twenty-three

ASPEN

Enzo sat me on the countertop and refused to let me help as we started the cake. When I told him I needed a job, he assigned me to turn the stand mixer on and off for him.

Like I was four years old.

I rolled my eyes, but I knew taking care of me made him feel good, so I just turned the mixer on and off at his directions.

His hand rested on my thigh while we creamed the butter and sugar, and I studied him.

He lifted his gaze to mine for a beat, and I held it.

“What do you guys do for your birthday?” I asked.

“Not much. Clay asks what kind of cake we want a few days before. We all agree on either red velvet or Funfetti , depending on the year. I always make it, either on the day of or shortly after, depending on if I’m hunting a rogue or not. We eat it together when it’s done. If Clay’s feeling festive, he forces us to play card games or board games. Monopoly isn’t allowed.”

My smile grew, slightly. “Monopoly always causes fights.”

“Every time.”

“You never buy cake?”

“Nah. All of us try to avoid buying food.”

“Why?” There was curiosity in my voice. “Is it a health thing? I know you don’t like to eat there, but the food in the dining hall is pretty good.”

“No.”

I blinked.

He clarified, “It’s not a health thing. Or a high-maintenance thing.” He lowered his gaze to the stand mixer and watched intently.

Right.

So there was a reason for it. He just didn’t want to tell me.

That was fine. Really, he didn’t have to. It was obviously his business.

I wasn’t going to push him for more information. If he wanted to share, he would.

His grip tightened on my thigh.

A few minutes passed as he added ingredients without asking me to turn off the mixer.

I didn’t say anything.

If he wanted us to have a relationship, he was going to have to trust me with things. He’d already basically forced me to trust him.

He turned the mixer off when the batter was done, and stared at it for a long moment.

“That was supposed to be my job,” I said, giving him an out. We could keep our relationship surface-level. That was perfectly doable. It wasn’t what he said he wanted, and it wasn’t what I really wanted either, but we could do it.

“Our dad wasn’t only cruel to our mother,” he finally said. “When we started getting bigger than him as preteens, he knew he wouldn’t be able to control us much longer. We outnumbered him, and I had more dominance than him. He wanted to keep us weak, so he drugged us. Poisoned us. Through the pack’s food. The cooks and servers did it for him, and they didn’t tell us.”

“We were unfocused for years. Sucked ass in school. Could barely think straight. When a tutor finally asked for a list of what we were eating, wondering if there was some kind of severe allergy, I got the menu from the head cook. He could barely meet my eyes. Something was obviously up,” he continued.

My chest squeezed.

No wonder he hadn’t wanted to talk about it.

“I wasn’t tactful. Could barely think straight because of the drugs. I hit him with all the dominance I had. He pissed himself, but told me about the poison. Showed me where it was. What it was.”

I put my hand on his, on my thigh.

“I killed him and everyone else who had been involved that day. I could understand my dad poisoning me. I wouldn’t have even been surprised. But they were the closest thing we had to family, and my brothers weren’t Alphas. They couldn’t have challenged him. He hurt them anyway. I tracked him down after I was done with the servers. Challenged him. Killed him. Took over the pack that day.”

“Fuck,” I whispered.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “It was weeks before we had fully recovered, even with our werewolf healing. We felt like new people. I regretted killing the cooks and servers. Still do. I’ve tried to be better, now.”

“They pretended to be your family while poisoning you, Enzo,” I said quietly. “Maybe they’d been forced, and it wasn’t entirely right, but you were a kid who had been betrayed horribly. And you weren’t in your right mind, either. You did what seemed like the right thing at the time.”

“I got angry.”

“You had a right to be angry. They poisoned you.”

He let out a harsh breath. “The three of us started cooking every meal after that. Shared an apartment. Did our own thing while we tried to heal and figure out how to lead a pack. It was messy, but we eventually settled in.”

“You still prefer to cook your own food, though. All of you?”

He nodded. “We know that not everyone is out to get us at this point. It’s been a long time. We’re not necessarily afraid of eating out, or with the pack. But it will never feel entirely comfortable.”

I swallowed a lump of emotion in my throat. “I get it. I’ll make you grilled cheese any time you want. And cereal. And quesadillas. To be honest, I’m a terrible cook. Maybe you can try to teach me or something. My mom showed me a little before heat hit, but afterward… well, she was mourning. Just trying to survive. We all were.”

“What happened right afterward?”

“It’s all kind of a blur. Fletcher needed to leave for his sanity. Our parents needed him to leave for theirs, too. His wolf and Silas’s nearly killed each other a few times. Our dad took him to the Creek Pack, where our birth dad and adopted dad both used to live. They took Fletcher in, under the impression he was our adopted dad’s by blood.”

I continued, “Dad claimed we were a year younger than we were, and no one batted an eye. Fletcher found a place there, and worked through things. We didn’t talk much, for a few months. It was hard to be alone, but I was so terrified of heat that I barely left my room. We had been homeschooled before everything happened, so our lessons stopped. Silas couldn’t stand to be in the same room with me. The only time we managed it was heat.”

“You lost your family.”

I nodded.

“You and I are the same, in that way,” he said.

Maybe we were.

Enzo slipped an arm around my back and pulled me to the edge of the countertop, wrapping his arms around me for a hug. Mine went around him too, and I hugged him back.

Tightly.

He’d shared something with me that I doubted he had ever told anyone else before. That was big, especially for a man as independent as he was.

“Thank you for talking to me,” I whispered.

“Thank you for listening. And talking to me too.”

I nodded.

He kissed the top of my head. “We’ve got a cake to bake and some frosting to whip up, Princess.”

“Are you ever going to stop calling me that?”

“Probably not.”

I sighed, and he chuckled.

Things felt different when we got back to making the cake, and I resumed the world’s easiest job.

Everything felt safer.

More… intimate.

When his hand brushed my arm as he teased me, his touch lingered.

When I sassed him, our eyes caught, and our gazes held just a little too long.

When he dipped a finger in the frosting and lifted it to my lips, I sucked.

When he kissed me afterward, his hands cradling my face while the taste of sugar was on both of our tongues, I let myself wonder what it would feel like to love Enzo, and to be loved by him.

The more I thought about it, the better it sounded.

When our cake was done and frosted, Enzo made me wait in the kitchen while he stepped into the other room. I picked up my phone to look at the time.

5:02 PM.

We were meeting for cake in the Savage brothers’ shared living room (AKA the lounge) precisely two minutes ago. Because the brothers’ wolves were all territorial, they’d built their own hangout space. It had a kitchen, a table, a big couch, and a TV. I’d never seen it, but Enzo had described it to me while we were getting the cake ready.

He strode back into the room with a tiny gift bag in his hand.

I lifted my eyebrows. “You got me a present?”

“Of course I did.”

My gaze grew skeptical.

“I planned it last week, Princess. I was never going to miss your birthday.”

“Even when you were being a jerk?”

“Even then.” He put the bag on my lap.

There was no tissue paper, and it was taped shut.

“Do you want me to wait? I didn’t even get Fletcher a present,” I admitted. “I always get them the day of. I’m the worst.”

“I got one for him too. We can claim it’s from both of us.”

My eyes widened. “You got my brother a present? Who are you, and what happened to the bastard who choked a bunch of guys for seeing my tits?”

“I would still choke any men who saw your tits. Open it.”

He set his hands on my knees.

He wasn’t great at resisting his urge—or need—to touch me. And I was starting to realize I didn’t mind that at all.

I carefully pulled the tape off, and opened the bag.

My breath caught when I found a small, black box. It was bigger than a ring box, so I knew it wasn’t that, but it was obviously something important.

“Enzo,” I warned.

He pulled the jewelry box out when I didn’t make a move to grab it.

I watched closely as he opened it, revealing an inch-wide silver crown made entirely of diamonds. It was on a chain that wasn’t quite dainty, but wasn’t chunky either. The crown didn’t hang down, but instead followed the natural curve of the necklace.

“A ring would get beat up when you shift,” he explained. Jewelry stayed with us in both forms, if it was big enough not to break off or injure us during the shift. “With this, you’re marked as my mate in the human way. Or as close to it as we can get without a ring. It’s protection as much as it’s decoration.”

I couldn’t lie to him. “It’s beautiful.”

“Will you wear it?” His gaze met mine. It was a question. Not a command. He was sincere, and if I said no, he would respect it.

I nodded. “But I’m going to be annoyingly careful with it.”

His lips curved. “I had it made with moissanite so it’s cheap to replace if it breaks off when you shift. I have a diamond one in the nightstand, but I thought you’d rather look at that one than wear it.”

I laughed. “You thought right.”

He carefully pulled it from the box, and I gathered my hair so he could fasten it around my neck.

“Are we going to ignore the fact that it looks like a crown?” I asked, my voice soft but playful.

“No. You’re going to be the Wolf Queen in a few days. It was this or a tiara on the back of your neck permanently.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t just book the tattoo.”

“I hadn’t seen your new ink yet, or I probably would’ve.” His fingers brushed the back of my neck lightly before he pulled my hair from my hand, letting it fall loosely over my back.

“I think you just wanted a diamond on me. Or something that looks like one.” The necklace was too short to see the crown when I lifted it away from my collarbone, but I dragged my thumb lightly over the shape anyway.

“Of course I did. Most of the women in the city are human, and that’s how humans claim each other. My obsession with marking you has been clear from the beginning.”

“True.”

There was no way to forget the scars on my throat. They were light enough to make it clear that he hadn’t been trying to hurt me, but they still stood out and caught attention everywhere I went.

Enzo leaned in and kissed me.

Lightly.

I wrapped my arms around his neck to deepen the kiss, but he pulled away too soon.

“The cakes and your brother are waiting.”

“Do you think Hunter and Clay ate the whole cake without us?”

“Nah, Fletcher’s enough of a threat that they’d think twice. Considering you belong to me, I’m sure it’s waiting on the table just the way he left it.

He adjusted the crown at the base of my throat, then lifted me off the countertop and took my hand.

“Tonight is going to be difficult,” he said, his voice lowering as he led me down the hall. “After the party, when you change one of the humans. I hate seeing you like that.”

“I know. But everything will be easier afterward, when there are more women to help me change people.”

I hoped it would, at least.

Fletcher, Clay, and Hunter were all sprawled out on a monster-sized sectional when we got to the room. Somehow, it was even bigger than the world’s biggest couch back at Enzo’s cabin.

None of the guys looked annoyed that we were late. I could smell pot roast coming from the massive kitchen I could see from the couch, and there were empty bowls next to our brothers. They’d eaten without us, but we would’ve done the same if they were the late ones.

A football game played on the TV, and the guys were arguing about something that had just happened when we walked in. The conversation ended abruptly when Clay’s gaze narrowed in on the massive platter of fancy meat, cheese, and crackers that Enzo was carrying. There was significantly more meat than anything else, both in variety and amount.

“He does this for our birthday too. There’s no escaping now. Might as well take our last name,” Clay called to Fletcher over his shoulder, already on his way to the gigantic platter. Enzo had put it together while I was recovering in bed.

Enzo set it down, and all the guys met us at the table. The gigantic chocolate cake Fletcher always made for me was already sitting there, calling my name.

After Enzo forced Fletcher and I both to blow out a handful of candles, despite our eye rolling and grumbles of disagreement, we all had overflowing plates of food and cake. There was such a mountain of charcuterie, Fletcher might actually have some left over to bring home.

The Savage brothers all went over to the couch to give us a little space at the table, and Fletcher handed me a gift bag.

“I’ll get you a present as soon as I’m allowed to leave the Lodge,” I told him apologetically.

I already knew it held a stack of fancy, incredible chocolate bars that cost way more than the few bucks I was willing to spend on my favorite treat. He got me the same thing for both our birthday and Christmas every year. I ate all of the birthday ones in the months before Christmas every time, and rationed the rest through the New Year in an effort to make them last until September.

They never did, but I tried.

“Just make more of this,” Fletcher said, gesturing to Enzo’s charcuterie board. I never would’ve expected that from the violent, deadly wolf king, but I guess even violent wolf kings enjoyed a good tray of meat, cheese, and crackers. “This can be your version of chocolate.”

That was an easy deal, and honestly a relief. I was shitty at trying to pick presents out for him. I usually just ended up buying a band t-shirt.

Something happened in the football game, and arguing broke out on the couch. I bit back a grin at the guys’ ridiculousness.

Fletcher’s gaze lowered to the glittering stones at the base of my throat. “A crown, huh, Princess?” He drawled the nickname, obviously teasing me.

“Yeah. It’s over the top, I know.”

“Actually, I think it’s pretty reasonable. The more ways he can mark you as his mate, the safer you’ll be. The pack respects him, and everyone else is terrified of him.”

“They have a good reason to be. I don’t even want to think about what he would do to someone who tried to hurt me.”

“Good point.”

“How are you doing?” I asked, studying him.

“Dreading watching you risk your life again.”

If he was admitting that much, he was feeling a lot more than dread. Now that he had lost his pack, I was all he had. With the distance we’d both put between ourselves and our parents, we were on our own.

“Have you talked to Lucas again since the pack booted you?” I asked. I felt Enzo’s eyes on me again. He’d probably heard Lucas’s name and assumed the worst.

I was only asking because Lucas had been one of Fletcher’s closest friends. I felt horrible for costing my brother that.

Fletcher’s gaze lingered on the wall over my shoulder, avoiding mine. “No. I didn’t know him as well as I thought.”

“If that’s because of me…”

“He sided with Alfred in the first challenge. Right off the bat. I’m pissed that I didn’t realize he was flirting with you, but our friendship ended when he decided he wanted me out of the pack for protecting my sister.”

Right.

That was obviously a sore subject.

I nodded, and Fletcher stood. “I’m going to watch the game.”

I was silent as he walked away.

“He fits into our pack,” Enzo said in my mind. “He belongs here as much as you do. My brothers have basically adopted him in.”

“He’s not a stray puppy, Enzo.”

“Do we seem like a loving family looking for a puppy to train?”

That was actually a fair point.

If they adopted Fletcher, it would be because he was as much of a controlling asshole as they were. And he was. He would absolutely threaten Enzo the way Clay had threatened me if our roles had been reversed that first day in the Lodge.

“Come sit with me,” Enzo said, and his simple request surprised me.

I dished up the last slice of the chocolate cake and padded across the room, folding myself onto the gigantic cushion beside him. His arm went over my shoulders, and I leaned in close.

I didn’t care about football, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy sitting with my brother and… fiancé… and eating cake while they argued about the game.

The lightheartedness of our little party was gone when we joined everyone back in the conference room. I wasn’t nervous, but I wasn’t looking forward to what was coming, either.

The three human women who had agreed to help change more people were all gathered, along with their mates, but the moment we entered the room, my attention went immediately to one couple.

I stopped abruptly, and my adoptive mother gave me a small but genuine smile.

I crossed the room quickly, pulling her in for a tight hug, and she held me close.

“Your king sent a gift basket and called me,” she murmured. “Said he would’ve come by personally if not for the threat to your life, and invited me to be a part of this. He may be a menace to society, but he clearly cares about you.”

“He does,” I agreed, fighting the overwhelm of my emotions as well as a small amount of humor.

Menace to society was absolutely the vibe Enzo aimed for.

When I got myself together, I pulled away and let Enzo take my hand, leading me to an empty chair nearby.

“You and your damn gift baskets,” I said into his mind, my voice full of gratitude as I took my seat. “Thank you.”

“It was Fletcher’s idea. I just made it happen.”

I looked at Fletcher and saw the same emotions I was feeling reflected back in his eyes. I couldn’t read his mind, but I knew he was thinking something along the lines of what I was.

We couldn’t save Simon, but we could save our parents.

We could prevent our mother from aging further, or leaving our father alone to go rogue. We could give them a chance to be together permanently.

“Thank you all for being here,” Enzo said, his voice calm and authoritative. “You all know why we’re here and what’s going to happen next. The female werewolves will be deciding when everything happens, so I’ll leave it to them.”

With that, he turned my chair away from the rest of the group to give us privacy.

As my chair spun, I met the other girls’ eyes and mouthed good luck before I couldn’t see them anymore.

Enzo lifted me up long enough to sit beneath me, one of his arms wrapping securely around my waist. I had a feeling the other would go around my chest before I passed out, to keep me from falling.

My mother gave me her arm, and my wolf surged to the surface.

She gave me a warning growl, as if letting me know that she would be taking over so she could shift as soon as we recovered, and I nodded.

It was past time.

My teeth lengthened into fangs, and I bit down on my mom’s arm. The magic took hold immediately, just like it had the last time. There was a sudden drain on my energy. I slouched a little.

The world started to spin as exhaustion slowly set in. It didn’t seem to be as violent as it had been the last time. Maybe having Enzo’s arm around me helped.

Or maybe it was just the fact that I’d done it before, recently, and my body and mind knew what was coming.

I still didn’t make it very long before I passed out.