Page 31

Mack

That was the tough thing about being born the son of a monster. You had an awareness about the darker side of things that everyone else seemed blissfully unaware of.

I watched mothers holding their daughter’s hands, fathers with their sons, and I searched for signs of fingers gripped too tightly, leaving bruises in their wake.

When people talked to their children, subconsciously I kept an ear out for tone, but not content.

Who was raising their voice, clenching their jaw as they spoke?

The same went for men and their wives or their girlfriends.

It felt like I always had one eye on the world around me, one ear listening, but now…

Now it was so much freaking worse.

Before, I just wanted to stop men, males, from hurting those around them. My concern was abstract, even if my determination not to allow it to happen again wasn’t. But now that I had Harper? My arm tugged her closer, until she was forced to walk half plastered against my chest.

“Hey… Fido,” she wheezed. “You want to let up a bit? I’m struggling to breathe here.”

“No.” My eyes met hers, and it felt like I catalogued every shade, every fibre, of those golden-brown irises.

“Breathing is something we do at home, where it’s safe.

” Her brows creased as her expression softened.

“The only way I can let you walk around here is if you’re glued to my side at all times. ”

“OK.”

Just two little letters, but that was all I needed to hear. No, scratch that, the word and then her arm going around my waist, her head pressed into my chest. That, I needed that.

And for Tor not to propose completely stupid ways to spend the night.

“So, let’s get the rides out of the way first,” he said. “That way if we have something to eat, we won’t be blowing chunks afterwards.”

“Probably will happen anyway.” I scowled at the food stands. “Pretty sure the only thing they make fresh around here is another batch of salmonella.”

“I figured we might do a few games before the rides,” Kieran said. “Win our girl a big fluffy bear.”

Harper sucked in a breath, a smile forming, but Tor cut her off with a frown.

“Bear?” He shook his head. “You want a stuffed tiger, right, Harp?”

“She’ll have one of each if you two don’t stop being idiots,” I grumbled. “Made from your skins when you’re in fur.” I grabbed Harper’s hand and tugged her towards the nearest shooting gallery. “Obviously, you want a wolf plushie.”

She tried to suppress her smirk but lost the battle pretty quickly before glancing up at the rack of ridiculous soft toys.

“A squishy little wolf to keep me warm at night?” That dimple popped into view. “Something I can snuggle as I sleep.”

“Little…” I hissed, then turned to the person running the stall, handing over the money before picking up the air rifle. “You’ll get the biggest damn wolf they have and like it.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

That had me shooting wide, the pellet hitting the back of the stall and then bouncing off the back. I rolled my eyes sideways.

“Looks like you need a little help with your aim?” she said. “Want me to hold it for you?”

I shook my head and then put the stock of the rifle against my shoulder. That’s when the memories flooded back.

My father had been the one to teach me how to shoot, so any time I picked up a weapon, that same tension leeched back in.

I was gripping the barrel too tightly, my claws grasping it, not my fingers.

The stall owner’s eyes widened and then they took a step backwards as I lined up the target.

Here, I begged my brain. We need to stay here. But that’s not how your mind works.

“Hold the fucking thing steady, you idiot.”

I saw someone move, come to stand beside me, but when I glanced sideways, it wasn’t Kieran I saw, but Dad. Those cruel eyes took the entirety of me in within seconds, then his lips curled back to reveal fangs he never allowed to disappear.

“You think you’re gonna hit that target?” He glanced at the little metal ducks that whizzed past. “The fuck you are. Too damn weak for that.” Then his focus shifted to Harper. That had me straightening up, ready to fight an enemy that wasn’t even here anymore. “Just look at her.”

Tor was talking to Harper, his hands waving through the air with great animation. She was laughing along with whatever bullshit he was talking about.

“May as well, because she sure as fuck isn’t looking at you,” Dad sneered. “Too weak, too much of a pussy to fight the others off, claim her as your own. Haven’t even bitten her yet.”

And I wouldn’t. Not until Harper was sure that was what she wanted, which made me little more than a fool in my father’s eyes.

I let a long breath out, my muscles unlocking as the air escaped me.

It took me until now to realise that’s what I wanted.

To be an idiot, fool, pussy-whipped. I’d wear every damn epithet my father levelled at me with pride, because his disapproval meant I was nothing like him.

I lifted the gun, stared down the sight, and then corrected my aim, seeing instantly that the sights were off. Bang! One duck went down. Bang! Another, then another. I shot until there were no BBs left in the rifle, then handed it to the now sour faced looking stall owner.

“Your choice of this shelf,” he said, gesturing to lots of small bits of plastic crap.

“Nope, the lady wants the wolf.” I nodded to the massive display of oversized plushies. He went to grab a tiny wolf, but I shook my head, pulling out a wad of cash. “That one.”

At the sight of more money, the man’s demeanour changed.

A servile smile spread across his face as he handed over the wolf, snatching the money out of my hand.

I could’ve bought ten of them in a shop for the same price, but the look on Harper’s face when I presented it to her made that fact redundant.

She was trying to hide it, shooting me a cheeky smile, but I saw the pink flush in her cheeks, smelled the way her scent sweetened.

More, the wolf insisted within me, get her more. Whatever it took to make her smile…

“OK, you need a bear soft toy now.”

I barely heard Kieran’s deep tones, my eyes whipping up as I heard a powerful roar echo through the complex.

My body was moving before my brain even had a chance to engage.

I threw myself in front of Harper, the seams of my shirt groaning as the wolf rode me hard.

Protect! His bark reverberated through my head, but I didn’t need to be told.

My arms went wide, my knees bending slightly as my body went into high alert, ready to tackle anyone or anything that might come for her.

Only to work out that the ‘danger’ was an animatronic dinosaur. Its roar was tinny, artificial, and pumped out into the air by a loud speaker. The movements of the tiny T-rex were jerky and unnatural, then it was pushed out of my field of vision as Tor stepped in my way.

“Worried the dino’s gonna go all Jurassic Park on us?”

I wanted to slap the smirk off his damn face, but then Kieran joined in.

“Or that movie about the robots going rogue.” He clicked his fingers. “What was it called?”

“Westworld.” I bit the word off, then grabbed Harper’s spare hand. “You wanted to go on some of the rides? Let’s go on the rollercoaster.”

“Hey.”

Planting her feet wouldn’t be enough to stop me physically, but Harper’s reluctance had my feet slowing.

I turned around, expecting some smart arse comment or something.

Instead, the look on her face had me staring.

Why were her eyes soft, a small line forming between her brows?

Why did her lips twist, but not into a smile?

Why did she let out a long breath…? Compassion, it took me a bit to recognise it. Harper was feeling sorry for me.

And that’s not what mates were supposed to feel.

Protected, safe, happy, satisfied, I would only be happy with all four of them as a starting point, wanting to build on that further.

“Want to go on the rollercoaster?” I asked. “It goes up, goes down, and Tor will scream like a kitten the entire time.”

“Hey!”

My packmate shouldered forward, his eyes narrowing. I found myself smiling.

“Don’t try to tell me I’m lying,” I said, then glanced at Kieran. He’d crossed his arms, looking down at me with one eyebrow raised. “Bear Boy will be real quiet. Conspicuously so.”

“And you?” Harper poked her finger into my chest, but I grabbed it, placing a kiss on her knuckles. The smell of her, the feel of her skin against mine, helped settle me. “Are you going to howl the entire time?”

“Not if I’m sitting next to you.”

“You win our mate a plushie and then get to sit next to her on the rollercoaster?” Tor said. “Pretty sure that’s not fair.”

“You could ride with me when we go on the dodgem cars,” Harper offered. “Then we can ‘accidentally’ collide with his car.”

“You got it.” Tor held out an arm, offering it to her. “Seeing as I want to hit Mack every day that ends with a Y.”

Fine by me. With him escorting Harper, that left me free to focus on our surroundings. Me, the wolf’s focus shifted, scouring every stall, every couple, every family, looking for signs, because what Kieran told me? It wasn’t a matter of if my family would attack, but when.

And I’d be ready when they did.

I’d move Harper into our spare room if that’s what it took, because I would not repeat the same mistake.

As we were locked into the rollercoaster, the kid running the ride checking out constraints, I heard the high-pitched screams of children on other rides.

Hers was twined with it. I heard my mother’s dying cry most days, but never more than when I met Harper.

My hand took hers, my thumb rubbing a frantic path back and forth across her knuckles.

“Ready?” I asked, meaning so much more than this ride.

Her eyes seemed to see into the depths of my soul, narrowing slightly before she smiled.

“Ready as I will ever be.”

The alarm let us know the ride was about to begin, the rattle of the cars on the track drowning out all other sounds as we dropped down.