Page 30 of Wanted By the Wolves
I did though, and I can’t take it back. I don’t even know if I want to. Behind that sarcastic, indifferent front is a scent that can’t lie. That’s the Gage I want to know.
Those nights in his greenhouse garden, just the quiet while he worked, were a balm to my soul—his too. The sharp, biting stench of grief eased into his mellow, sunshine-infused garden. When we’re together, I feel less lonely—and I think he does too.
So, I give him another reason. “And I’m tired of losing people. Myself most of all.”
It’s scary how far gone I was in my wolf after seeing the ferals at the wards. I was handling everything relatively okay all things considered, then they triggered an avalanche. It was as if I disappeared into a corner of my mind and couldn’t find a way out. Everything—the king, my heat, the ferals, this fucked world—came crashing down, reminding me that nowhere and nothing is safe. I’m tired, so damn tired of fighting all the time, and I just gave up.
Briggs brought light into the dark corners of my mind. He lured me back into myself with his relentless voice and never-ending banter until I was sharing my wolf’s eyes again. Even that wasn’t enough to push me into human skin, not completely. But tonight, when I awoke, I felt a desperate urge to go to Gage, and my wolf didn’t fight me. She receded into the recesses of my mind, giving me back my human skin, and urged me to go to him.
I don’t ever want to be that lost again. I don’t want Gage to be lost either.
Those haunting eyes of his spear me in place. I can see the conflict within him as he studies me, looking for something. After a moment, he seems to make a decision, and the scorn he wears slips off. “Same, little star. Same.”
“Why do you call me that? You said the same to my wolf.” He’s said it many times, but each time makes my stomach swoop.
He raises himself onto his side, resting his head in his palm. The move causes the white sheet to dip to his hip, exposing more of his fascinating tattoos. I have an overwhelming urge to lick them.
“I don’t know your name, but your wolf has a little swirl of white right in the center above your eyes. It looks like a little star.” He says the last part with a softness that makes me shiver.
I lick my lips, my throat dry. “My name is Nova.”
“How very fitting.” He chuckles, but it’s a melancholy sound. “Nova—a little star that burns brightly for a short time.” The way Gage looks at me as he says it—as if that knowledge is a kind of torture—makes my chest ache.
I want to go to him, but I pull the sheet tighter around me instead. It’s clear he doesn’t want me to join him, and I’m not as bold as my wolf. I settle for asking my question again. “Why are you sad? The truth.”
“I told you the truth,” he grumbles, looking away.
Bullshit.
I may not be willing to crawl into his lap like my wolf, but I gave him the truth, and I want the same. I raise my brow. “You didn’t tell me anything. You agreed with me.”
He sits up, gritting out the words through a half growl, chest practically heaving. “I want you in this bed, and I want you to leave and never come back.” His nostrils flare, and his fists clench. “Is that what you wanted to hear? How much I hate that I want you?”
The rejection hits my chest like a crack of rolling thunder. I force myself to breathe through the whine building in my throat at the harshness of his words. Instead, I look at the man my wolf is so sure is one of her mates.
He looks as wrecked as I feel, his alpha barely contained and his face hard lines of bitterness and pain. When our eyes meet, the air sparks with the connection between us. Those silver eyes of his hold anger but heat too—so much that it feels as if all the air has been sucked from the room. Beneath that is a loneliness that tugs me to him despite all his gnashing teeth.
I let that truth settle me and help me see past the sting of his statement.Couldn’t his words be my truth too?
Ever since I woke up here after the full moon, a part of me has wanted to flee and never look back. At first, it was the terror of an omega on the run, but these alphas aren’t like the men in the tents or the king. Being with them feels like a fairy tale. Even with the ferals lurking at the border, I feel more peace than I have in a long time. I’m scared that if I let myself become too comfortable here, I’ll be devastated when I lose it.
I’ve lost everything else. It’s stupid to think I could keep them or this place.
I think my wolf refused to give back my skin even after I found my way back because she wanted to give me time to settle and realize I could make something here.She’s right—these men could be my pack and this place my home.
Is it worth having if it can’t last?
My wolf nudges me toward Gage, making her answer clear.
I bridge the distance between us and sit on the edge of the bed. Gage gave me a truth. Even though his truth was a response to one I’d already given him, I’ll give him another.
“I’m afraid this is too good to be true. That if you pinch me or kiss me, I’ll wake up and realize I’m back with the king and this was all a dream,” I admit.
“No, this nightmare is very real.” He leans closer, his thumb brushing along my cheek.
“Nightmare?” I wince.
“Do you want me to kiss you and prove it?”
