Page 34 of The Strongest Wolf

“I am.” A smile warms her voice. “Luka is…”

I turn to find her gaze hazy and distant, and a soft smile curving her lips. “That good in bed, huh?” A hot flush burns its way up her cheeks, and seeing it, my grin widens. “Is that why you two were living in the cabin before Galen and I turned up? You didn’t want anyone to hear what you two were up to?”

She pulls away, blushing so hard that it must cover every inch of her. “Sierra!”

“What? You were happy to rub it in my face earlier.” I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively. “Going at it like rabbits, huh?”

“Hey!” a male voice drags my attention to the front door behind us. Luka, dressed in a pair of black jeans and a blue t-shirt, steps out. “Ease off my mate,” he mock-growls.

I raise my eyebrow. “Yourmate? I thought that wasn’t happening until tomorrow night.”

He crosses over to join us on the porch steps. To my delight—and Eden’s evident embarrassment—he scoops her into his lap and kisses the top of her hair. “One night doesn’t change what she already feels like to me.”

I fan myself. “Wow, Eden, you found one who’s not only hot, but a romantic to boot. Are you sure I can’t have him?” Not that I’d want anyone other than Galen, who I might grumble if he dragged me into his lap the way Luka just did to her, but I wouldn’t want to leave it.

“As if you want anyone other than Galen,” she says, wrapping her arm around his hip and leaning into his chest.

They must have gotten dressed together,I muse as I take in Eden’s pale blue shorts and black tank top. But it’s cute—theyare cute together. And after everything Eden suffered, she deserves all the happiness that comes her way.

I shrug. “I guess he’s okay.”

“Okay?” The yell from a few feet away has us all turning toward the forest. At the edge of the forest is Galen, with his cell phone clamped to his ear, glaring at me.

“You’d be better than okay if you’d stop eavesdropping,” I yell back.

When he flashes me a grin before he goes back to his conversation with Dom, I turn away with a smile. To find Eden scrutinizing me. “What?”

“Nothing. I just don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile before,” Eden admits.

I blink my eyes in surprise. “What are you talking about? Of course you have.”

She chews on her lower lip, deep in thought, before she shakes her head. “No, not… not back then. You never smiled.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not like anyone had a reason to smile in the Stone pack,” I mutter.

“There’s plenty to smile about here,” Luka says. “Like the pack run after our ceremony. You’ll be there, Sierra?”

I shrug. “I guess.”

But I doubt it.

I take a long draw from my water to avoid giving them a straight answer.

“You should come,” Eden says, her tone insistent. “It’ll be fun.”

The idea of a pack run being fun would have had me laughing until I cried up until this morning. Even now, I struggle to believe the race I had with Galen was anything more than just a one-off. I’m almost positive he let me win, but that doesn’t take away my enjoyment of it. Or make me not want to do it again.

For most shifters, their wolf is when they feel strongest. As a wolf, you have a thick pelt to protect you, sharp teeth, and even sharper claws.

But as a wolf, I’m my weakest self. I would never think to use my sharp teeth and claws as the weapons they are because all my wolf wants to do is run. And hide.

So a pack run will never be fun for me. All it does is remind me where I fall in pack hierarchy, something I don’t have to think about when I’m human: The bottom.

But there’s genuine excitement in Eden’s eyes, and I get the sense that pack runs here are nothing like the ones in the Stone pack. “You go to all of them?” I ask.

She nods. “Yeah, and sometimes just me and Luka go for a run. It’s nothing like… well, you know.”

Being terrorized by a predatory pack who were only interested in tormenting you instead of running as a wolf?

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