Page 30 of Taken By The Wolves (Blackwood Forest #2)

SCARLET

The tension in the cabin is palpable. The threat to me and Ahya looms over the men in this house in a way that I’m struggling to comprehend.

I’m not from this dark corner of the world, and trying to understand the relationships and the customs of wolf culture is complex and baffling.

All I know is I haven’t wanted to put Ahya down all day.

Keeping her close is a fierce instinct. I’m not her mother.

I’ve never spent time around young babies, and yet, I seem to know what she needs as though she’s my own.

I love her.

And watching stoic Nixon, rugged Reed, and gentle Finn fight for her smiles, try to anticipate her needs, and hover around her like silent guardians has me melting over them, too.

There’s something about a man showing kindness to children, especially when they’re not blood, that reveals an essential inner trait that ticks all my female boxes.

They’ve even started to override my fears about this strange world I find myself in.

They think I’m their mate. A woman fated to join their pack.

But I’m just Scarlet, an ordinary human woman with a splintered past and a sharp tongue.

I came to Braysville for lumber, and now?

Now, I find myself aching when one of them leaves the room, caring for a child, and at the center of a poly relationship with men who are also wolves.

My mind is blown at how fast my life has changed.

My mother warned me about strangers.

But how can I be afraid of men who treat a foundling child with such tender care? How can I run from protectors who see me, all of me, and never once ask me to be less?

Still, I ask myself quietly, Is this really what I want?

After we returned home from town, Reed disappeared into the woods.

Nixon and Finn engaged in much low, angry conversation.

Then Nixon disappeared, and Finn encouraged me and Ahya to join him in his workshop.

It was so calming to watch him take tools to wood, smoothing surfaces and engraving marks.

Ahya watched calmly from my arms, clutching a miniature wooden horse Finn had whittled for her.

Outside, birds called, and the trees rustled their secrets, and the scent of an unfamiliar world seeped into my consciousness.

I realized that I’m settled in a way I never had in my life back home.

My mom’s warning voice that’s always there whenever I’m thinking about making changes or decisions, interrupts my calm.

Beware of strangers, Scarlet. They’re wolves in sheep’s clothing. You never know what they want from you until it’s too late.

But I know what these men want from me. They want to love me, claim me, bind us together forever in a way no paper or ring ever could, and that should terrify me.

It should make me want to run for the hills, but I’ve seen the way Hunter, Robert, and Evan look at Goldie like she hung the stars for them.

I’ve seen the gentle way they touch her, and the softness in their eyes when she speaks.

They’ve shown me the mate bond, and from the outside, it looks beautiful.

***

After dinner, when Ahya is clean, fed, and asleep, I slip into the bathroom for a shower, hoping the water will wash away the confusion clinging to my thoughts. The steam is thick, and I lean my head against the tile, overwhelmed by the weight of it all.

I’m only alone for two minutes, then the door opens, revealing Nixon, Reed, and Finn naked and glorious, powerful and intense.

They climb in around me, and I glance up at each of them, overwhelmed by their size and proximity, finding softness in their expressions, but hunger, too.

Their eyes rove over my body, lingering on my pale skin and the red curls between my thighs, slick with water.

Nixon cups my cheek, his voice a rasp of reverence.

“You’re shaking,” he murmurs. “Let us hold you.”

Then, with a smooth strength that overwhelms me, he lifts me against his chest. My legs wrap around his waist. My arms circle his shoulders. My lips find his without hesitation.

Reed’s hands are at my back, fingers tracing the ridges of my spine. Finn’s body presses into mine, solid and warm. He kisses the curve of my shoulder, his lips reverent.

“Let us show you what it means to be ours,” Finn says softly.

They kiss me all over, their tongues tracing softness beneath each breast, sliding over the curve of my belly, planting tiny claims on my skin. Every action is deliberate and reverent. I’m slick with water, but also with want.

When Reed cups my breast, his thumb circling my peaked nipple, I tilt my head, swamped by sensation. My skin comes alive with every caress. I’m open for this. For whatever they want.

Finn’s lips trail from the bend of my neck to the outside of my thigh as Nixon’s cock presses hard and insistent along the length of my sex. The glass fogs behind us, until nothing exists but the weight of them, the need in their eyes, the truth in their mouths.

I sense the shift in atmosphere as the tension between us turns electric. This is the moment before the claim. My rational mind whispers I’m not ready, but at the same time, every fractured piece of my heart is pounding, wanting so fiercely that fear dissolves into longing.

I want the love and devotion these men are willing to give and the softness of Ahya’s little body to always be close.

I want the security of a life surrounded by love and protection, where I no longer have to hope for a fairytale ending or fear the danger at the door.

I find them in the steam; three faces, three promises, three wolves determined that I belong to them.

I’m uncertain about this world, but I’m already entwined.

I move with them, turning, responding, tasting each one. My resistance softens with every kiss.

Finally, Nixon brushes a towel over my shoulders. I shiver, though I’m burning, and he nudges me forward, hands resting gently as a promise on my hips.

I know this is the path to the claim. I’m not ready, but I can’t step away, either.

Their breath, their heartbeats, and their wild devotion coils around me. Their pack has become my sanctuary, and more importantly, the only safety Ahya has ever known. And while fear claws at my thoughts, I lean into that promise.

In this moment, my world shifts beneath my skin.

And part of me welcomes it.

Because running back to a world without them now?

I don’t know how to do that anymore.