With the shock of the revelations finally starting to wear off a little, he was increasingly left with a sense of longing and wonder that maybe there were things about his life he needed to look at from a different perspective.
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
He sighed. “Bebe acts like a little wolf. She howls. She runs around in her costume. What if there’s more to it than that? What if she’s really a wolf shifter? Badger said you can’t tell if someone’s a shifter until they do it for the first time.”
“That’d be amazing.”
“No, because then we have to tell Lu’ana and Reggie. And what if she does it while she’s with just the two of them? They’ll freak out.” The part of this entire revelation he hated was knowing how much he’d been lied to, how much had been concealed from him, ever since Nami met Beck.
Not that he didn’t love his brother-in-law—he did. He could see how happy Nami was since meeting Beck. He could also see how happy Malyah was with Joaquin.
Yeah, he even loved Badger and Duncan as adopted…whatevers. Fathers, grandfathers, it was all confusing. Peyton and Trent seemed like great guys, and both Gillian and Asia were wonderful, too.
He was already going to be an uncle—again—and he had no fricking clue how to be a husband.
Brianna nibbled on the nape of his neck. “You’re thinking loud thoughts, mate.”
“Sorry,” he muttered.
Brianna circled him, standing in front of him, with her arms draped around his neck. That meant his hands naturally wanted to settle on the sweet, rounded curves of her gorgeous ass.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Obviously, something is.”
“Are you doin’ me a favor by not readin’ my mind about it?” That was something they could do, when they were within close proximity to each other.
She nuzzled her nose against his. “This is a lot to take in. It’s all right to feel so…conflicted.”
“I want my trust back,” he muttered before realizing he’d even said it.
“Your trust?”
“Yeah.” He stared into her beautiful green eyes. Her skin was naturally a deeply tanned color and not nearly as dark as his. “They all lied to me.”
“But you understand why, don’t you? It was to protect you and your siblings. It wasn’t…malicious.” While her English was flawless, Spanish was her first language, and she bore a slight accent, as did her older brother, Mateo. Compared to Joaquin, who only had the barest traces of an accent.
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” He deeply inhaled her scent and her light, sweet floral scent washed through him, soothing him. He sighed. “Idoknow. I’m just…”
“Stubborn?” The corner of her mouth quirked in a smile. “Nami said you are.”
“She’sone to talk.”
Her smile faded. “They love you.”
“I know. And I love them.” His gaze drifted over her shoulder and out the window again. “How much more don’t I know? What else they hidin’ from me?”
“There will always be secrets the pack Alpha keeps from—”
“I don’t meanthat.”
“Do you not trust them at all?”
“No.Yes. I mean, Ido, I just…” He couldn’t explain it, even to her.
Didn’t help that they were both naked and his cock wasveryinterested in the fact that her body was pressed against his.
He met her gaze. “How’d you feel when Mateo and Carl came out to you?”
She smirked. “As gay, or as wolves?”
