I blinked. “What’s the difference?”
“They work as a unit, a team. You can’t do that so well when you’re not boning each other.”
My lips twitched at Austin’s response. “Really?”
“Really.” His tone was cheerful, and I had to laugh at his irreverence.
Ethan rolled his eyes, but I knew he was pleased by my amusement.
He was an odd man. Cut off from even Austin, even though he was close as could be to his twin. It was like he kept a barrier up between them, which, to be honest, saddened me.
No one should be alone, and as far as I could see, those two had been alone for a good long while.
I fiddled with my earring, trying to assimilate everything I knew, but to be honest, it was topsy-turvy.
In the hallway to the grand house, a house that I could never have anticipated living in, I asked, “Do you guys have a minute?”
“For you? We have hours,” Eli told me, and he wasn’t joking.
I wasn’t sure he ever joked.
He was worse than Ethan for being somber, but I figured that had to do with his mom too.
I reached for his hand, threaded my fingers through it, and whispered, “Thank you.”
His earnestness deserved an earnest reply.
“Can we go somewhere more comfortable? Somewhere that’s not your office?”
Austin’s lips twitched. “You mean, you want to see more of the big house? How adventurous of you, Sabina. I don’t think we’ve seen more than a couple of rooms ourselves.”
My brows lifted, but Eli shrugged. “Alphas welcome the pack through those doors, but it’s still our home too. The public is allowed in only a few rooms.
“And, as we’ve been dealing with the aftermath of your transformation, it’s been easier to be in the office.” He tugged me forward. “I’ll show you around the place.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll wander through it tomorrow.”
He blinked at me. “Are you sure?”
“It’s my home too now, isn’t it?”
His smile appeared, and it was like being hit straight in the solar plexus.
Sweet Kali Sara, he packed a punch with that smile.
I gulped as he whispered, “Of course. Every inch of this place belongs to you now too.”
“Whether you’d want the molding old pile is another matter entirely,” Ethan said drolly, earning himself a glare from Eli.
“We got the mold under control last year, Ethan.”
“We’d know.” Austin elbowed his twin in the side. “We did most of the work.”
“Most of it? All of it.” Ethan rolled his eyes.
“Are you contractors too?” I asked, confused.
“No. We do everything that nobody else will do.”
“Not a lie,” Eli admitted wryly.
“Then why don’t people like you?” I frowned. “That was one of the biggest vibes I picked up on in there.”
Eli tipped his head down to me. “You got a vibe?”
His eagerness was cute. “I’ve been getting them for a while,” I disclosed. “Pretty much since that first day. It’s like I can read a room. I’ve always been good at reading people, their auras, you know?”
“Auras?” Ethan inquired, his brows high and his dubiousness evident.
My lips twitched. “Not a believer? When you’re proof that there are weird things in the world that can’t be explained?”
“That’s you, Ethan,” Austin said cheerfully. “One-hundred-percent weird.”
“Thanks.”
My lips twitched. “I didn’t mean it that way, and you know it.”
Ethan’s smile was in his eyes as he murmured, “I know what you meant.”
My cheeks burned. “Anyway, why don’t they like you?”
Austin’s nose crinkled. “That answer needs to be given when we’re all seated.”
Kali Sara, that bad?
Eli guided us down the hall, and my feet sank into the rich, royal blue carpet that offset the cream walls to perfection. Every now and then, there was a console table that was topped with a vase of flowers or a cluster of photo frames that depicted Eli and his parents at random parts of their lives. I liked seeing those pictures. I’d already studied them earlier on in the day.
Since shifting yesterday, I’d done precious little, other than order some clothes, have something to eat, and talk with my mates, but even though they told me stuff, it wasn’t sinking in. Not because I was a dumbass, but because they weren’t telling me what I needed to know.
Which was weird.
How could they be giving me information without it being what I needed to know?
I decided then and there to just pin them down. Ask the questions, get some answers. Piece stuff together.
I’d spent a week in hiding, enjoying being pain free, while also feeling reassured that, in my other, newer form, I was untouchable. It let me get to know them, let me learn them from the inside out with no expectations…
Maybe the lack of passion was my fault.
I’d spent more time as a stinky wolf than as a human, and even in my skin, I’d been stinkier and then sleepy.
Sexy.
Not.
Wincing a little, even though I knew I didn’t stink now, and that I looked quite nice in my clothes—a rich, magenta wrap-around dress that covered me from chest to calf while giving a nice show of cleavage and a pair of stacked wedges that were a shade of gold—I assured myself that I wasn’t letting them down. In the council room, I hadn’t either.
Sure, I was only a carny with a sordid past, while Eli was a rich man, but Ethan and Austin appeared regular. Although, what was regular in this world was probably completely different than mine.
All along the corridor, there were fabulous paintings, all original pieces, no prints, but aside from the photo frames, it felt like a museum. Something that was confirmed when Eli led me into a room that had a roaring fire in the hearth.
Since I’d turned back to this shape, I hadn’t been cold. Once. So I wasn’t sure why the fire was necessary when there wasn’t much of a chill out, but it sure was pretty. Even if this room was like a museum too.
The sofa was high backed, with gold molding around the back and arms. There was ornate oriental stitching that depicted a dragon surging from the water if I was looking at it right, and though it was a three-seater, it was small. Crazy small.
On either side of the sofa, at an angle, there were matching armchairs, but these had wings and they were an azure blue with white and gold stitching, unlike the cream and red sofa. There were accent tables on either side of the sofa, with large lamps on them that flooded the seats with light, and the coffee table, right in front of the seating area, was gold and spindly with a plain marble top.
Opposite, the fire was surrounded by more marble, and the mantelpiece held a carriage clock. The fire was bracketed by console tables that were armed with large vases filled with dry flowers. And behind those vases were huge mirrors, more gilt and molding.
A chandelier hung overhead, crystals suspended and flickering in the firelight, giving it a kind of disco vibe.
Well, circa 1795.
I shook my head at the sight. “This is where you come for comfort?”
Eli shrugged. “My parents were formal.”
Mine weren’t.
Neither was I.
I pulled away from him, turned on my heel, and stared at everything with, I couldn’t deny, horror.
It was pretty, don’t get me wrong. But it sure as hell wasn’t a home.
Uncomfortable, immediately, in this room, and wishing I’d asked to sit in the office, I perched on the edge of the sofa.
It was the kind of room that only invited you to perch. You couldn’t sit back, couldn’t slouch.
AKA, my idea of hell.
Eli cleared his throat. “Would you prefer the council room?”
At least in there, the sofas were comfortable…
I frowned around me, th
en muttered, “No.”
The council room was for work. This was a conversation that was about us.
And there was an us.
It boggled my mind, but that was the way of it.
Eight days ago, I hadn’t known these men. Eight days ago, I’d been living in a trailer, and I’d been making do with my shitty job while my father hunted me down for besmirching the family honor, while I tried to handle the agony that came from a chronic disease.
Eight days ago, I couldn’t turn into an animal, and I hadn’t known that my fate was going to change.
Was it weird to think that someone’s random attack, something that might have killed me, might be the best thing that had ever happened to me?
I felt bad feeling that way, thinking that way, but it seemed to me to be the truth.
With me having taken a seat, my gentlemen mates decided they could too. Ethan and Austin moved to the armchairs, and Eli sat on the other end of the sofa. He didn’t perch, he slipped an arm along the back of it, propped one ankle over his other knee, and sank back.
I didn’t think I’d seen anything more masculine in my life.
Around all this dainty, ancient furniture, all these antiques and little objets d’art, he was so solid and real. Enough that it made me wonder why the sofa hadn’t creaked under our combined weight.
In his dark navy suit, he looked like what he was.
A leader.
His face, so handsome with his broad forehead, those green eyes that reminded me of peridot, the strong jaw and chin, those softly pouting lips, and that beak of a nose? All of it made me feel like I was looking at a Hollywood movie star who was in the middle of an interview with the press.
His suit clung to him to perfection, hanging off his shoulders while cutting into his trim waist, tight hips, and those pants of his revealed just how tall he was. Shiny black leather shoes contrasted with the rich navy, and he was, I thought, a man who invited a woman to undress him without him even having to say a word.
I swallowed, aware that my mouth was full of saliva. Drooling wasn’t a good look, but dayum, Eli was fine.
Beyond fine.
Like twelve out of ten fine.
And I’d seen the goods beneath. I knew the curtains matched the drapes, as it were.
I also knew that, on a good day, I was pretty top notch myself. I was a bit curvier than what might have been fashionable, but it had never stopped men from eying me up like I was their mama’s roast dinner.
And Eli was no different.
When he’d seen me walk into the council room, his eyes had flared wide, then there’d been a simmering heat that had settled inside him, making his entire being glow a bright, hot, lustrous red. It was tinged with pink, not black, and there was no mistaking just how he felt when he looked at me.
I smiled at him, unashamed and unabashed at my interest in him, and he arched a brow, evidently surprised by my response.
I wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but it definitely wasn’t sexual appraisal.
If anything, I realized he looked like he was prepared for negotiating.
But what was there to negotiate?
I arched a brow right back at him, then murmured, “You guys have been very good to me, but I don’t think you’ve told me the whole story.”
He frowned, and I got the sense it was hard for him to stay sitting. He wanted to leap up and pace, but he didn’t.
I wondered if he realized his aura throbbed with his desire to move.
A natural fidgeter, I thought, amused. One that often had to keep himself under control.
Either that, or he was someone with so much abundant energy that he had to keep himself on constant lockdown.
That fit more, to be fair. Especially considering his role in the pack.
“If you start drooling, I’ll walk out.”
Austin’s wry comment had me grinning and shifting to look at him. I sank back into the uncomfortable seat and slowly crossed my legs. Amused when his eyes dropped from mine and he followed the movement, watching the very appropriate and not at all high slit of my skirt shift, I felt more empowered than I ever had in my thirty years of living.
I felt like Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct.
That was how he looked at me.
Like I was flashing him more than just a bit of leg, like I had the promise land between my thighs.
And hell, maybe for these three men, I did.
Maybe what went down between my thighs was a golden promise land.
Amused, touched, and turned on, I let him stare at me until I cleared my throat. When he looked at me again, his eyes contained barely banked lust, and I wanted to tell him not to bank it, to come and spend it all on me, but I figured something was holding them back. Something I didn’t get.
And that was why we were here.
“So,” I began, my voice rusty. “The reason I’m okay with almost all of this is because I like paranormal romance books.”
Ethan snorted. “Seriously?”
I arched a brow at him. “You got a problem with that, bud?”
“Considering she hasn’t once freaked out on us, I don’t think you should have a problem, Ethan, if Sabina’s appreciation of that kind of thing makes her accept the insanity of her new life.”
Eli’s formal tone had me hiding a snicker. He really needed to chill out. Or was it that? Did he need to chill out, or just be reminded that there was more to life than this?
As I stared at him, stared at his suit, stared at the room, thought about the house, thought about his office and the council and all of it?
Yeah, he needed some softening.
He needed someone to show him there was more to life than this.
And fuck, the man needed a new sofa. One that didn’t make a cardboard box look comfortable.
“I’ve always loved them,” I admitted, feeling no shame. “But in those books—”
“Mated females get ravished.” Austin beamed at me, his joy beatific, even if his eyes transmitted how down he was for the ravishing. “We heard your thoughts.”
“Oh, so you did,” I said dryly, then I pulled a face. “So, where is it?”
“You spent most of our time together this week as a she-wolf, Sabina,” Eli pointed out softly.
“Yeah, but—”
“Hate to break it to you, angel, but things don’t work like they do in the books.” Ethan folded his arms. “We’ll ravage you, all right, but—and it’s a big but—it has to go down in a certain order.”
I pouted. “Why?”
“Because it does.” He shrugged. “We’re not just shifters, we rely on the Mother’s word to see us through. That means we have to do things on her schedule.”
My brow puckered. “Explain?”
“All mate bonds are consecrated in front of the totem.”
Eli’s statement had my eyes widening. “You mean we have to do it outside in the woods?”
“Do it?” He laughed, and the sound filled me with warmth. I hadn’t heard him laugh that much this week. Only when I’d been back in the woods, trying to walk, had he laughed, but it hadn’t been at my expense, just like I’d made him happy or something.
And maybe that fit.
Especially when, looking at his life, I didn’t think he had much to be happy about. Money didn’t make someone happy. Sure, it was nice for the pocket, but not for the soul, and I figured Eli was walking proof of that.
He had a sadness about him, something that ran deep, and it ran deeper even still than grieving over his mom.
“We’ll do more than ‘do it,’” he rasped, fire flickering into his aura once more, telling me he was getting agitated.
And in the best possible way.
I licked my lips. “Is that a promise?”
“It’s a vow,” he rumbled.
That had me raring for action. Twelve years of celibacy were about to be blown to the wind, and I couldn’t goddamn wait. “So, when will we visit the totem? I mean, I know we’re going
tomorrow for the challenge—”
“Are you sure you want to go to that?” Ethan asked, his face was filled with concern.
For me.
Kali Sara, it had been a long time since someone had been concerned about me. Even my friends in the carnival probably weren’t asking where I was. Sure, they’d be curious, but that was the life. One day, we were there, the next, we weren’t. Mostly, they’d be quibbling about my trailer and who got to call it theirs from now on.
I’d led an empty life since Kian and my baby boy’s death, and now, suddenly, it was full.
Full enough to make my heart quiver in my chest.
I knew what it was like to lose someone. Someone I’d die for. Here, I was being granted a deeper kind of bond, one I couldn’t possibly understand, but that tied me to three powerful men.
Maybe another woman would have been scared or, at least, filled with trepidation, but I wasn’t.
If anything, I looked forward to the prospect of no longer being alone, because that had been the common theme of this week.
One of them had always been with me.
And it had been wonderful.
I sighed at the thought, before murmuring, “Shouldn’t I be there?”
“You should, but I don’t want you to be scared of me,” Ethan admitted.
“Are you going to kill him?”
His eyes flared wide at the ease in which I uttered that question. I felt no fear, no worry over asking such a thing. I’d seen bareknuckle fights in the past, where grown men had killed each other with nothing more than their fists. Sure, it would be harder watching two animals tearing each other apart, but at least they were supposed to be wild.
I’d never understood the men who fought in my father’s illegal boxing matches. Money wasn’t everything. It was why I’d never fit in with my family. They thought that, but I didn’t.
“No, it won’t be to the death. He has a pup.”
And Ethan had morals.
I tilted my head to the side. “That means he might be fighting to the death—your death.”
He shrugged. “He has no honor.”
Eli grumbled, “He has some, and I doubt he’ll—”
“You doubt it?” Austin snorted, but he sank back into the rickety chair like he was born for it, and mimicking Eli’s posture, he crossed his legs so that his ankle rested on his other knee. What was it about that pose that got to me like lady porn? “You don’t know how hated we are.”
WOLF CHILD: A PNR RH Romance (The Year of the Wolf Book 1) Page 12
