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Outside The Pack (Mated To The Night Book 1) 64
I hesitated, glancing up at her over the rim of my cup. There was disappointment in the furrow of her brow and the frown on her lips. It hurt to see that I was letting her down, so I quickly changed the subject.“You mentioned rain earlier,” I said. “We’re going to want to get a new roof on the schoolhouse before the real heat of the summer starts. And we’ll need to rethink the way we ration our food once it gets colder and food becomes more scarce.”She sighed and nodded, allowing me to shift gears. “You know, it’s funny you mention food. Thanks to Bryn, I’ve expanded the garden to nearly double what it was before. So you can expect an increase in fresh fruits and veggies shortly.”“Wait, really?” I knew Bryn was helping Mom out with her garden, but I’d had no idea she was so efficient. “She’s only been here a couple of weeks.”“I know. Isn’t she amazing? That girl might know more than I do about how to cater to the land and give it what it deserves. I think she works so hard because
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“Aw, Night, come on.” Her voice dropped into a whine. “I’ve never asked you for a favor or anything, but Bryn is so depressed and trapped inside all the time. Couldn’t she have free rein of the compound so she can breathe a little? Please? I’ll take full responsibility for her.”I snorted. “You can barely take care of a houseplant.”“Night—”I raised my hands, and she quieted. “Alright. I suppose I can ease up on her restrictions a little more.”Tavi’s eyes brightened. “That’s great! Night, I promise you won’t regret this!”I nodded along. I’d agreed begrudgingly since I couldn’t think of a good reason to keep tight reins on Bryn anymore. What she’d said last night about being unable to escape the camp was true; I would drop everything to track her down myself if I found out she had escaped into the forest. Keeping her bound to Mom’s cabin had been more to make sure Bryn stayed in line than anything, but now that she’d stopped trying to escape, those restrictions weren’t really necess
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Most wolves shift before their sixth birthday, but his birthday was right around the corner, and he still hadn’t managed to do it. He’d run away from his cabin when one of his siblings had teased him about it.My heart had broken for those teary, doe-brown eyes and the clenching of his little fists around his glass of milk. I sat next to him and wrapped an arm around him. While I had no experience being a wolf, I knew plenty about feeling left behind by my peers, so I could relate to Pax’s troubles in that way.“You need to be brave, little guy,” I’d told him. “Don’t you know that the best things take time?”He’d shaken his head, wiping at his tears with the sleeves of his shirt.I’d ruffled his golden blond hair and given him a smile. “I’m sure you’ll shift any day now. I can feel it in my bones.”“Really?”“Of course, Pax! You just have to wait a little while longer.”I was relieved that my words seemed to help, and he had finally been ready to return home. That night, he’d given me
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“It depends,” Jasper said. “Whenever we have time or if we badly need something that only the humans can provide. Colville takes a while to get to, so we rarely have wolves to spare for the trip. I think we go once every couple of months.”That was another difference between the Kings and the Wargs. The Kings had plenty of cities nearby that they frequented as often as they liked. Only male wolves were allowed to go, and from what I’d heard, the usual purpose of the trip was to fool around with human women, not bring back supplies. The Kings had so much excess material and clothes from the humans that the most fortunate families in the pack had to have small storage sheds just to have some place to store it all. Mom and I, of course, rarely benefitted from those sorts of goods.“Oh! There’s the schoolhouse,” Tavi said, pointing to a quaint brick building. “There’s a stubborn section of the roof that always leaks when it rains. Someone always repairs it, but it doesn’t help.” She turne
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“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. “Did I take up too much of your time?”“Not at all.” He gave me a shy grin. “I’m glad I spent the day with you.”I smiled back. His words were so sweet, but I wished I were hearing them from a different man.“I have plenty of time to walk you back to Violet’s,” he said. “I’ll even carry your books for you.” He easily lifted them with one arm.“What a gentleman.” I giggled. “Thanks, Jasper.”The sky went from azure to a deep cobalt as we reached Violet’s cabin. As the three of us walked up the steps, the door opened. To our surprise, Night stood in the doorway looking down at us.His gaze landed on me first, almost in greeting, before shifting to Jasper. Jasper was holding my books in one arm, and the other was draped over my shoulders. Night’s nostrils flared, a low rumble leaving his chest. Jasper stiffened and quickly removed his arm from me. I tried to suppress another shiver. That deep growl should not have been such a turn-on.“Night, it’s good to see you
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And then there was a knock on the door.“Come in!” I called, finishing up the table. I suspected that I was about to see Dom. He came around often to have tea with me and Violet (though I knew he was there to check in on me), but when I turned to the door, it was Night who stepped inside.“Oh.” I straightened in surprise. Butterflies filled my stomach at seeing him again so unexpectedly, but I tried to calm them down. He was probably still mad at me for the way I’d snapped at him earlier.“Violet’s already gone to bed,” I said carefully. “Do you want me to see if she’s awake?”“No. I came to speak to you.”“Oh,” I said again, feeling dumb. “I…do you want to sit down at the table?”He nodded, silently taking a seat. I sat across from him, my hands in my lap.“Sorry that the table’s wet,” I said. “I just wiped it down.”“That’s fine.”I pressed my lips together and wiped my hands over my jeans. Why isn’t he saying anything? I squirmed, desperately looking anywhere but directly at his ha
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23BRYNOver the next two days, I took full advantage of every moment of my newfound freedom. When I wasn’t in the kitchens or working in the garden, I was in the library reading.In the afternoon of my second day of freedom, Pax came by to visit me with his mother, Lillian. Lillian informed me that there was a stash of board games hidden in a compartment of one of the chairs, so Pax and I had a fun time searching for them. Then we played checkers while Lillian relaxed with a book.“Tomorrow, I’m going to shift in front of the whole pack,” he said. “You’re still coming, right?”“Of course! I wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world.” I saw an easy strategy to win the game, but I chose to move my piece elsewhere to give Pax the win.“Yay!” Pax threw up his arms and beamed at me. “I can’t wait to show you my wolf!”“And I can’t wait to see him.” When I noticed he was debating where to place the next piece, I said, “Oh, no! You better not move to that spot there, or I’ll be in trouble.
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I must have lost track of time. I left the women to finish up and grabbed my jacket from the hook. Pax took my hand, and we ran out of the mess hall together. We gathered near the Elders’ cabin on the flat ground because there was plenty of space for the kids to wolf out.Pax let go of my hand and ran to the center with the other pups. I stood with the crowd of adults, my hands at my side. The first few shifts were always rough on young pups. But once they got the hang of it, they were so excited they tended to destroy tons of clothes while they practiced and showed off.Pax was one of the last to reveal his shift. It wasn’t because he was nervous—on the contrary, he was waiting to have most of the crowd’s attention so he could hop and dance around, working everyone up into an excited cheer. I laughed along, wondering when the shy, self-conscious boy I’d met had become such a ham.A deep, rumbling laugh sounded from behind me. I turned my head, but I knew Night was standing there. He
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“If the mates go too long without claiming, it will be as if they were rejected. Their hearts will break, they’ll never recover, and terrible, mystical shit will happen to them. I don’t remember all of the specifics, but I know that what you’re doing is fucked up.”I rubbed my chest where Dom had shoved me, my thoughts spiraling down and down into the depths of my fears. “Bryn hadn’t shifted yet,” I found myself saying. “Not on that first night. I wanted to explain to her that she was my mate and what that meant for us, but I didn’t get the chance before we ended up in bed together.”“And then?” Dom asked. “We both know the two of you have had sex after, so why not bite her during one of those times?”I hesitated. “I just…it didn’t feel like the right time. I was intent on getting her to shift and teaching her about her wolf. Bryn only recently learned that she’s descended from the pack mothers. I thought claiming her would be putting too much on her plate.”Dom growled again. “That’s
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But Violet was shaking her head. “Neither of us can answer that for you. It wouldn’t be our place.”Tavi stood up to grab a few tissues and brought them back for me. “Anyone can see that Night would break his own legs if it meant he could do something for you, Bryn,” Tavi added. “But, I mean, I think you have to ask him yourself. That’s how relationships work.”Oh. It sounded so simple when they put it so plainly. I had been in my head, so worried that I had done something wrong that I hadn’t even considered that I might be able to talk to Night about this. Another tear slipped down my face, but I caught it with my tissue. I wiped my face while Violet stood to get some more tea.Tavi leaned in while Violet rummaged around in the kitchen. “So, Bryn,” she whispered, “how was it? I mean, like, was it as amazing as those books you’ve been reading?”My eyes widened.She giggled. “I borrowed one or two from your room while you were with him. No wonder you were so focused on reading.”My fac
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I chuckled and touched his cheek. “I know, don’t worry. Time will pass by so quickly, you won’t even notice I’m gone.”“Ha. Not a chance of that.” He kissed me once, briefly, and then again more deeply. When he pulled away, my eyes felt heavy, and desire began to kindle deep inside me. He licked his lips, his eyes glowing. “Are you sure you want this?”Oh, but it was so tempting to say no so he could carry me back to bed. I forced myself to nod and gave him a smile. “I’ll see you soon, Night.” I hopped up to kiss his cheek, and then I quickly went inside, avoiding those large, warm hands before he could kiss me again or otherwise tempt me away from my goal.Tavi and Violet were waiting for me at the dining table. I had seen Violet a few times since Night and I had mated, but I hadn’t seen Tavi since the day Night rescued me from those ferals. So when Tavi hopped onto her feet, almost knocking over her chair, I rushed to meet her. We embraced tightly, and Tavi was already emotional.“I
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She believed it was her fault that I had suffered so much in the Kings’ pack, that in shielding my mind, she had also cut me off from the strength I needed to protect myself from Troy and the Terrible T’s.That’s so silly, I thought as the shift completed. How could I hate the wolf that sacrificed so much to keep me safe?My wolf tapped her front paws in the grass and turned in a circle, a kind of happy dance that made me laugh.Behind me, I heard Night suck in a deep breath. He looked different through the eyes of my wolf. He was still gorgeous, perfect, and mine, but there was something else too. He was surrounded by warm light, a halo that brought him into glorious, wonderful focus.Mate. My wolf’s voice was clear as a bell to me. She said it again, louder, and I wondered if it was true. If he was my true mate, then it made sense that even when we had tried to hate each other, it was impossible for us to stay away from each other—impossible not to feel something when in each other’
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“I want you to close your eyes, breathe deeply, and reach out to her,” he said. “When you find her, don’t be afraid to let her in and to make her an equal in your mind. You have to let her know that you trust her. Don’t be scared. I’ll be here with you the entire time.”I nodded and closed my eyes. I tried to push out my noisy thoughts—especially the horny ones about Night—and reach out for my wolf. It didn’t take long to find her; she rushed up to me, panting hard, as though she were just as eager to get to know me. It was a bit startling at first, how quickly my wolf responded, but I tried not to flinch or turn away.I took a few deep breaths to relax, and then I opened myself up to my wolf. She purred in response, and I smiled. She was like the presence of a dear friend in my mind, like a warm memory. Though the process was a bit intimidating at first, I found I liked leaving myself open to my wolf, who already felt so familiar to me even though I’d only known her for a short time.
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We sat next to each other at his dining table to enjoy the assorted dishes he had retrieved from the mess hall. There had been some extra sausage links and pancakes from breakfast, but the cooks on duty had also begun to prepare chicken potpie. Though it was technically against the rules for them to serve lunch so early, everyone was all smiles and eager to please us, according to Night.“Why’s that?” I asked around a mouthful of pancake. “Did you exert your Alpha privileges?”He smiled and brushed a stray crumb from my cheek, sending goosebumps down my back. His touch had been so heated in the shower, but now it was feather-light. Almost not there at all. “No,” he replied. “It’s because they know you and I are together.”“Oh, I see.” Now that I possessed the heightened senses of a shifter, it should have been obvious to me that they would be able to tell just from being near him. It made me feel so wonderful to know that the others accepted our relationship. That I belonged.Amusemen
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I pictured Mom’s smile and the scent of lavender that seemed to cling to her hair no matter which herbs or vegetables she picked. I thought of her voice, her hugs, and her warmth. I wondered what she would think about me being a shifter.I missed her terribly. Perhaps I would see her again when Night confronted Troy, but who knew when that would happen? It could be weeks or even months from now. I could probably ask Night about his plans, but I didn’t want to dwell on that right now.I closed my eyes and let the hot water slide down my skin and calm my feverish thoughts. I reached for the soap and began to scrub up. Suddenly, I paused, feeling a tug in my chest. I smelled Night as if he was right here with me. I pulled the curtain, eager to see him, but he wasn’t in the bathroom with me. If I concentrated a bit harder, I could hear his footsteps coming up to the porch. I smiled, pleased that he would be with me again soon. My senses had sharpened since I shifted, but it seemed they we
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“Bryn.” This time it was Violet’s voice pulling me back. “Could you describe the wolf for us?” Violet asked.I nodded. Now that I was sure it hadn’t just been in my mind, I was able to give a detailed description of the wolf’s russet-brown coat, the slice in its left ear, and the piercing white eyes that were like melted silver and snow.Violet pressed a hand to her mouth, and the Elder’s mumbling grew more intense. I turned, sending a worried look at Night, but his handsome face and steady gaze calmed me.Finally, Violet held up her hands for silence. The Elders immediately went quiet. My wolf whined within me, pacing back and forth. It was such a bizarre feeling to feel another consciousness within me, but it was so amazing at the same time.Violet looked into each of the Elder’s faces, and they all nodded. She took a deep breath and returned her attention to me. “You mentioned something about seeing a wolf when Night returned with you.”“I did?”Violet nodded. “The Elders and I tal
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Soon, two older gentlemen and one elderly woman walked inside without pausing to knock. The first man was bald. An old, brown scar ripped across the top of his head. I knew better than to stare, but I was curious about how he’d received what could have been a mortal wound. The second man had tufts of gray hair starting at his temples, which wrapped around to meet at the back of his head. The woman had a full head of gorgeous hair that was almost as white as Violet’s. She kept it short and curly—it looked like a cotton ball on top of her head.They began to seat themselves at the table but needed another chair. I started to grab a chair from the living room, but Night caught my wrist. He pulled me to his side and sat me in his lap. It was an unorthodox way of providing an extra chair, but I wasn’t upset; I was just as eager to stay close to him. I leaned back into his chest, and he immediately wrapped his arms around me.The Elders smiled at us, not at all perturbed by our public Displ
