“Most werewolves. Family is supposed to be everything, and fate determines your family.”
“Enough for them to disown you?” Zoe asked.
“I guess. I think they mostly did it to protect themselves from losing me in the future. They’re all convinced that being a bachelor will kill me.”
“Will you want to try to rebuild the relationships after my wolf bites you?”
“I’ve never thought about it,” I admitted. “Yes. No. Some of both, I guess.”
“Do you miss them?”
“Desperately, sometimes. Most of the time, I just try to enjoy what I built here. The Feral Pack is a mess, but we’re family. And I guess the mess has been clearing up, with everyone finding mates.”
“Except Ethan.”
“Yeah. I don’t know how well he’s going to cope with being the last unmated guy. He was in a pretty deep depression when some of our mated pack members dragged him over here, and he still deals with more than he’ll admit. All of us can see it in his eyes.”
“Damn.”
“He’ll be alright. We’ll make him couch surf for a few weeks if we start to worry. Nico was over at his place when I stopped by to grab the milk, and he won’t leave unless he knows Ethan’s alright.”
“It’s cool that you guys take care of each other.”
“Like I said, we’re family.” I wrapped my arms around her a little tighter. “On that note, I’d like to hear about your family.”
“That’s pretty much just a mess. There was a lot of emotional and mental manipulation. Some of it was abuse. I don’t know that I’ve really worked through it all enough to say, but I didn’t feel safe.”
“What was it like?”
Zoe explained the tension, threats, and cruelty she’d experienced. When she asked for more details about my family to change the subject, I shared as many as possible.
The sun had started to rise when we finally dozed off.
I’d never spent so many hours talking to someone before—and somehow, I still wished it hadn’t come to an end.
seven
ZOE
Emmy knockedon our door bright and early. We were still in bed when she did.
I groaned.
“Think they’ll leave if we ignore them?” Connor mumbled against the blanket over my neck. We’d never gotten around to pulling it out from between us, despite the hours we’d spent curled up together. His hand was on my waist, over the scarred bite there.
They knocked again.
“Not even maybe,” I said.
Connor sighed.
He kissed the back of my neck over the top of the blanket before his arms tightened around my middle. A bleary laugh burst from me as he rolled us both over in one motion. He adjusted his grip on me before he stood up, padding to the front door barefoot and bare-chested while cradling me, blanket and all.
“You’re insane,” I said, my lips stretched in a wide smile.
“That’s been established, Gorgeous.”
He pulled the front door open, and found all of my mated friends on the porch.
