Chapter 5 #2
“Yes,” Julian almost hissed as I looked at his expression that was in contrast very calm. Except for his gaze, which kept darting to my wrist, seeming to make him more angry. I couldn’t tell how Tore felt about me being a bitten wolf, but I knew I felt self-conscious about it. Highly so.
Tore’s voice was edged in insecurity as he asked, “You don’t like fenrir wolves?”
Why was he insecure? Was he worried about me not liking the type of wolf he was? Goddess. Now I felt terrible. I would absolutely never want anyone to feel the type of rejection I’d felt for something that was intrinsically a part of me.
“It’s not that.” I reached forward, pressing a hand to his heart, feeling like there was something important about the action as his eyes tracked it.
“I just… well, you can probably tell I haven’t had the best experiences around them.
My wolf just freaked out a little bit until you were closer to me.
She sometimes pushes through and forces my reactions before I can stop them. ” Because I’m weak.
No need to add that last part—I felt like it was probably pretty obvious.
“Why haven’t you had the best experiences? Was it just your father?”
Adopted father. Gerald. I wasn’t positive why that was such an important distinction to me, but I suppose it was that I knew they didn’t consider me family, so I didn’t consider them family either.
“No,” I murmured. “My pack didn’t like me because I was a bitten.”
“Oh, I highly doubt that,” Julian muttered as I frowned, but Tore’s fingers were smoothing my hand against his chest, making my cheeks turn pink. Honestly, the man wasn’t nearly as scary up close.
Well, he was, but the way he was treating me made me feel special. Delicate. I had never felt important to someone before. Not like this.
“Does Caedmon know yet?” Tore asked suddenly, his eyes sharpening and body going tense. “Did you tell him?”
Tell him what? I nearly asked.
“Yeah, about that.” Julian sighed before frowning at the plate in realization. “Effie, you should eat.”
I grabbed one of the mini pizza bagels and took a bite as he offered me a pleased smile, looking back at his friend.
“She met him about five minutes ago.”
Tore suddenly stood up straight, his jaw clenching, but he kept his hand over mine so that I wouldn’t move it from his heart. “Dakota is going to be here literally any minute, if he sees Caedmon before—”
The elevator opened once more, and I froze until the familiar scent of the odd, intense man from outside had me relaxing slightly.
He may have been crazy, but I’d met him already, and that was reassuring to some extent.
His scent was almost cinnamon and spice-like in nature, the Christmasy scent making me not only happy but wanting to be closer to him.
Caedmon rounded the space, and his dark green eyes almost immediately met mine.
The tension that was in his frame from earlier eased a bit as he ran a hand through his hair and took off his suit coat without a word.
He didn’t seem surprised to find me on the counter, nor surrounded by the two other men.
In fact, while he seemed rather distracted and tense, there was a calm to his mannerisms that hadn’t existed before.
A resolve? Determination? Maybe that was a good word for it.
I didn’t understand its purpose, though.
I continued to study the man, hoping to possibly decode his behavior.
Caedmon was tall, more so than Julian, but not as much as Tore.
He had lean, cut muscles that I could see through the button-down he was wearing as he rolled the sleeves, exposing olive-toned forearms. His suit pants were expensive-looking, a rich dark brown that matched his hair that was currently damp and covered with bits of snow.
Despite his aggressive personality, everything about the man was vibrant and warm.
I frowned slightly, noticing a light scar on his upper lip, making me wonder how it had gotten there.
His energy was hot and temperamental—I could feel it running under his skin—but I didn’t know what type of wolf he was.
My fingers twitched to push his wet hair out of his face.
I exhaled slowly, trying to calm down my wolf.
She was literally running up and around, seemingly thrilled with our current situation.
I was a bit worried that Julian could feel what a spaz she was being, but luckily he hadn’t said anything yet.
Instead he handed me another bagel, almost automatically, and as I took a bite, his eyes tracked the movement with satisfaction. Didn’t he say he needed to eat as well?
Without thinking, I picked one off the plate and offered it to him, his eyes following the movement before flashing me a cute smile.
He leaned forward and took a bite from where I held it between my fingers, making me let out a small laugh at his quick action.
I didn’t stop smiling until I realized Caedmon and Tore were holding a staring—or glaring—contest. I frowned, refocusing on them.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Tore rumbled, his hand smoothing down my leg. Caedmon watched the movement, his eyes flashing dark before looking away, but not before I caught a small sliver of sadness that I didn’t understand. Why did the concept of him being sad upset me so much?
“You know that’s not an option. Not anymore.”
His voice was firm, and the more I listened to him, the more I realized he might have had a slight accent. Was I crazy? No. It was an accent of some kind, I just didn’t know what kind. I wanted to know, though.
“He’s going to absolutely lose it,” Julian pointed out before tapping the plate.
I jumped slightly, having forgotten about the food once again while staring at Caedmon.
I grabbed a bagel, and the minute I looked away, I felt cool, large fingers gripping my other forearm gently as my sleeve was pushed up.
I looked at Caedmon, oddly unsurprised he was touching me, as I ate the bagel with my other hand, his eyes running over the bruises on my wrist.
Unlike Tore, his quick and invasive movements didn’t scare me. They should have, but they just didn’t. Heck, even Tore didn’t really freak me out now, his original fenrir identity being replaced by the comfortability that my wolf felt with him. One I didn’t understand in the least.
“Who the fuck did this to you?” he demanded on a low growl. I could feel something shifting under his skin as his eyes flashed a metallic gold, like emeralds on fire, making a trickle of heat run over my skin that I tried to not react to.
“Her piece of shit father,” Julian grumbled, putting another bagel up to my mouth as I let out a small laugh.
His eyes snapped to my lips before he flashed me a smile, clearly realizing he kept trying to feed me.
I had a feeling it was in part his wolf, because the action seemed to be almost instinctually occurring.
I took another bite of one and let out a small hum, unable to help but be happy surrounded by the three of them.
Three men I literally didn’t know.
Somehow, though, this felt less overwhelming than dealing with this massive change in my life or the empty room that I was now going to live in. It was also far easier to laugh and smile about his insistence that I eat than correct them on the father aspect or to explain the bruises again.
“What exactly is going on?” I asked curiously as Caedmon strode towards a door to the left, opening it and throwing on the lights.
I leaned forward and tried to peer into it, Tore’s hands gripping my waist in stabilization.
It seemed like the same setup as mine, and I could see a few things on the walls, but overall it seemed fairly empty.
I had the odd urge to explore each of their rooms, and my wolf jumped at that concept, wanting to roll in their stuff.
I frowned because that made literally no sense.
Although then they would have my scent on them.
“She doesn’t know? At all?” Tore asked softly, his eyes focused sharply on Julian and pulling me back into the conversation.
“Figured that was best explained together,” he drew out in a lazy tone, his expression not matching the tightness in his voice.
“Know what?” I demanded, feeling a bit frustrated, before catching myself and blushing.
Caedmon’s lips pressed into an amused smile as he came back into the room, although he was avoiding my gaze.
I didn’t know why he wouldn’t look at me, but I found myself wanting to walk over to him and force him to look at me like he had before.
Then the realization of just how gorgeous and intimidating he was really hit me, removing any bravery I had before.
Even his entire look, how he dressed to how he held himself, was more high-end than anyone I’d ever met before.
The muscular man looked like he had been dipped in money, and in comparison I just felt like…
well, I felt like I looked like crap. It made me rethink even touching him. I didn’t want to dirty him.
Before they could answer my question, the elevator dinged open once more.
A sudden electrifying and then hazy feeling worked its way over my skin, and I found myself, almost on autopilot, slipping off the counter.
Tore muttered a curse, his hands smoothing over my waist but not holding me back as Caedmon tried to stop me from moving forward, stepping in my path.
But my wolf pushed me, almost so much so that I tripped, until I was rounding the bend towards the front of the room, having avoided the other man.
Why had I moved? I hadn’t even meant to.
I slammed right into someone’s muscular chest. Goddess.