Page 26 of The Wolves At My Sides

ME: I just might lol

“Time for a family meeting tonight,”my wolf chimed off in my thoughts as Baby Faran stirred to life over the family link.

Chapter Twenty

Fen

After dinner, Shepard picked up Baby Faran and Irwin asked me and Marcus to join him in the living room. For a second, I wondered if we were going to have a stay in movie date, but Irwin’s expression was a bit more serious than that. I swallowed hard. Maybe he decided I wasn’t worth all the effort after all.

“It’s a family meeting not an execution,” Marcus whispered to me. “You smell like you’re about to walk through a dark alley alone in hostile territory.”

“I might prefer to do that,” I whispered back as Irwin came into the living room with a tray of barely filled wine glasses. “I remember family meetings from foster care. They never ended well. Someone was always in trouble or about to get the boot.”

“This isn’t like that,” Irwin said, handing me the first of the wine glasses. “This is exciting. This is happy. This is a good thing.”

His scent smelled over the moon, and I swallowed hard again. Irwin was always sexy, but happy Irwin had a certain way of making me hard and slick. I didn’t think either of them would appreciate me slinking off to take care of myself instead of listening to whatever big announcement Irwin had in store for us.

“I think we need a vacation,” Irwin said.

“From me?” I asked without thinking.

“Fen,” Marcus sighed. “No, not from you.”

I glanced at Irwin.

“I meant the three of us need a vacation,” Irwin tried again.

“From each other?” I asked, not sure where he was going with this.

“Fen, I’m not sure if you’re worried or being a smartass,” Irwin said.

“Worried,” Marcus said before I could speak.

“I can speak for myself, Mister Cave Alpha!” I growled.

“You can, but I don’t like Irwin’s scent plummeting like that,” Marcus said his voice level.

“Fen,” Irwin slid off the sofa and stepped in front of me. He dropped to his knees and held my gaze.

“You don’t have to do that,” I said, shaking my head. “You don’t have to slip into that submissive wolf role because I’m upset, Irwin.”

“Why are you upset?” He asked.

“Because --- foster homes,” I shrugged. “You heard what I said earlier.”

“Well, we’re not a foster home. We’re your family, if you’ll have us. We’re your forever home, if you want to stay.”

I sniffed as my eyes misted over. I didn’t want to cry. I was being an asshole. My brain couldn’t even shut up for two minutes and let Irwin explain what he was trying to ask.

“I’m sorry,” I said, fighting off the urge to cross my arms protectively over my chest.

“For what?”

“For being so---,” I had to swallow down a growl, because it was easier to be angry than sad or raw, “fucking insecure, okay?”

Irwin rested his forehead against my knee and took a deep breath.

“Fen, don’t be sorry for that,” he looked up at me a second later. “Maybe I used the wrong language. Hell, I wanted to talk to you guys together, but it wasn’t obligatory or anything. We’re all adults here. We don’t ‘put each other’ in trouble.”

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