My head spun from the chain of events today.
So much had happened in such a short period of time, and I wasn’t sure I understood the full reasoning behind it. Sure, the witch had made her agenda clear—she was on the side of Fletcher and the Termaine witches. But what had they hoped to achieve?
Was it destabilization?
Were they hoping to kill a bunch of entitled alphas and weaken Golden Claw’s council?
Was it just a show of power?
Or had they been attempting to kidnap me again, and if so, why had there been no real effort?
I had all the questions, and no way to get any real answers.
“You ready to continue our story, Shortcake?” Kellan rumbled, settling back on his pile of fluffy pillows, dragging me against his side. It was the middle of the day, and after our shower I was exhausted, naked, and ready to curl up with my mate until our pack returned.
“I’m so ready,” I murmured, rolling over to face him, draping my arm over his chest to enjoy all those gym and hockey muscles. As I traced the expanse of his bare, golden skin, arandom thought hit me. “We should get tattoos.” We were the only two—oh, and Talon—who didn’t sport any ink.
Kellan let the book fall to his side as he turned his focus on me. “What would you get? I’ve never been able to decide, even though Fin has drawn me up dozens of options.”
It was still bizarre that Finley was the artist who created such incredible, lifelike tattoos on the others. Even though he only wore a few sentences?—
“Wait, who did Fin’s tattoos? Surely, it’s not easy to write on yourself?”
Kellan laughed. “He’s a talented punk, that bear. He did them himself, with Hunter helping through a few tough spots. Finley’s a genius with a tattoo gun—all that angst and pain must be fodder for artists.”
I couldn’t help but join his laughter. “I can’t draw a stick figure without help. Must have skipped my trauma.”
Kellan dropped a kiss on the side of my head, his touch soothing as he ran his hand through my damp hair. “You have skills that are much more desirable that drawing on skin, Shortcake. Don’t undersell yourself.”
With a snort, I smacked him in the ribs, and he laughed so freely it sent tingles down my spine. “Now is not the time to discuss my head job skills, asshole,” I said, still chuckling myself. “And when it comes to tattoos, I have no idea what I’d get. Maybe a symbol to represent our entire pack—I’d like it to mean something.”
We remained in a comfortable silence for a minute or so, with Kellan’s lips lingering against my temple as he held me close. “I’d like mine to mean something too,” he finally said. “I’d love your wolf. My pretty mate.”
This alpha knew exactly what to say to have me melting into a puddle at his damn feet—romance novels did him good. “I needone with all of us represented,” I decided, already forming an image in my mind. “Our quintet.”
Kellan’s hold flexed against my skin. “But how is it a quintet with Talon?”
We’d all long stopped pretending he wasn’t a part of the pack now, in whatever capacity it all played out. “The essence of a quintet remains complete, despite the extra member,” I said, feeling more confidence than was probably warranted with the amount of information we had. “I can feel it, and while I don’t know the future, the way forward is with the six of us. It’s centered around them being twin souls, and whatevertheirspecific bond entails.”
Kellan didn’t argue as he pressed kisses to my cheeks and over my nose, adoring me in his golden ways. “I trust you, pretty mate. I trust in our pack.”
Kellan’s faith was akin to a million-level boost to my own confidence, and I was glad we’d had this conversation. We both needed the reassurance.
Eventually he picked up the book, and I settled in to listen to him read. It was odd not having Hunter here with us, tracing his hand over my skin while Kellan read, as he did every single time I woke from nightmares. I had no idea what I did in my last life to deserve this pack, but it must have been huge. Like… I saved a burning orphanage or invented the vibrator.
Whatever I did, it benefited humanity greatly.
“Chapter twenty-seven,” Kellan all but purred, resting the base of the book on his chest, holding it one handed while the other held me. “Hunter is going to be big mad that he missed this.”
That piqued my curiosity. The story centered around a fae woman who was waging a war against the current king. She’d been living on the fringes of their society with the resistance and had gone undercover in a contest to find a bride for their leader.Her hope was to be chosen, and to destabilize the rule from the inside.
The last chapter we’d read was the dance, and she’d unknowingly found herself in the garden with the king himself. This wasn’t their first time being alone, or the first time she’d noticed this annoying attraction between them, but it was the first time he’d shown a softer side. Which had confused her more than anything else that had happened so far. The king was the monster in her story, or at least in the stories she’d been fed from the resistance, and when he didn’t live up to his reputation, it sent her confusion spiraling.
I related hard to the female main character as she traversed this forbidden love, wires-crossed, unexpected-soul-mate storyline. Torn between her heart and her duty.
The author was definitely leading us down the path ofif the king found a strong partner who’d help him fight for their people and the kingdom, then he would grow into a truly admirable leader. Or maybe the author would throw a curveball and keep him as an asshole, and she will fall in love with him anyway. Maybe this was a villain love story.
Or maybe she was going to fuck her favorite guard,Jere.
