Page 15 of In the Mouth of the Wolf (Of Wolves and Kings #1)

15

MARLOWE

“D o you mind if I stop by my office?” Nolan asked. “I need to pick up a few things and just check in with my staff real quick.”

“Sure, no problem.”

A wooden, hand painted sign welcomed us to Maiingan Hollow.

Population 12,941. Home of the Warriors.

“Warriors? You mean you aren’t the home of the shifters or the wolves?”

Nolan laughed. “A little too on the nose, don’t you think? Besides, while this community may be for people like us, we still have to interact with the human world. We need to blend in and assimilate if we don’t want to be hunted into extinction.”

“Assuming this is all real, of course.”

The corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk. “Of course.”

I still wasn’t ready to admit I believed shifters existed and that I was one of them. Despite everything I’d experienced since arriving, my brain didn’t want to release its hold of the world I knew and dive head first into the possibility that there were other species of people. People that, until now, I thought only existed in fairy tales and horror films.

We pulled into a parking lot, and Nolan turned off the engine. “I’ll only be a few minutes. It’s probably for the best if you stay here.”

I knew we were close to Camden’s house, but we’d been in the car for hours and I had been looking forward to getting some fresh air and stretching my legs. “Why, embarrassed to be seen with me?”

Nolan reached over and grabbed my chin, turning my face towards his. “If you were my omega I’d be howling it to the whole Moon-damned town. But seeing as you’re not, and you’re unbonded, it’s really not a good idea to advertise your presence quite yet.”

His brown eyes were pleading, his smiling face now serious and unwavering.

“No one’s told me what ‘unbonded’ means yet,” I replied.

He cocked his head to the side. “Really? Big oversight on the guys’ part. Bonding is the act that connects a shifter to a pack. It’s unbreakable, the sign of ultimate commitment. Alpha packs are wired to desire an omega, and if you don’t have one, one can be forced on you. Imagine some random man burst into your home and forced you to marry him and his friends, and there was no stopping it or ever escaping.”

My heart raced, and a lump formed in my throat. That did sound awful.

“But you guys didn’t do that to me?”

His hand moved to cup my cheek, his thumb gently rubbing circles on my skin. “Shifters are still people, sugar. Some of us may be dirtbags, but that doesn’t apply to everyone. We would only bond with an omega who wanted to be with us.”

The windows began to fog, obscuring us from passersby. Nolan’s bourbon and vanilla scent surrounded me, and I took a deep breath, finding comfort in the smell. “Is it possible for an omega to bond with a pack…” I struggled to find the words.

“Platonically?” Nolan responded.

I nodded.

He sighed, pulling away and back into his seat. “Maybe. But I wouldn’t want that, and I don’t think the guys would either.”

The silence between us was thick and oppressive. “Can’t handle the friend zone, eh?” I joked, my voice cracking.

I liked Nolan. I liked Elias and Archer, too. Hell, even Camden had his moments. They were all so handsome it almost hurt to look at them, and there was no denying the chemistry I felt when we were together. And while I had always been a strong fan of monogamy, part of me felt comfortable with the idea of us all being in a relationship, strangely enough.

But I was engaged to a man I loved, a very human man who I didn’t think would appreciate me coming home with four new boyfriends. Or packmates. Or whatever they’d be called.

“It’s not like that. I’d love to have you as a friend. But when an alpha bonds with an omega, he changes. He no longer desires another female. You’d be sentencing us all to a life of unrequited love.”

That definitely didn’t sound fair.

“But,” he continued, “if you’re really ready to accept this life, I can help you find a pack. Betas form packs too, and while they are also drawn to omegas, the pull isn’t as strong. Especially if you’re in a pack with only females. They could offer you protection from predatory alphas.”

A beta female pack. A sisterhood. That actually didn’t sound too bad. “And they would be fine with me living so far away?”

“We’re not really meant to be apart for long. Even our pack struggles with Elias being in Chicago most of the time. There’s a shifter town like Maiingan Hollow in Northern California, though, near the Oregon border. I can get in touch with their council and see if there are beta females closer to San Francisco who’d be interested.”

Tears welled in the corners of my eyes. Why did that make me so happy? I still didn’t even believe in all this. “You’d do that for me?”

Nolan looked down, closing his eyes and releasing a deep breath. “Cards on the table? I want you, sugar. My pack wants you. We’re willing to do whatever it takes to convince you to bond with us and be ours. But I know that’s not really an option, and I would rather see you safe with a pack that can respect your choices than throw you out to the wolves.”

He exited the car before I could respond, leaving me to drown in his admission. The ring on my finger felt heavy and my chest tightened. I did love Mike. He wasn’t any less good looking than this “pack of alphas” I’d somehow fallen into up here. Mike was smart, caring, and funny. He treated me like a queen, and he didn’t deserve this doubt now growing inside me.

I took out my phone, and gasped when I saw the dozens of missed calls, voicemails, and texts. I’d sent him an email before we left the cabin, but hadn’t bothered to check for a response on the road since my phone was charging and I didn’t have any cell service.

Mike: Everything alright?

Mike: I found your birth control pills, do you need help getting a new pack out there?

Mike: Hey, just checking in, I haven’t heard from you.

Mike: Marlowe, you’re starting to worry me.

Mike: Seriously, you need to call me back ASAP.

Mike: I’m on my way to Eau Claire.

Mike: Shit, the weather is diverting flights, I’m going to Chicago instead. I’ll rent a car from there.

Mike: Just landed in Chicago, where are you?

Mike: I called the local hospitals and the police stations, they don’t have you.

Mike: Getting gas in Madison, I’ll be in Eau Claire in a couple hours.

Mike: I checked into the DoubleTree. Please, call me.

My blood ran cold. Mike had been here since Sunday, worried sick about me, all while I’d been holed up in a cabin four hours away, getting fucked by a vibrator. I knew the guys wanted me to go to Camden’s house, but I needed to get to Eau Claire and come up with some excuse as to why I’d been MIA for so long.

Would he buy that the storms had knocked out the power here? No, not for that long.

Could I say my dad’s house had no service? No, I had sent him an email that morning. It had been brief, just a quick note to say I was alive, but hadn’t included any details.

Crap, this wasn’t good. I wanted to call him, but I was too afraid to speak to him until I could come up with a plausible explanation for my radio silence. One that didn’t involve shifters, heats, or alpha packs.

I got out of the car in a panic, running into the building to find Nolan. On instinct, I knew his scent and touch would help calm me down, and I followed the signs towards the mayor’s office. As I rounded the last corner, I stopped dead in my tracks. Nolan stood in the hallway, computer bag in hand, while some woman in a skirt laughed and tapped his arm in a playful punch.

I couldn’t think anymore. All I saw was red, and the breath I expelled rumbled in my chest. Nolan and the woman both turned towards me, mouths agape.

“Marlowe? Is everything okay?”

“He’s mine ,” I snarled. Anger and jealousy possessed me, and I ran forward to tackle the bitch, ready to rip out her throat for daring to touch him.

Nolan stepped in my path, grabbing my wrist as I raised it in a swipe. He pulled me into his chest, his other hand wrapping around the small of my back and purring in my ear. “Calm down, sugar. She’s my cousin.”

The adrenaline abandoned me, and I pushed myself away from him, backing up into the wall. What the hell had come over me? I’d never attacked anyone in my life, especially over a boy. Especially over a boy that I wasn’t even dating. I was engaged to Mike! I had come in here to figure out how to salvage my relationship with him, not get into a cat fight with a stranger!

The woman gasped in surprise, her hand on her chest. “An omega? Nolan, where did she come from?”

Nolan walked slowly towards me, not taking his eyes off mine even while he spoke to her. “I’ll call you later. It’s a long story. All you need to know is that Marlowe is James Linden’s daughter, and she’s here for the funeral and to deal with his estate.”

I dug my fingers through my hair, pulling the strands in frustration. “I’m so sorry, I’m so…”

“Shhh,” he said quietly. Once he was within arm’s length, he pulled me back into his embrace. “I’m not mad, and Megan’s going to be fine. We’re shifters. We’re used to a little aggression every now and then. It’s actually really flattering, to be honest.”

I wept, letting his scent bring me back into a clear head space. “You don’t understand. I called you mine. You can’t be mine. I have someone, someone who loves me, someone who’s losing his mind in a hotel room in Eau Claire right now because he hasn’t been able to reach me for five days.”

Nolan tucked my head under his chin. “I see. Let’s head to Cam’s, we’ll figure out what to do from there. I’m assuming you need a ride and an alibi, correct?”

I pressed my face further into his chest, inhaling deeply as I nodded.

“Megan, can you reschedule my meetings for the rest of the week?”

“You got it. And uh, nice to meet you, Marlowe. Welcome to Maiingan Hollow.”