Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
He also couldn’t wait to introduce her to his pack. He wanted to take her to his lodge, show her the kind of home they could have, let her fill the space with her scent. “What did you do today?”
“Soccer training. Patrol. Visited my Alpha to tell him about you. Adrian is pleased for me, as is his Beta female, Clare. And now you and I need to leave before I make us late by wrestling you to the floor and riding you like a pony.”
He groaned. “I love your honesty. I have no objections to you riding me.”
She stepped back. “Oh no, this is the first time I’ll meet your pack. I won’t make a very good impression if I don’t arrive on time. The riding you like a pony thing—we can put a pin in that, okay?”
“I’m holding you to it.” He gave her one last kiss, waited for her to slip on her shoes, and then led her outside with her hand in his. “Do you have a car?”
“Nope. I can drive. I just don’t own a car because it seems pointless. I rarely leave my territory, since everything I need is here and these stores sell just about everything.” Once inside his SUV, she clicked on her seatbelt and asked, “So, how did your pack react to the news of you being mated?”
“They’re happy for me.” He switched on the engine and pulled out onto the road. “All the adults are mated, so I think it was just as hard for them to see me alone as it was for me to see them moving forward with their lives. Now that I have you, they don’t have to worry about me anymore.”
“So your mother’s okay with this?”
He hesitated. “Not exactly, but that’s nothing personal to you—she just has some shit to work through.” He squeezed her thigh. “I’m sorry, baby. She just needs time.”
“You don’t need to apologize for her. And don’t worry about it. Out of all your pack mates, only one disapproves. I’ll take that as a win.” Casey frowned. “I heard today that wolves don’t like living among other breeds of shifter. Is that true?”
Eli stroked her thigh, knowing the real question was … “Do I want to leave my pack? No, just as I’d imagine you don’t want to leave yours. It’s natural. But it’s more important to me that you’re happy. If you don’t feel you can be happy living on my territory, we won’t—it’s that simple. We don’t have to make any decisions now.”
She gave a slow nod. “Okay. So, what did you get up to today?”
“After I told my pack about you—and they’re really looking forward to meeting you, by the way—I accompanied Nick and Shaya to a meeting with Ignacio.”
“The fuck? Ignacio?”
He winced. “Yes.” Eli braced himself, anticipating a rant that would be totally justified. But she didn’t say another word. And when he flicked her a sideways glance, he saw her staring at him in a truly unnerving way that made him itch to cup his balls protectively.
Before he knew it, he found himself rambling. “He called Nick earlier today and asked us to meet with him. The only reason I didn’t tell you was that I knew you’d insist on coming along. I didn’t want to give Ignacio another chance to play mind games with you. I wanted him to get the message that I wouldn’t allow him to ever again go near you—he wouldn’t have heard that warning if you were sat within a few feet of him.
“Be mad if you want, baby, but you wouldn’t want me anywhere near a female who meant me any harm; you’d want to deal with that shit yourself. You’d need to do it, woman to woman. I didn’t do anything today that you wouldn’t have done in my position.”
Again, Eli braced himself for a verbal rollicking. It still didn’t come. And that made him far more nervous than he would have expected. Stopping at a red light, he looked at her. “Yell at me if you need to. But say something.”
She took in a long breath. “I get why you didn’t want me there,” she said, her voice pitched low, soft, menacing. “And I’ll let it slide this one time. But if you ever again make the decision for me of where I do or don’t go, we’re gonna have the kind of problems that result in you crying like a bitch while cradling your broken kneecaps. You got me?”
Eli swallowed. “It has to make me twisted that my cock just jerked.”
She snorted. “Light’s green.”
Feeling like he’d dodged a bullet, he shifted gears and drove on. Well, he’d learned one thing from this—his mate didn’t shout or lose her shit when she was angry, she went very quiet and still. He’d have to watch for that.