Page 10 of Big Bad Wolf: B.B.W

A Few Days Earlier . . .

“Damn, I guess you’re kicking y’all’s relationship up to serious if you’re bringing her to campfire gathering?” Sebastian asked. “You know once you bring her here, you’re going to have to tell her sooner than later about your beast. At least, that’s what I hope you plan.”

We were at my house on the back deck. I rarely came to my house now that I was with Elodie. I purchased a condo in Raleigh. That was where I spent most of my time.

After the third or fourth time that we had sex, I knew I wanted to see if we could really do the relationship thing.

We were fucking like rabbits, hell centaurs and centaurides, so why not.

When it was time to plan our first date to kick it up to that level, I consulted my father.

He gave me the idea to bring her to Greece.

He claimed it was more for romance, but I knew it was because he wanted to meet her.

Now that I lived in America, he didn’t have access to me like he previously did.

Therefore, he wouldn't have access to my potential mate either.

“Yeah, I thought about that. I plan to tell her, but I want to see first how she jells with the pack,” I told him before I took a sip from my beer. “Once she accepts everything, I want us to spend the majority of our time here. My condo and her townhouse are nice, but I miss my house.”

Thaddeus tittered. “How do you know that she’s going to accept you, or at least right away? I told you how it went down with me and my wife initially. I thought I was going to have to kidnap Elsbeth’s ass and tell her ass it was me or me.”

I gawked at him, Sebastian, then Farad to gauge his seriousness.

“Oh, you’re serious.” I shook my head before I laughed heartedly. “So, the only option she had was you?”

“You’re fucking right I was her only option!” he said with his head bucked back. “From the moment she stepped foot in that hotel ballroom party, I knew that she was my mate. Everything from that moment on was about us being together. You see where we are now . . . together.”

I drank more of my beer.

“I feel you. Hopefully, that’s where we will be without me having to kidnap her ass.” Although I said that, I knew I would if it came down to it.

“You’re about to hurt some feelings when she gets here. You know you’re the most desired bachelor in the pack right now. They want that chance to have a hybrid baby,” Farad commented.

He was right about that. The existence of my younger cousins, MJ and Willow, was well known. Both of them had the ability to transform to their horse or wolf beast whenever they pleased. That was a golden beast as far as some wolf beasts were concerned.

“First, I’m not a bachelor. I just haven’t brought my mate out to show her off yet. That will change very soon. Second, the only person that’s going to get this nut is my baby Elodie.” My facial features twisted. The fuck did he mean I was a bachelor? I was very much taken.

When Elodie and I agreed to be in a monogamous relationship, that bachelor shit was a wrap. We sealed the deal when I had her ass bent over the railing of my bedroom balcony at my home in Patras. I wasn’t a bachelor, and her ass damn sure wasn’t a bachelorette.

When we got back to the states, we had our adult conversation about birth control and all that jazz.

I wasn’t trying to use condoms anymore. She agreed to get on birth control, and we agreed on the IUD thing.

Yeah, that shit was short lived because that was meant for short dick men.

The tip of that thing pricked the hell out of my dick.

We switched to the Nexplanon which, so far, had been working.

Now, I saved money because I didn’t have to purchase my expensive ass custom condoms.

“Aye, have you heard anything else from that Sherrie bitch?” Sebastian asked. I told him about what happened with her the day it happened. Over time, he’d become my best friend.

My lip curled into a half-laugh. “Yeah. A few days later, she came back to the branch to ask for a job, even if it came with a demotion. Thank God Elodie wasn’t there at the time because it might have been a fight.

Of course, I told that ho to kick rocks.

She threatened to sue for wrongful termination.

I told her to make her next move her best move, and I would do the same. ”

Thaddeus’s head moved side to side. “She’s got big nuts to be an embezzler but threatening to sue. She’s got to know that you have the evidence to prove your claim. That’s a new kind of privilege.”

“Bitches in America are different. As long as she doesn’t start shit with Elodie, I don’t care how she thinks she’s playing with me. I’ll trample that ho.” I meant every word that I said too.

They all chortled at my seriousness.

“So, basically, you’re going to let your beast handle her ass? That shit is diabolical.” Farad was tickled. “As long as that shit doesn’t lead back to you or the pack, I say go for it. Family over everything.”

“You already know that will never be a problem. The protection of the pack is above everything,” I confirmed. “I’m just ready to introduce my baby to the other side of me.”

The more I got to know Elodie, I felt bad that there was this secret that loomed over our relationship.

I didn’t want that for her. Plus, I didn’t want to wait too long to tell her.

If I made her fall in love first, then hit her with the revelation, it would feel like I manipulated the situation.

I wanted to give her an option on whether she wanted to fall in love with all of me and not just a part of me.

I planned to tell her the night of the campfire gathering, so time would tell where we were headed.

Back to Present . . .

“Orion, do you want anything?” Elodie asked after Thaddeus told the ladies to accompany her to get something to eat from the massive buffet.

She was so beautiful in her simple fitted sweatsuit with fashion sneakers on that matched mine. Yeah, I was that man that liked to match with his woman, but not too matchy.

“Just get me a little of everything.”

I grabbed her hand so she could lean down to give me a kiss before she walked her fine ass off. My stare didn’t break from her backside until she was out of sight in the community center where the food was set up at.

Once I was able to gather my thoughts, I addressed them to the men. “I don’t have the gift to telepathically speak with y’all to know some shit is being spoke. Y’all’s reception of Elodie wasn’t what I expected, so what’s up?”

If I felt the semi-cold reception, I was sure that she felt it too. This wouldn’t be a good foundation for what I had to reveal to her later tonight. I didn’t need anything to work against me in the slightest.

Thaddeus and Farad’s eyes met for a second before Thaddeus gave him a slight nod. You would have missed it if you weren’t paying attention. Farad cleared his throat.

“Orion, why didn’t you tell us that Elodie had a beast?”

My head jerked back hard. I almost fell out of my damn seat.

“The fuck do you mean she has a beast? Elodie doesn’t have a beast.” When they asked me whether I could sense other beasts, my face tightened.

“I can sense other centaurs and centaurides. Y’all are the first wolves that I’ve really been around for a long period of time. Nah, there is no way she’s a wolf.”

There was no damn way that my woman had a fucking beast. Just as the thought hit me, I caught the sight of her coming toward me.

Beasts, regardless of what kind they were, held a certain confidence about themselves.

Those with beasts were of an elite people.

One of the things that attracted me to her was her confidence.

From the moment she stepped into the conference room, it exuded from her pores.

Could that confidence be the added confidence of her beast? This shit had my head hurting. There’s no way.

“Trust me, Orion. Elodie is a wolf. Not sure from what tribe, but she is most definitely a wolf. That may be why you were drawn to her.” Sebastian pointed out.

He made his statement just in time for the girls to approach.

“Here, baby.” Elodie handed me my plate.

“Thank you, baby.”

With my free hand, I gripped her chin and pulled her down to my lips. Our kiss was short but deep. It was like I wanted to feel something. Was it our beasts that had unknowingly connected? I felt like if that was the case, I would have felt that.

When we broke our kiss, my eyes stayed on her until she sat down. We all started to eat in silence. Jorie broke the silence.

“Elodie is from Sedona, baby,” she said in the direction of her husband, Farad.

“Oh, wow! Jorie’s cousin is from around those parts. There are some reservations there. We were there last year for her wedding,” Farad added.

Elodie smiled. “Oh, that’s amazing. Yeah, I grew up not too far from a reservation myself.” She cleared her throat. “Um, both of my parents have Native American lineage.” She pointed at her face then giggled. “Much like y’all, clearly some melanin got in there.”

My head leaned to the side. My brows furrowed at this information that she never divulged until now. We have had conversations about her parents many times.

“Oh, I didn’t know that, baby.”

“Yeah, I don’t really talk about it much because I wasn’t raised under tribal laws like my parents were.

” She shrugged off her words. “My parents had me in their late forties, so I was not the cool kid to say the least. Plus, I was always a big girl, so that wasn’t a crowd favorite at times too.

Took a lot of self-reflection and fuck yous to be happy with myself. ”

I knew that her parents had her when they were older. She told me stories about some of the things that the mean girls and bitch boys inflicted on her when she was younger. It made me want to fly out there and fuck some people up.