I pull back to look at his face. “About what?”
“Any of this. Being Alpha. My pack has more faith in me than I do in myself. I learned a lot from watching my dad. Without that, I’d be stumbling around with no idea what I’m doing.”
I’m confused why he would tell me this, but then I understand. He wants me to knowhim. Not just the parts that the rest of his pack sees. The parts he hides from them. “Did you ever think about not being Alpha?”
He shakes his head. “My pack needed me.”
“Were you scared?”
“Fucking terrified,” he admits. “But they needed me to be strong.”
I study him for a beat, thinking.
Beneath that Viking-like blond hair, handsome exterior, and arrogance, there’s more than I thought there would be.
His expression softens. “What?”
“Just surprised.”
“By?”
“You.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Not sure yet.” But I think it is. “Robert would have liked you.”
“Am I going to want to kill this Robert?” His jealousy is plain and clear.
“Someone already did,” I whisper.
“Tell me.”
“Robert was my foster dad…”
As he strokes a hand up and down my back, I tell him about the man who made me feel so safe and protected, until robbers took him away from me.
I open more of my heart to the Wolf King than I ever thought I would want to.
And he listens, hugging me, kissing the tears from my cheeks when they fall.
Loving me in a way I never thought he could.
18
AREN
“Ididn’t agree to this run, Aren.”
Kat pulls on my arm, and although I slow, I don’t stop. “This is about me showing you fun.”
I told Finan I was spending the day with Kat, and that’s exactly what we did. As evening approached, I decided to take Kat out for a run—just me and her. I hadn’t planned on it, but I realized after the pack run that Kat didn’t have one with her pack. She lost her family—wastakenfrom her family—when she was a child.
She wouldn’t have had the pack gathering followed by a meal to celebrate. She wouldn’t have played with the other pups in her pack or been taught how to hunt and where to play by its older members.
It was her first pack run too, and I’m glad she enjoyed it.
Sex is great with Kat, but I wanted to do more with her than just sex.
