Page 58 of Scapegoat

“But that doesn’t mean you need to run around after us,” Xavier said, his expression serious. I found it hard to meet his stare. “Your family had you bowing and scraping after them, but that’s not how it’s gonna be with us.” He started off strong, then shook his head sharply, his tone lowering as he spoke. “If anyone’s going to be doing anything, it’s going to be us fussing after you.” There was something so earnest, so desperate about his voice that I had to stare to be sure that it was him speaking. “You deserve that, Kai, all of the spoiling, not you doing shit for us.”

“So how about having some lunch with us?”

Atlas passed me one of his sandwiches. I’d made them all several, because wolf shifters, especially alphas, burned through food at a rapid rate.

“No, you need—” I started to say, but Atlas pushed one of them into my hand.

“You need to eat too,” he told me in a low rumbly voice. “We can’t eat if you’re not.”

I wasn’t super keen on ham, cheese and mustard, which was Atlas’ favourite, but as I unwrapped the sandwich, his arm went around me. He tugged me into the shelter of his body and right then it didn’t matter what I was eating, because I couldn’t taste any of it, not when I was close to him. I found myself leaning into his chest, drowsily focused on the feel of his fingers as they traced circles on my arm, and when I shook myself and came to again, I found my sandwich was gone and so were theirs.

“You ready, fellas?” George called out from the shearing shed.

“Thanks for the sandwiches,” Xavier said, getting to his feet and then squatting down in front of me. He pulled the crumpled clingfilm from my fingers, adding it to his own rubbish to dispose of. “But we’ll sort dinner out for tonight. Whatever you want. Right?”

He still wasn’t sure I would say yes and that confused me. They’d always assumed I’d be right there with them, but not now, not this time. My fingers flexed, wanting to cup his sharp jaw so I let myself do it, remembering that I could. The tense expression in his eyes softened, and the tension leached from his body.

“Right,” I said, rubbing my thumb over his skin, then he turned his head to place a kiss in my palm.

“We’ll come around once the day is done, after we’ve cleaned up,” he told me in a low urgent tone. “Don’t go cooking anything. Let us do the work.”

“I like cooking,” I protested.

“And we like looking after you,” he told me with a grin, before glancing at his brothers. “We always have and we always will, so you’re just going to have to accept that.”

“Bossy fucking alphas…” I muttered.

“You boys out the back here…?” George asked, then froze when he caught sight of the four of us. He blinked, not knowing what to say or do, I was willing to bet, catching sight of me with Atlas and Xavier.

“We’re ready to get started,” Xavier said, standing up. “We’ll see how many we can knock over before dark.”

“You’ve been going at a bloody good clip this morning.” George seemed torn between admiration and concern, because obviously the boys had been doing a good job, but then there was what he was reading into the scene before him. I was surprised to see some of that concern directed at me. “You keep going like this, you’ll be able to shear most of the district’s sheep.”

“We’ll be happy to keep working as long as Kai wants to stay here,” he told George, both confirming the other man’s suspicions and making clear the bond between us. It was a sweet gesture, but it felt like it drew a target on my back, as George looked me over thoughtfully.

“You’re not working for that Billy fella anymore?” he asked me. I shook my head. “Well, if you want to earn a quid while your… young fellas work, we really need a rouseabout.”

“What’s one of those?” I asked with a frown. “I’ve not done a lot of farm work before.”

“Picks up the fleece after the boys have shorn a sheep, and then throws it out onto the sorting table to be graded. The wool classer will tell you what to do after that. Then you get in and sweep up around the shearers to keep that area clean. We’ve got enough blokes to pen the sheep in the mornings,” he said, eyeing me in a whole other way, as if assessing if I’d be fit for the job. “It’s hard work, but you look strong.”

“Kai, you don’t—” Xavier started to say, but I nodded.

“I need a job. I tossed in the other one and…” I nodded to George. “Show me the ropes and I’ll give it a go.”

“Working with us?” Jayden said as the others filed into the shearing shed, his hand holding me back so he could murmur his response into my ear. “So I can keep my eye on you the whole time. Yeah, I like that a real lot.”

Chapter 35

“So you’re gonna try your hand at being a rouseabout?” Vicki asked as I walked over to the sorting table.

“Ah yeah?” I shrugged. “I don’t really know what I’m doing so—”

“I’ll show you the ropes.” She nodded for me to follow her. “In here are all the sheep in their pens.”

I’d smelled the stink of sheep shit, of fear, or a prey animal backed into a corner, but the scent wasn’t that much different to the usual ones on the farm, so I admit I was surprised when I saw all the sheep packed tight in pens. There was something so… alien about it all. A wolf would never allow itself to be herded so, and if it was, it’d be up and over those pens in seconds, streaking away. It made it hard for me to look at the sheep, their placidity irritating me.

“The boys will let one through when they’re ready.”

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