Page 18 of The Wolves At My Sides

“What do people who don’t consume copious amounts of caffeine even do in the morning?” I teased through the door, pressing my palms against its wood grain.

“Ummmm….. Lay around until they have to go to work,” he said.

“Well, you don’t have a job here. So, lay around it is,” I chuckled.

“I never said I wouldn’t join you guys for coffee,” he said.

“You’re welcome to whenever you feel like it,” I said.

“Thanks, Irwin.”

Chapter Fourteen

Fen

My heart pounded in my ears with every word Irwin spoke through the door. I wished I knew where Marcus kept his pheromone blocker spray. I smelled like sex and need, and I wasn’t sure how to walk out into the rest of the house smelling like the true-mate response. I took a quick shower letting the warm water wake up the rest of my brain cells, but my heart still raced in my ears. I patted myself down as I dried off, checking to make sure my skin wasn’t scorching. This felt like heat. Well, not quite like heat.

“Horny doesn’t equal heat,”my wolf chuckled into my thoughts.

I paced back and forth in front of my packed boxes trying to find the courage to get dressed and join them in the kitchen for coffee. Marcus was there too now. So was the baby. His coos echoed down the hall. To be honest, he sounded adorable. I tried to imagine what he might look like – this little person made up of half of each of my mates.

“If you’d just grab some pants we could find out!”My wolf chimed back into my thoughts.“I miss them. Stop doing this to me. You didn’t let me have friends anywhere. You always said we couldn’t trust them, but that’s not going to work on me this time. I’m going to trust Marcus and Irwin whether you like it or not! They’re our mates! OUR MATES!”The last words howled into my thoughts until my ears rang.

I didn’t feel the aching loneliness the way my wolf did. At least I hadn’t in Europe. I never had friends when I was little. I had my parents until--- I shook my head again. I didn’t want to think about that right now. There would be plenty of time in the future to replay their last moments while I explained the story to Irwin. Now wasn’t the time.

“Good morning,” Marcus’s voice swooped through the closed door.

“Morning!” I said too quick like he caught me doing something I wasn’t supposed to.

“How did you sleep?” Marcus asked.

“Better than I thought I would,” I admitted.

“Glad to hear it. Are you hungry?” He asked.

I almost said I was always hungry but figured that wasn’t a sexy answer. So, I just said ‘yes.’

“Breakfast is almost done. No rush. It’ll keep warm in the oven.”

“Thanks,” I called back.

“Let us know if you need help unpacking.”

“Thanks!” I said again feeling more like a tongue-tied idiot than ever.

Borrowing my wolf’s claw, I cut open the tape on one of the boxes marked clothes. It was stuffed full of all my pajamas. Sighing, I moved onto the next box, but it was towels. What the heck had I been thinking while I packed? Towels are not clothes.

“They’re pre-clothes items. They go together,”my wolf said.

“So, you’re how that happened,”I chuckled, moving onto the next box.

Eventually, I opened enough boxes to find an outfit. None of my clothes were dressy or sexy. I didn’t bother looking for an outfit that was. I just slid into my favorite jeans and the first t-shirt I found. It was light grey and almost the color of my wolf.

“I’m coming out,” I announced because I didn’t want to interrupt anything they might be up to in the kitchen.

Mates romped in the kitchen, right? That was something people did. It was definitely something people did. I’d---

“Stop it!”I scolded my wolf and tried not to blush as his thoughts of exactly what he’d be willing to do in the kitchen with Marcus and Irwin flooded into my mind.“Stop it! I’m not opening this door unless you stop it!”

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