Page 56 of The Forbidden Wolf

I cast a worried glance at Sebastian to make sure that hadn’t set him on edge again, but his face remained perfectly neutral. Infuriatingly so. A little guidance on how to answer would have been nice since he was the one who brought up our culture. Like, did he assume my friends already knew we were wolves, so he’d just answered honestly? Or did he expect me to fill in the blanks around his vague explanation for growling at my gay best friend?

“We’re not in a cult,” I began carefully. “We’re just, um, well, you see, we are…”

“Rich,” Sebastian said smoothly. “We’re just very, very rich.”

Inwardly, I slapped my forehead and groaned.

Evan pursed his lips. “How rich?”

Jayla smacked him again, but Sebastian only shrugged and answered, “I bought Elyse a theater for our first date.”

Evan blinked. “Okay, well, that’s insane.”

“So, let me get this straight. You think it’s okay to growl at your girl’s friends because you’re rich?” Jayla cracked her knuckles. “You’re in El Barrio, my dude. We don’t give out free passes for class differences.” She looked at me, almost accusingly. “What the hell are you doing with this asshole?”

“I, um, well—”

“Did he really buy you this theater?” Jayla sounded angry now.

I shrank against Charlie’s side. “Yeah? I think so?”

Jayla snorted. “So, the Last Century isn’t good enough for you, anymore?”

“No! That’s not—We’ve always looked at this place and dreamed about re-opening it, Jayla. All of us. Now we can.”

“Those were just dreams, Elyse. This neighborhood doesn’t need another movie theater,” Jayla snapped. “And you don’t need a man in a penguin suit who thinks gentrification is an appropriate gift on a first date.”

“She doesn’t have a choice,” Charlie said quietly. Sadly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jayla frowned between me and Sebastian.

Evan gasped and spread his hands to indicate my dress. “Elyse. Have you been Fancied?”

“Huh?”

“You know!” He lowered his voice. “Fancied? Has your destitute mother sold you into prostitution to save your life?”

My brow furrowed. “You know my mother is dead.”

Charlie scoffed and gave him a little shove. “He’s making a country music joke because he’s nervous for you.”

“Oh. Well, no.” I looked down at my bare feet. “I’ve always had money, guys.”

“We had to buy you a phone,” Jayla said. “Which you lost.”

I sighed. “My father’s always had money. I’ve never had much access to it. And even if I did, I wasn’t allowed to own a phone. It’s not just a class difference. You know my family is very old-fashioned.”

“So, you’re just going from daddy to sugar daddy?” Jayla glared at Sebastian. “You’re just gonna raise your own kids the same screwed-up way? You’re not even going to try to break the cycle? I thought you were—”

“Jayla,” Charlie said firmly. “That’s enough. You’re not going to guilt Elyse out of a situation she doesn’t have any say in.”

“She’s right,” Sebastian said. “Please don’t blame Elyse. She’s only trying to make the best of a… complicated situation. Our culture believes in arranging marriages. She and I were… matched last weekend, so she has moved in with my family while we… get to know each other before the ceremony. I bought her a movie theater so she would believe me when I say that accepting our pairing is the last time I want to do things the way they’ve always been done just because they’ve always been done that way.”

Evan and Jayla swung toward me like a set of doors, blocking my view of Sebastian just when I wanted to look at him most. If my suspicions were proven to be true, then according to the technical terms of our fathers’ agreement, Sebastian had always been meant for me and not Kiana. What happened during the mating ceremony had been a cosmic correction rather than the devilish deception I’d initially accused him of. But if I had felt it too, if I hadn’t put up any fight, would I have ever had any reason to realize the truth? Was it possible that fate itself had purposefully delayed my recognition of our bond so that justice could be served?

My friends bombarded me with questions heavily peppered with curse words. Or rather, curse words lightly peppered with questions. There was a lot of tugging on my hands and frantically shaking their heads and flagrantly disobeying Charlie’s order not to guilt me. Charlie herself said nothing, but somehow, all I could really hear were her wheels turning like an old tape deck, replaying my extremely detailed werewolf story? Should I just confess? Would my wolf ease everyone’s distress?

“Guys, stop!” I held up both hands and took a deep breath. “Just stop. I understand this is quite a shock, and I’m sorry I never prepared you for it, but I’ve known my whole life this would eventually happen. When I was with you guys, I just wanted to forget and be normal while I still had time.”

---