Page 52 of In the Mouth of the Wolf (Of Wolves and Kings #1)

52

THE TAWNY WOLF

I stretched my limbs and sniffed the air. My pack was coming.

The human next to me whistled. He juggled the adornments from my human into one arm and reached out with the other. “Come here, you gorgeous girl.”

I trotted forward and sniffed his hand. This man would be my pack soon, too. His wolf was waking up. My senses on these things were getting better.

It was only a short matter of time before we’d all finally be together.

He laughed as I pushed my head under his open palm, trying to get him to pet me. Human fingers felt so nice, I loved the way they ran through my fur and scratched my skin.

My pack’s scents blew in with the wind and I perked my ears.

“They almost here?” the human asked.

Human noses and ears were so weak. I chuffed my response.

“Alright, no need to get all sassy with me, I was just checking. Do you remember what you have to do?”

That’s right, my human side needed me to do something. Her memories came to me in flashes. It was hard to catch. I needed to stop my pack… Stop them from what?

“Let them know you’re okay,” the human reminded me. “They’re here because they think you’re in trouble.”

I remembered now. My human was upset about something. Ugh, when wasn’t she? Humans made everything so complicated.

Yipping in excitement, I bound towards them.

Pack! I’m here! No danger!

They came running up to me, sniffing and nuzzling. My gray alpha came first, followed by my two new pack mates, a silver alpha and a red alpha. I had never seen them before, but I recognized their scents immediately. My tail would not stop wagging. I was so happy to meet them.

No danger? my red alpha confirmed.

I lowered myself on my front paws and yipped again. No! Let’s play!

The other human had caught up by now. “You fuckers, this isn’t fair. Now I gotta go back to work and get my door fixed while you all get to do this. You better pay my Venmo request this time. And don’t tear my kitchen up again. Which one of you mutts is Archer?”

We looked at each other. What was he talking about?

The silver alpha tilted his head. Archer? Maybe me?

The human pointed at him. “I’m expecting you to keep everyone in line. And let me know when you shift back if your ribs are better.”

My silver alpha huffed. Enough human talk.

We turned around and followed him through the woods, leaving the human behind. I turned around and gave him one last look as I whined.

“Don’t worry, girl. I’ll join you soon. Go on, have fun. See you at home.”