For a second, I thought Ell was out there to surprise me, but then my eyes adjusted to the darkness underneath the trees, and I realized it wasn’t him at all.The werewolf or wolf was a lot smaller.That made them either a kid who was trespassing on my alphas’ territory—an out-of-towner interested in my omeganess had done that, and it hadn’t ended great for him—or it was one of the wolves.Both were low-grade suspicious.
“Are you a person?A person wolf?I mean, yeah, the word is werewolf.You know what I mean.”
The wolf’s eyes were bright and intelligent, but not in the way my alphas’ were.Also not in the way that captured werewolf’s had been.I couldn’t be sure, but I had a feeling this one was a real wolf.
He turned his head to look deeper into the forest, then back at me again.
“I should nope out right the fuck now.You know, you’re making me curse in front of Blob.I don’t think Blob even has ears yet, but I think you should still feel guilty.”
The wolf didn’t move, but he made the smallest wolf sound.I got the sense that he wanted me to come with him.
I looked at my tea.“If the oolong goes cold I’ll be so mad.”I stood, left the image on the chair, and walked into the cover of trees.
There was a bit of a path here, and I could easily see the house.I’d absolutely not go anywhere out of sight, but I wasn’t scared.The wolf just seemed to want to show me something.
As it turned out, I was right about that, wrong about the wolf being a him.Just a few steps from where the trees ended, there were three tiny wolves hiding in the woodsy greenery.They were fluffy, with big eyes, and rushed right up to their mom when she walked up to lick them.She was still feeding them, it looked like.
Which reminded me that omegas were supposed to be able to nurse their own kids.I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that particular nugget of information.Ell had tried to talk about pumping, but I wasn’t ready for that conversation, not at all.
I didn’t get too close.If they were real wolves, then I didn’t want to do anything wrong by touching them.One of the babies had spotted me though and decided that a human warranted some exploration.The little guy walked right up to me on clumsy little paws.
I went to my knees.“Are you going to eat me, you big bad wolf?”
The mom wolf was watching me.I had no idea what she was thinking, but it looked like she didn’t see me as a threat, at least.The little wolf walked right up to my knees, sniffed, then rubbed against me.
Behind me, leaves rustled, and the mom wolf’s ears went right up, her entire posture changing.
“Little Red, what the—oh.”Dom froze several strides behind me.“You again?”
“Huh?”
The little wolf stood still and stared at Dom, sniffing the air.
Dom pointed his chin.“Her.That’s the wolf I saw.Uh, the night we found you.The one whose mate was…you know.”
I nodded and brushed my fingers through the baby wolf’s fur.So soft.They looked at me, startled.Fair.It was their first time understanding what hands were for.
“When my ex’s buddies shot her mate.”
“Yeah, I guess.Listen, Ell is going to be so very mad when he hears you touched a wild wolf.”
The little one had decided licking my hand was a better use of their time though.“In my defense, she came up to me.”
“Hmm.She can probably smell you.I mean, your scent isn’t subtle at all.”
I hoped I was aiming a properly searing look at him.“I shower.”Alone this morning, since my cast was off.
“Yeah, and it would be a lot nicer of you if you’d continue to let us shower with you.That’s not what I mean though, Little Red.You think like a human.What I mean is that your scent has changed, and it’s like nothing I’ve ever smelled.Still you, but more of it.What’s that story with the sexy Greek dude who turns into a flower?”
“You mean Narcissus?”
“Hmm, the other one.The smelly one.”
The baby wolf had had enough of my fingers and was turning their attention back to my knees.I was equally unimpressed with Dom’s knowledge of classical mythology as they were with my thumb.
“Smelly, huh?You’re not making it better.Hyacinthus?”
He snapped his fingers, which made the mama wolf’s ears twitch.
