Page 19 of Big Bad Wolf: B.B.W

A Little Earlier . . .

I was completely taken aback when Elodie’s parents said that they wanted to join our pack and move to Lumberton.

This was just the second day that Elodie and I were here, and I could already see a light shine in her eyes.

We were scheduled to be here for a full week.

If all of this happened in the first two days, I was excited for what the rest of the week held.

I went to Elodie’s bedroom to make the group call to Thaddeus, Farad, and Sebastian. I decided to log into my laptop and do a group video call. It didn’t take long for all of them to answer the line.

“What’s up, Orion? How are things over there? Is Elodie’s father in better health?” Sebastian shot off questions first.

I tittered at his perceived urgency for answers. “Things are going great here actually. They released Pops from the hospital yesterday. He had to have heart surgery a little over a month ago, come to find out. He’d been in the hospital since.”

“Pops!” Thaddeus blurted. “We’re calling him ‘ Pops ’ now? I guess he likes your weird ass.”

“Does he know about your beast yet?” Farad asked.

It made sense that was at the forefront of his mind because of his leadership in the pack. The safety of the pack was everything. I thought about how they would react to Mr. Summerville’s gift before I even told them. “Well, he knew about my centaur beast before I told him.”

No one said anything. I knew they wanted to know how and more than likely assumed that Elodie told him.

“When we walked into his hospital room, I was nervous as hell about how he would react to my beast not being a wolf. Well, shit, I didn’t have to wait long because his ass is telepathic. He opened his gift when we walked in the room, so he could read my mind and intentions.”

Three sets of wide eyes looked back at me.

“Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever met a wolf with a telepathic gift,” Thaddeus admitted.

“ My cousin, hell and your cousin, MJ’s wife, is an empath, but she has to physically touch you.

She can’t really read your mind, but she can read emotions, intentions , and past history if that makes sense.

” He got quiet for a moment. “Shit, maybe she is telepathic, but it just shows differently.”

That was food for thought.

“That had to be crazy. How does he feel about your beast though?” Farad went back to his original question.

I smiled. “He’s fine with it. So fine that he blessed me with her hand in marriage. I asked her to be my mate maybe fifteen minutes ago.”

Sebastian jumped out of his seat. “That’s what the hell I’m talking about! Our wives are going to become wedding planners overnight.”

We all laughed at the thought because he was right.

The girls had only been together twice, but that didn’t negate the bond that they were already forging.

The night of the campfire gathering, they all exchanged numbers.

From that exchange, Elsbeth put them all into a group chat.

Elodie’s ass had been in that group chat every day since it was created.

I walked in her office a few days after it, and she was kicked back on a damn group video call like her ass wasn’t at work.

“Congratulations, my man. That’s big shit.” Farad bowed his head in commendation. “Does that mean Elodie plans to join the pack?”

I took a deep breath. “ That’s what I wanted to talk to both you and Thaddeus about. Like I told y’all before, she’s in a pack with her parents. She was hesitant to leave because she just started to mind speak with them recently. She asked me to join their pack.”

“Damn, man, you just joined us,” Sebastian quipped. “Are you going to join their pack? How is that going to work?”

I stared blankly at him. He was a person who sometimes jumped off the cliff before he took the time to see the bridge.

“I’m not going anywhere. Her parents actually came up with a solution that they felt benefited everyone involved.

They want your blessing, Farad and Thaddeus, to join the pack and move onto the reservation.

This will allow them to be closer to their daughter and not lose that line of communication with her. ”

Just like I was when they suggested it, I saw the shock on their faces. Anticipation gripped my breath as I waited for an answer.

“I feel like that could be arranged. What do you think, Farad?” He waited for his response before he continued. “We would need to meet them prior to making that decision. You understand that, right?”

As the chief, he made the final decisions when it came to joining the tribe and pack.

Based on what I’d observed about his leadership, he never decided about pack business without consulting Farad, which was more of a courtesy.

When I asked him about his leadership style, he said that there was a pack leader, and it wasn’t him, although he was the overseer of the pack.

I respected that as a leader myself in my organization.

“I told them that you would want to meet them. I also told them if it was agreed that they could join , a ceremony would have to happen,” I let them know.

“My baby really wants this, and I want this for her. The plan I have is to bring them back at the end of the week. Shit, hopefully, I can get Ma Mary to draw up a landscaping plan. She’s a landscape architect and has a horticulture gift. ”

“Damn, they have all the good gifts. Here I am with no fuckin’ gift but a big dick for my wife,” Sebastian said with a sigh. He did too much sometimes.

“Yeah, this conversation is over,” I declared. “I’m going to let them know the plan. If they do move, is there an open house that they could possibly rent or purchase? I’ll be the one paying for it.”

Thaddeus nodded with a smirk. “This must have been orchestrated by the gods. MJ called me yesterday to let me know that the tenants in his house were moving out of state. He wanted to know if I had anyone who wanted to rent or purchase. That would be perfect since it’s basically next door to your house. ”

He was right. It seemed like all the stars were aligned.

“Damn, that is perfect. Although, I would probably move me and Elodie in that house and let her parents have the big one.”

We spoke for a few more minutes to solidify the plans.

I was excited about the possibilities of the Summervilles joining the pack and their move to North Carolina.

It felt like a chance for them all to work on their relationship.

They would be close when it was time for Elodie and I to have our wedding, and because they would be members of the tribe, they’d be able to attend the mating ceremony.

They’d be there to see their grandchildren born.

I planned to have a baby in Elodie soon after our first anniversary. She didn’t know that yet though.

“Alright, let me get back out here. Ma Mary cooked a good ass breakfast , and I’m trying to get another plate.”

That would be another advantage of Ma Mary and Pops’s move.

I’d have access to her cooking all the time.

My baby could cook too, but I think she held back since I wasn’t her husband yet.

Once during one of our pillow talk sessions, she said the problem with some women was that they often gave husband treatment to their boyfriends.

I used the bathroom before I headed downstairs. Just as I reached the living room, the doorbell rang.

“I got it.” When I got to the door, I unlocked it, then pulled it open. “I know you’re fucking lying!”

Back to the Present . . .

Dyami was the type of bitch that had big nuts but a little dick.

He talked a good game but could never fuck with a real one.

I tried to warn this man about his offensive behavior, but he allowed his hegemonic attitude to get him fucked up.

There would never be impunity for a person who fucked with my mate.

I hated it when I had to show this side of me.

When my mother was alive, any time I got out of pocket, she would claim that it was the Florida boy in me.

I never agreed until I was older. I spent a lot of summers and holidays there.

Some of my cousins were straight menaces with no regard for anyone’s life if they weren’t connected to them.

My father taught me how to be a man and centaur, but my cousins taught me how to be strategically unhinged.

I helped get Pops on the porch of his house with Ma Mary and my baby. I made sure they were alright.

“Stay here, Elodie.”

Her right nostril enlarged when the corner of her lip turned up.

“Why do you have to tell me to stay anywhere? I didn’t even do anything, Orion.”

“You’re hardheaded. I told your ass to go in the house, didn’t I?” I was proud of her for fighting, but in the same breath, I didn’t like the thought of my mate fighting.

Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. When her head snapped in her father’s direction, he lifted his hand in surrender.

“Don’t look at me. You’re out of my hands now. You have a mate.”

Damn right.

I scooped the back of her neck to pull her lips to mine. We kissed deeply. Before I removed my lips from hers, I mumbled, “I love you, hardheaded girl.”

I walked into the house to put on a pair of sweatpants, sneakers, and grab my gun.

There was no need to shift again when a bullet worked faster.

I chose to forego the shirt because I was hot as hell.

When I got back outside, I went straight to the tree where Dyami was being nursed by the two females that needed to be nursed their damn selves.

Elodie’s mind threw that girl like a damn football.

Her body literally spiraled. I pulled my hammer back.

“Give me a reason why I shouldn’t pop you and your lil harem. I tried to give you a pass yesterday. I see you wanted to find out, so you fucked around.” My words were filled with venom.