Page 11
Chapter 11
The Apologetic Wolf
I took slow breaths, centering myself so I could patiently wait for the man I’d left behind after destroying his pack. Every look at Phillip and his sword was another reminder of the moment when I took two wolf heads in a frozen pocket of time.
But, of course, the self-absorbed jerk mistook my little sideways glances as flirting. The saucy Hunter winked at me and dipped his head closer to my ear, full of the usual charm with his eyeliner application always so on point. “You look hungry, meine Liebe.”
I glared at him when it was clear he did it in full view of Grams—and really anyone else with eyes.
The older Hunter had ditched the usual jacket, opting to wear a torso-tight black shirt that exposed the tattoos along his collar, neck, arms, and hands. The usual deconstructed brass knuckle was in place, but this time in all gold. He probably put on each ring with a sleazy smirk, knowing it’d be making its home on Nigel’s face if the wolf even looked at him wrong. But unfortunately, Phillip never failed to look delicious everywhere we went, and being back home where it all started was already doing something to my thirsty brain.
This was the same field—the same prickly bush—where I first discovered my new substitute Biology teacher was a top-tier Hunter and my new mentor. It was a weird feeling in my stomach knowing that I now laid claim to that criminal-passing jerk who once posed as my high school teacher.
The Austrian’s snake-bite piercings glinted in the midday sun, his head doing a little tilt, and I fought the urge to lean in and drag them into my mouth. I couldn’t do anything when there were people watching us—a weird threesome decked out to the teeth in weapons.
I could practically feel Sloan’s gaze as I clicked my tongue and leveled a glare on the oversharing playboy next to me.
Phillip did it on purpose, no doubt. Everything he did was to get a rise out of me, and I rose to it every time. I hated how much I did. It wasn’t clear what had been shared between the two after I woke up with the thirst of a genetic monster after using way too much power, but I wouldn’t put it past the asshole to brag about it to Sloan to get one over on the Brit.
Don’t rise to his challenge either, V. Now’s not the time.
Before I could utter a word, Sloan gently cupped my face and redirected my narrow stare back over to him. “Maybe I could help out tonight instead, yeah? I’m proper convinced I’ll taste better.”
Whatever deity is listening, grant me the fucking patience to deal with one and not drool over the other, thanks.
Then the light-eyed beauty added, “I don’t drink like a bleeding sailor when no one’s watching.”
Whoop, there it is. Now Sloan’s starting, too.
They might be sharing me like promised, but that didn’t mean they didn’t taunt and tease each other like damn kids every chance they got. You’d have to wonder which one of us was just out of high school by the way these two acted around each other. No surprise, the main instigator was always Phillip. Beefier kids didn’t exist. Though, thankfully, it all seemed to be more in play than genuine hatred and distaste, so I didn’t say anything about it.
Wouldn’t matter if I did.
No matter how powerful and long-living these two Hunters were, they still acted like they were straight out of a frat house. I didn’t have the patience or headspace to navigate the complicated bro-ship they shared. For all I knew, it was their way of bonding.
“I’m good,” I snapped angrily, jerking my face out of Sloan’s grasp and stepping away from both with a resigned huff.
With the beasts stalking in the brush—my wily old fox of a grandmother among them—I could count on several sideways comments about our behavior out in the field. If anything, I looked forward to it. Both dudes turned into different people when Grams lectured them. I didn’t mind taking friendly fire to watch these two get beaten down by her lethal grandma rage.
Sloan’s hand touched mine, then Phillip’s did the same, and I tried not to smile, still mad they never thought about the time or place. Ever. But I thought back on how the last time I was in the middle of the two, both their hands locked on mine, I was the most conflicted girl in the room. Not today, though. Well, not when it came to these two bickering hotties.
They must’ve picked up on my anxiety because they both offered their own unique brand of comfort and support. Phillip always started shit when he wanted to get me out of my head, and Sloan played along because they were besties for a reason.
Sneaking a look at the handsome faces of the two guys who rocked my world every chance they got and never failed to come running when I needed them, I squeezed both hands before crossing my arms, determined to stay in control even when my head was utter chaos.
I caught sight of Nigel’s terrifying amber gaze breaking away from a line of trees. In the usual casual clothes, the werewolf looked plenty delicious with his dark skin a stark contrast to the world around him. His powerful shape was as large and as striking as it always had been, but somehow, the man looked beaten down, smaller. His steps were careful. His luminous wolf eyes scanned every corner. He lifted his head, smelling something in the air we didn’t. But when the werewolf stood in front of us, the look he offered me wasn’t filled with rage or storming with hatred. No, he looked…ashamed? Guilty?
Well, that makes two of us, buddy.
“V,” he called out, his rich baritone exactly how I remembered it. The sullen Shifter let loose a sigh, his eyes dimming back to their obsidian color. “You found Rose?”
Phillip seemed surprised to hear it. “How—?”
“Some of us are fucking Shifters, Hunter. I’d know her scent anywhere,” Nigel cut in, insulted. “But unlike you, she already knows that, the wily old fox. Guess it’s just you in the dark.” He practically spat the words at my companion’s feet, and I caught Sloan’s lips curve upwards out of the corner of my eye.
Nigel slid his abyss-deep gaze over to the man grinning beside me, and something passed between them. The Shifter’s snarling lip greeted the other Hunter’s smile. I’d never seen Nigel act so hostile with Sloan. They’d been snippy with each other before, especially when we all stayed in the cave, but the hatred living in Nigel’s gaze was intense. It reminded me of how he reacted after Phillip and I…
Shit.
Nigel probably smelled both of them on me.
After Phillip had me on his lap, drinking his blood again and following his every command, Sloan claimed me later in my room. He’d plucked me right out of the hallway before I could go find Kris to ask her about the relationship she had with Sungho. I wanted deets, and thanks to these two assholes who wanted their turn every time the other Hunter was occupied, I still hadn’t gotten them out of her.
Honestly, I’d never look at my desk the same way. Not after Sloan fucked me on it, legs open, neck arched, hand taking the shape of my breast and powerful hips slapping into mine. If I hadn’t been a monster with crazy healing abilities, I’d probably still have marks from where my back ate into the top shelf. And he hadn’t stopped there. Sloan bent me over the desk chair with my hands planted on the wood surface, moaning his name under my breath and deathly afraid someone would hear how good he gave it to me. Because even though it was different with Sloan, that didn’t mean it wasn’t just as good.
Between his aggressive pursuit of pleasuring me in ways I’d never thought possible—like sucking so hard on my clit that the line between pain and pleasure was blurred, or fingering me with his otherworldly speed, chasing spots I never knew existed, or even recently showing me that wasn’t the only place you could stick a finger to derive ecstasy—the gorgeous Hunter wasn’t shy about keeping me locked in a pleasurable prison.
Even though I’d showered right afterwards, Nigel had a Shifter’s nose, so he’d smell whatever got left…inside.
Fuck my life.
“So, what’s this all about?” the amber-eyed wolf demanded, biting each word out like it left a bad taste in his mouth.
Not a fan of another macho-guy tit-for-tat, I answered Nigel’s question after a nod from both Sloan and Phillip that indicated he hadn’t been followed. “What can you tell us about Theo the Savage?”
Surprise hit the wolf’s face for a second before he crossed his arms and glanced between the two guys I’d come with. “He’s not someone you fuck around with if that’s what you’re asking. Thousands of wolves follow his lead. Theo never gets his claws dirty, but the second he howls, you’d better run. That asshole doesn’t give second chances, and he doesn’t care who he has to kill to make it clear that breaking his rules is the last thing you’ll ever do.”
It was weird to hear Nigel be so openly antagonistic in a conversation about another wolf. I couldn’t be sure if the topic or the two Hunters I came with was the cause of it.
“His name came up in connection with the Organization, and I know you owe me nothing after everything I’ve done to—”
Nigel’s deep-rumbling growl took me by surprise, and the two Hunters beside me went for their weapons. I tossed them a little sassy “Really, dudes?” look before sighing and stepping closer to Nigel.
“I’m sorry about Tiff and Topher. I…didn’t…”
I ended up on the receiving end of an embrace I didn’t see coming. A thunderous growl echoed from deep inside Nigel’s chest as the oversized Shifter held me tight, ignoring the other two men who looked very close to taking him down.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, V. I’m not mad at you. The blame’s all mine. I should’ve known. I was their fucking alpha. I should’ve known. And they planned to kill you. What other choice did you have? If anything, I…can’t—I don’t know how to begin to say sorry that two wolves I thought had your best interests at heart turned out to be the ones with their claws out. But to think they’d be connected to the same people who are hunting you, who’ve made your life a living hell, and now Theo? I…”
The Shifter didn’t finish, just held me tighter. Sensing it was something he needed, I wrapped my arms around him and hugged the apologetic wolf back. Even with the history between us and the horrible rollercoaster our friendship had been on over the last year, I was so glad to still have him.
But mostly, I was glad he didn’t blame me.
Emotion crowded my throat. I swallowed it. I wouldn’t cry. If I did, it’d make Nigel feel like it was his fault. It wasn’t. There were bigger things at play here, and I blamed Lux and the fucked-up Organization that created him for everything that happened. No one else.
“This isn’t your fault, Nigel. Those were your friends. Your family. Your pack. I won’t sugarcoat what they did, but I wished it were different. I want to believe they’d been led astray about me somehow. But still, I’m so fucking sorry it happened at all,” I bit out, grief reaching my throat and making it impossible to speak the way I wanted.
Because I’d lost a friend, too.
I hated to admit how much I missed Tiff. How I couldn’t mourn her like Nigel could. How I was forced to fight for my life by ending hers. But even though she and Topher betrayed me, I still wanted to believe they didn’t know the truth; that they’d been brainwashed to believe I was a threat. I wanted to think they did it because they had no other choice. But we’d never know. They were dead, and nothing we said or did would ever change that.
“I’m sorry you lost people you cared about,” I whispered, hoping to express my support with a squeeze.
Pulling away, I caught sight of the anguish bleeding from my friend’s eyes—the pain, the hurt, the agony. Tears broke away and trailed down his face before Nigel wiped them away, sniffing angrily. It killed me to see him like that, but the alpha just shook his head, cleared his throat, and schooled his expression.
“Theo did this, not you. If he’s involved with the Organization like you say, then this is worse than I first thought. If he’s working with them after everything they’ve done to us, it goes against every credo we wolves believe in.” Nigel’s beaming amber eyes flicked up to meet mine, no longer drowning in grief. The rage was finally there, bent on settling the score.
“If we can get enough evidence to prove he’s the Organization’s lap dog, then we won’t have to be the ones to take him down. The wolf society will do that for us. So, I’ll help you. I know for a fact that Claude and Mia were just as blindsided as I was, and they’ll want this as much as you Hunters do. Let’s take down a fucking society alpha.”
“Never thought there’d ever be a day where I was glad to have you on our side…” Phillip huffed a laugh, surprising us all.
Which was the closest Nigel would ever get to a compliment from Phillip. The wolf understood as much because his eyes went wide and he scoffed, but it lacked the usual annoyance. The upwards twitch of the werewolf’s mouth told me despite thinking Phillip was the scum of the Earth, he was tickled by the compliment.
The rest of the group came out of their hiding places in the forest, and Nigel rolled his eyes when Grams made her way over to him. The elderly woman had recently dyed her hair a hilarious shade of pink, and you’d never guess she fought like a demon. If anything, she came across as one of those hip grandmas from TikTok, especially with the dominatrix outfit she’d worn today.
Grams dragged the enormous man into a hug, then pinched his arm. “You better stop pretending I don’t exist. You’re never allowed to act like we’re strangers again. I missed this handsome face.” Cradling Nigel’s head between her hands, my grandma’s hazel eyes crinkled. “And you owe me a few spars for being a big ol’ brat and hurting my granddaughter.”
The Shifter’s hiss of pain was quickly followed by an all-kid grin when she chastised him. “Okay, you’ve got me there. But I always end up hurting for days after a spar with you, woman. You use gold-plated weapons to slow down the healing process.” My lethal grandmother’s warning eyes landed on the Shifter, and he laughed loudly.
It was the first time in a long time since I’d seen Nigel laugh like this. The usual boyish charm beamed in his expression like no time had been lost. I’d nearly forgotten what his amusement did to my heart. My first boyfriend was still the most beautiful when he smiled, and I’d missed it.
Maybe I wasn’t the only one who needed Grams back. As I stared at the two of them, their genuine love for each other in every word and look, I realized that maybe Nigel was waiting for her to return the same way I had been.
“I can’t believe you brought gold bullets to take me down,” he admonished Grams, staring at the gun clipped to her belt.
Her lips twitched, and she offered the wolf a sneaky glance. “You’re fast. I had to bring the gun, or you’d be out of range before I could get’cha.”
Phillip and I both laughed, and Nigel sighed loud enough to make Kris and Grams also break down into a fit of giggles.
You’d never know when you looked at us that this was a group of terrifying superbeings out for revenge—because for the first time in a while, we all seemed to be having fun.