they refused to accept, no pack would ever let us stay in their territory. They would chase us away, usually not without beating up Dad first.

Maybe they’d have been more accepting of us if Dad wasn’t an alpha, since no shifter wants such a dominant wolf potentially threatening their position. “But you found somewhere?”

Instinctively, I reach for the locket around my throat, reassuring myself that it’s still there. Although I don’t look at their picture every day now, being able to touch the locket openly instead of always trying to hide it the way I did when I was with the Stones is a comfort I never believed I’d have.

Galen glances at me as if he can feel my pain, so I turn to focus on the towering fir trees. “We stumbled into more shifters in Indiana who were eager to leave their pack.”

My heart staggers as I jerk my head around to face him again, my eyes wide. “Like the Stones?”

Shit, how many packs are out there just like the Stones?

Galen takes his hand off the wheel and reaches over to grab mine, all without taking his eyes off the winding mountain road. “Not like the Stones. Their alpha was a drunk who spent most of his days wasted. Didn’t give a shit about the pack finances, or even the pack themselves.” He sighs. “They hadn’t eaten in a while, since the alpha had his enforcers controlling access to the food. Things got so bad that they walked. It was either that, or stay and starve.”

I stare at his profile in horror. “What kind of alpha doesn’t even feed his pack?”

Galen shrugs. “One who only gives a shit about himself. Some just like the title and they don’t want to lift a fucking finger to lead.” As we enter Hardin’s main street, he glances over at me. “Not all packs are like the Stones, little wolf.”

“I know,” I lie.

Some are worse. I only have to think about how my mom’s pack turned their backs on us—even when we had no place to go. Even when we were desperate.

Then there’s Galen’s parents who mated Eden to an alpha so abusive that years later, she hasn’t fully recovered from the things he did to her. Now there’s this pack with an alpha who starved his packmates nearly to death.

Sounds like there are more bad ones than good. A lot more.

His raised eyebrow is all the answer I need. He doesn’t believe me, and he’s right not to. One day I’ll stop thinking every pack is like the Stones. Just not today. Or even next week. Maybe not even next month.

“Two weeks, and he thinks he knows everything about me,” I mutter just loud enough for him to hear.

Raising my hand, he kisses my knuckles. “That’s because I do.”

His soft kiss and a new note in his voice make me feel warm at the same time I want to pull away from him because he’s right. He might not know everything about me, but he knows more than just about anyone out there.

Too much.If he wanted to hurt me, he could do it easily. Because I’d let him in.

Despite me tugging at my hand, he pulls up outside a little diner where there are more vehicles parked outside than anywhere else before letting go.

It’s a cute town, I think to myself as I push my door open and take in the little gas station, grocery store, bank, and hairdresser.

They have everything they need here. Not everything you’d find in a big city, but just enough to be comfortable.

“Is your town like this?” I slam my door shut before heading toward the glass-fronted diner.

Before I reach it, he snags my hand. “I wouldn’t exactly call this place a town.” His tone is dry.

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