Page 60 of Rejected Wolf's Secret Baby (Rejected Moons 4)

But if it means I can protect my packmates, and Alicia can stay with us... hell, I’d do anything.

It’s just been so long. I’ve spent half my life missing her, and it’s taken me until now to realize it. I’ve spent half my life trying to become the kind of man she would want to stay for.

I would lead this pack if it meant making it a place Alicia could call home.

And speaking of home... I look up and realize we’re standing in front of my house. “What are we doing here?” I ask.

“I thought we could sit and talk,” she says. “And we can’t do that at my dad’s house, or my family will interrupt us.”

“It must be strange to be living with your dad again after such a long time away from home,” I say.

“It is,” she says. “It makes me feel like a teenager again.”

I turn to face her. “Having you here makes me feel like a teenager again,” I admit.

She chuckles. “You definitely act like a teenager.”

“Meaning what?” I frown.

“Does that bother you?”

“I was different back then,” I say. “I’ve worked hard to become a responsible, respectable member of this pack—to stop being the guy who made trouble if he couldn’t find any.”

“I know that,” she says gently. “I can tell.”

“You can?”

“You started that group,” she said. “One of the women told me you were the one behind it. The old Brandon would never have done that. The guy I grew up with would never have bothered trying to see problems and fix them for other people.”

“I wish I had,” I say fervently. “Maybe you would have stayed.”

“It wasn’t your job to fix my family for me. Besides, maybe I always needed to go, just to see what was out there.”

“If you hadn’t gone,” I say, “I suppose you would never have had Emmy. I guess you really can’t regret that.”

Alicia looks away from me. “No,” she says quietly. “No matter what else has happened, I can never regret Emmy. She’s the one thing in my life I’m absolutely sure of. If anything ever happened to her, if anything came between the two of us, I’d have no reason to go on.”

She grins at me and the mood shifts. “When I said you seemed like a teenager,” she says, “What I meant was that you fuck like one.”

“Awkward and inexperienced?” I smirk.

“Shut up. You know that’s not what I mean.”

“Why don’t you tell me what you mean?”

She moves close to me and winds her arms around my waist. “Insatiable,” she murmurs. “That’s what I mean. You fuck like you’ll never get enough of it.”

“I never will,” I whisper. “I’ll never get enough of you.”

36

ALICIA

“Comehere,”ItellBrandon once we’re the house, and grab him by the belt loops. I pull his hips flush against mine and stand on my toes so I can kiss him.

He meets my kiss with equal energy, but then he breaks it and pushes me back a little to look me in the eyes. “What’s this all about?”

I love you. I fucking love you.

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