Page 46

EMME

T he rest of the week passed by in weird increments, going both fast and incredibly slow at times. We fell into a routine that had me training every morning, while the alphas went about their lives with work and hockey. Though one of them always kept an eye on me.

Every morning Slade dragged me out of bed to train with Horton, and every afternoon I came home to a new origami figure on my pillow, and a magazine on the end of the bed.

A few of the intricate paper animals held the faintest hint of cherry, which led me to believe our resident bear shifter was the gift giver, and I found myself craving a deeper conversation with Finley again.

Like we’d had the day at the racetrack.

I wanted to know how he was able to craft animals from scraps of paper—my drawer now held a crane, swan, frog, fish, bear, unicorn, wolf, and a rabbit. I had a veritable range of creatures, all in various paper colors. So far, he hadn’t doubled up on either animal or color of paper.

Finding these gifts were a highlight of my day as I stumbled in broken and beat-to-shit from training. Today it was a navy horse, and as I’d done with the previous ones, I quickly googled what an origami horse represented: freedom, strength, and courage.

Which made sense today.

Finley had asked me to sit in on one of his therapy sessions to delve into his past, and we could both no doubt use a little strength and courage to get through it.

I was nervous, even as I craved the knowledge of who Finley truly was. The good, bad, and terrifying.

His appointment was in two hours, which left me plenty of time to shower, change, and grab some food.

I’d already said hello to Hunter in his office, and Slade was down in the containment room, where he spent most of his afternoons.

I had no idea what he did with Talon now that the torture had stopped, and I was too exhausted from training to push and find out.

Hopefully they were using the time to chat and learn about each other, though most likely the broody brothers were staring, expressions hard and arms crossed, as they attempted to bond by murdering the other with their gaze.

As I undressed my aching limbs, I wondered if Slade was watching me via the cameras. There wasn’t a single place in this house now out of his view.

So long, prank wars . You were fun while you lasted.

The glow-in-the-dark dragon eyes were my last reminder, and while one day I hoped to continue our game, until then I’d just have to be happy with the memory of all those googly eyes on his stalker wall. I wondered if he’d even noticed—he’d never mentioned it.

After my shower, I wandered into my wardrobe, unsurprised to find more hoodies from Kellan. He took great pleasure in swapping out whatever he’d just worn, leaving me with his scent. Such a good boy . In fact, my entire closet now smelled like all four alphas, in the best way possible.

A veritable sweets shop in my wardrobe. Except for maple, but we weren’t going there yet.

Mate , my wolf grumbled.

She’d been trying to get me down to Talon all week, and all week I’d managed to resist. The fatigue from training was enough to keep me focused on eating, sleeping—with only the occasional nightmare—and destructing under the very talented hands of two alphas every night.

Kellan and Hunter had fallen into a very delicious pattern of dragging multiple orgasms from me before they both fucked me until I screamed their names. Passing out between them, sated, protected, and loved was the best part of my day. A shifter could grow very used to having mates like them.

Deciding to stay casual for the therapy session, I dressed in jeans, a plain white shirt, with Slade’s leather jacket over the top. It hung to mid-thigh, but I loved how warm and heavy it felt.

Like the jacket had summoned him, when I left my room I almost slammed into the dragon himself, as he waited in the hall. “Oh, hey,” I said, swallowing roughly.

Slade might drag me from my nice warm bed most mornings, and he might watch me in training like he was stripping away layers until he reached my soul, but he remained distant in every other way. Which made this visit a little unexpected. “What’s up? Is everything okay?”

He took a long, slow perusal of my outfit, showing no immediate reaction to me wearing his jacket. “Where are you going?”

“Finley wants me to sit in on his therapy session this afternoon. Figured I’d upgrade the sweats so I didn’t embarrass the pack.”

Slade’s expression flattened. “The therapist should be paying you to be in the fucking room. You’re that far above her.”

My brow furrowed as I processed his words. “If she’s so terrible, why are we letting Finley go there? This is a huge and positive step forward for him. We can’t risk him going to a subpar therapist.” Not that anyone let Finley do anything, but my point remained.

“She’s the top therapist in Golden Claw. Her specialty is dealing in past trauma.”

Um, okay. So…

Slade noticed my confusion. “It wouldn’t matter if she was the queen of all shifters. You are worth a hundred of her, and therefore she should be paying for your presence. Not the other way around.”

I shook my head, even as it felt like I was slammed in the chest by a wrecking ball. “Maybe to you I’m worth a hundred of her, but out in the cities I’m no better than anyone else.”

Slade shrugged. “I only care about you and this pack. Everyone else could fade from existence and I wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep.”

Okay, I was in love with my psycho stalker of a scent match.

My voice somehow remained even. “I think we’ve gotten off topic here. What did you come to my room for?”

“Reading,” he said shortly. “I know you’ve found it easier with the adjusted font and background color, but I want to work with you to keep improving.”

Slade’s offer to help me with reading had been before everything went to shit. And while improving my reading was important to me, after spending years feeling stupid, it wasn’t life or death.

“If you’re busy, it can wait,” I told him, only to find him shaking his head before I was even finished.

“I’m never too busy for you, Snow. It shouldn’t have been put off this long.”

He led me from the room, and we ended up downstairs in the library.

It was a room that I’d admired from the doorway but hadn’t spent much time in. Everything was big and darkly masculine to fit the alphas who owned the house. Black wooden shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling and were filled with thousands of books.

“Humans say if you own more than a thousand books you’ve got a library,” I said, recalling that fact from my book-loving co-worker. “You guys have a few libraries in here.”

“Twenty,” Slade replied smoothly, and I tried not to freak out that there were twenty thousand books surrounding us. I focused instead on taking in the rest of the room.

There was no natural light, as it sat centrally in the house, which gave it a really cozy feeling, added to by the stone-lined fireplace roaring away in the corner, vented up through a stunning stone flue.

Warmth surrounded us as Slade led me to a long table, clearly used for research purposes. The fun reading would be done on the large, squishy couches dotted closer to the fire.

On the table sat a pile of books along with a laptop and tablet. “Sit,” Slade commanded, pulling out the chair for me.

“Yes, sir,” I said, snapping to attention in the way that usually had his eye doing a twitchy thing.

He shook his head. “You wouldn’t call me sir if you knew how much my dragon liked it.”

That had my wolf perking to attention, and I wasn’t sure Slade and I were on the same wavelength when it came to our beasts.

I absolutely wanted to use all the words his dragon liked.

I wanted to claim both sides of this alpha.

For once though, I was smart enough to keep that need to myself.

We’d been so distant lately. I didn’t want to ruin this time together.

I sank into the chair, and Slade pushed me toward the table. “Okay, let’s do a bit of reading to figure out where we’re at, and where to start.”

He took a seat beside me and pulled the pile of items toward him, retrieving a dozen or so pieces of paper.

The first one he handed me had a white background with printed sentences in black blocky text.

When I stared at the words, everything started to move around, and I squinted in an attempt to focus.

I finally figured out the first sentence and read it out loud: The shifter broke the first rule of the treaty .

“Okay,” Slade said with a nod, making no comment on my obvious struggle, even as I felt heat in my cheeks. Fuck, I hated this . “Let’s try a few different styles.”

The rest of the papers were all different. Different colored backgrounds and different fonts. Surprisingly, I found some of them far easier to read, while others were even harder than the first white one.

“You do better with a green or dark-tinged background,” Slade noted clinically, as if he was a scientist making a checklist. “Sans-serif fonts, at least point twelve or fourteen, and no italics.”

A surge of excitement rocked deep in my gut at the idea that maybe I could keep moving forward with my reading once I figured out the foundations.

Next we worked on the tablet, and he continued to break down my difficulties, until eventually he had the perfect background and text for me. “Give me your phone?” he said, holding out a hand, and I tried to remember when I’d seen it last.

“Uh, I’m not sure…”

Slade shook his head. “Why am I not surprised? Have you even checked the group chat lately?”

That would have been a no. I’d been too busy training to think about anything else. “I’m always with one of you and you all keep me updated.”

In truth, I loved our group chat threads, and I needed to make more effort to be in there. Especially if Finley and Slade were no longer ghosting as soon as they were added.

We spent another thirty minutes going through different programs, and I was shocked by how strong my reading was with the right background and font. I’d thought I’d test out as no better than a first or second grader, but I was actually much higher.

“You’ve been working harder than you realized over the years to compensate,” Slade said, as he packed everything up. “Your reading level is good, Emme. You just needed to understand your brain better to help it shine. Now we can cater to that.”

I barely stopped from squealing and bouncing in my chair over this unexpected boost to my day.

“I’d really love to be able to read novels one day,” I said, finally voicing a long-held dream out into the world.

“The couple of audiobooks I could afford only whet my appetite, and while I love Kellan reading to me, I’d like to repay the favor. ”

Slade nodded. “You can use a reading tablet. I’ll ensure it has the right font and background, which will come across in every book you download.

I won’t lie to you and say that reading is ever going to be super easy for you, but you’ve already proven your grit and determination.

Just keep practicing and we’ll have you reading novels in no time. ”

I waved my hand, feeling the burn behind my eyes as I fought back happy tears. “I need to work on spelling. Those pesky letters still want to switch themselves up, and I thank the goddess for autocorrect and spellcheck.”

Slade, who was the closest shifter I’d ever met to a perfectionist, surprised me when he leaned down over me on the table, and rested his hands on either side of my body.

Caging me in . “Don’t worry about spelling, Snow.

If you get your point across, I don’t care if a letter is the wrong way around or you miss a comma.

As long as you can express yourself, I want you to do that. Incorrect spelling and all.”

As he moved back, he brushed a hand across my shoulders and left the room.

I needed a few seconds to pull myself together before I got to my feet and followed.

It had been a truly perfect hour spent with the enigmatic dragon shifter. I felt lighter as I stopped beating myself up about my differences.

Maybe it was time to embrace my true self and stop caring what others thought of me…

A freedom I’d never understood until this very moment.