Chapter 14
“That’s not my jacket,” I told Dom when he held out something green and way too big for me.
Dom didn’t seem to mind, just moved closer with that oversized thing as if he wanted to catch me in it, his wide grin the bait I wasn’t going to fall for.
“Nope. This is Linc’s. Yours is all muddy from the fall, for one thing.
For another? I wouldn’t even call it a real jacket, more like a decorative accessory.
” Dom lifted his chin. “I don’t want you to get cold when you’re only just recovering, so I’m putting this on you.
It’s nice and warm, see? You can think of it as your own blanket. ”
He brought the jacket even closer, and yes, fine, it was definitely warm. And it wasn’t flannel, so there was that.
I considered arguing, but I hadn’t even been able to argue my way into making myself some goddamn tea with Dom, so what was the point, really? I let him slip the jacket on me, and when I was still busy finding my hands in the overlong sleeves, he started zipping me up.
“Can you not?”
Dom shrugged. “My jacket, my rules.”
“Thought you said it was Linc’s?”
He waved dismissively. “Same difference. Come on, Little Red, let’s head out.”
“What? All you’re wearing is that flannel shirt? No jacket?” I pointed, but since my fingers were barely sticking out of the long sleeves, I ended up looking like a scarecrow shooing off ravens.
“I run hot.”
I sighed. “Of course you do.”
“Don’t worry, Little Red. You’re plenty hot yourself.”
I rolled my eyes and groaned.
He winked before opening the door and swaggering out ahead of me, stopping when he’d crossed the threshold and looking left and right. I had to squeeze past him as he stood there like some bouncer, which put me closer to his geraniums and gave me a chance to get a sense of the area.
All I knew about the house was that it was larger than it seemed at first. The rustic chic continued out here.
The front porch appeared new, the wooden boards lacking that seasoned discoloration, that wear of boots and shoes, feet passing over them for years and years, but the rough stone walls of the building itself looked decidedly older.
The geraniums really were a theme, but I also spotted a beautiful 3D sculpture showing three wolves. It sat in the center of a little round table surrounded by some outdoor furniture—a perfect place to sit and watch the drive, or the tree line that followed you around like a stalker out here.
I had no idea how one went about carving anything from wood, so to me the sculpture was even more impressive than the geraniums. I went over to the table and pushed one of the chairs aside to get a better look at it.
“Like my centerpiece?” Dom said, making me jump. He’d appeared directly behind my shoulder.
“Yeah. Wait. You made this?”
“Yup. Don’t do a lot of artsy stuff these days because the house is keeping me busy, but whenever I do, it’s a nice change of pace.”
“Maybe if you spent less time tending to the geraniums,” I said, completely unable to help myself.
A sharp slap on my ass made me jump and yelp.
“I did warn you, Little Red,” Dom purred in a low baritone. Hot damn. “Come on, let’s get going.”
“You just—oh, fine, but you slap my ass, you buy me a chai latte,” I informed him, because seriously. Had no one ever taught these werewolves manners?
Dom chuckled. “That’s all I have to do? I guess I might do it again, then.”
“You wish. You better pay up first. I don’t give latte loans. Where’s the nearest place that has good drinks here? A day’s hard travel into the sunset?”
“You’re real lucky we get tourists and our diner is fancy.” Dom clicked his tongue. “Pleasant Peak is hip as far as small towns go, and we have all the nice drinks—everything to get your ass nice and rosy.”
Okay, I hadn’t meant to insult their chosen rural small-town life, which was an issue, but I figured I was allowed to speak my mind after everything that had happened. Going by the spring in Dom’s step, he didn’t mind. He was the kind of person whose good mood was contagious.
I followed him down the front steps and around to the side of the house, where a jeep and a sleek black SUV were parked. I really had no doubt as to which car was Dom’s, and he unsurprisingly held the jeep door open for me. Like, held the passenger door for me, in all seriousness.
He closed the door in my slack-jawed face once I was in the car, and I considered his words while blushing furiously as he rounded the jeep and got in on the driver’s side. He looked over at me expectantly.
“W-what? Nothing rosy to see here.”
His grin stretched while his eyes lit up. “Seat belt,” he said, that voice still low and warm and doing things it really, really shouldn’t.
I rolled my eyes to give the impression of nonchalance and put it on. “You people do realize I don’t need to be pampered and wrapped in bubble wrap, right?”
Dom gave me a surprised look. It opened his face up, and together with those copper curls, it made him look younger than I thought he was, almost shy. Not that Dom was shy at all as far as I could tell.
“Is that right? I’ll never forget seeing you lying on your back out there in the woods, unconscious. I’m fucking glad you’re on your feet again, so excuse me while I celebrate that by pampering you every which way I please. Also, my car, my rules.”
“Wow, you’re so sensitive.”
“About my mate? Yep, you better believe I am.” He started the car.
He brushed his fingers through my hair before working the gear shift and reversing. It was casual, and while I hadn’t seen it coming, I oddly didn’t mind all that much. In fact, I sort of liked it.
The radio was tuned to something inoffensively pop. I thought back to driving out here, to wondering if listening to the radio was still a thing. At least for this one werewolf, it was. Who’d have thought?
The drive took us along a winding road through the woods.
Creepy. And okay, a little pretty. But still mostly creepy.
The trees were tall, and the road wasn’t really a road, more a dirt path that required a big car like this.
The idea of living so far away from civilization that there wasn’t even a real road…
wasn’t exactly comforting, but I could see the benefits of it for a bunch of alpha werewolves.
Dom wasn’t pushing conversation, and I was glad to have the quiet time to watch the lush greenery and think about…the email.
Earlier, I’d walked out of Linc’s office in a daze. Mostly, that had been because this time around, I’d actually started reading through some of the email fucking Steven had penned.
I hadn’t managed all of it, because…the things he’d said? Apparently, I’d been pushing for all the kink, and I’d been forcing Steven to attend regular swingers’ parties because it was the only way I got off. The nastier the humiliation was, he’d written, the better I liked it.
Reading all of that had made me want to be sick.
Linc had done a hell of a job as far as soothing me went.
He’d permanently deleted the email from my account and blocked Steven from all devices in such a way that Linc himself would still be able to screen incoming communication without it bothering me.
I hadn’t known you could do that, but I was all for never ever having to deal with Steven ever again.
After I’d taken all of that in, Linc had connected his PR person via Zoom. Naja had hair that was so perfectly coiffed it bordered on looking fake. I might’ve disliked her if she hadn’t also had a winning smile and an all-around charming personality.
Naja the PR witch had said she was happy to give me guidelines for a response to go out to all recipients of Steven’s email if I wanted to write one myself, or she’d compose one for me and let me look it over before she sent it.
With just a little encouragement from Linc, I’d taken option two. Naja seemed decidedly pleased about that.
“Your ex is a slug, and I hate slugs,” she’d told me in her pleasant, measured voice.
Linc’s next order of business had been the responses I’d gotten in reply to Steven’s email, just two of them from people I’d gone to college with, and both really just saying that we hadn’t spoken in years, and that they weren’t interested.
“You don’t have that many close friends, do you?” Linc had asked.
I’d shrugged and told him the truth. When Steven and I went out, it was with his friends a lot of the time.
He’d never really liked my friends, hadn’t really meshed with them, and I could see why when the two I’d been closest with had told me they didn’t care for his company and didn’t like me being in a relationship with him either.
Linc had given me a long look before nodding.
Ten minutes later, I’d been on the kitchen floor, staring up at a naked werewolf. Clearly, my life had turned into a rapidly shifting mess, I was still nursing a slight headache and a bit of a sore throat, and werewolves existed.
Not to mention that teeny, tiny fact that three of them had decided I was their mate. The one sitting next to me and currently humming along to the radio had sucked me off last night.
With his mouth. On my cock.
His warm mouth, which came with an incredibly skilled tongue.
I glanced over, let my eyes wander from Dom’s face to his hands resting on the steering wheel.
He had nice hands. A bit rough maybe, but he kept the nails clean and short, and the fingers were long, promising a strong grip.
I felt a flush of excitement as I remembered last night, being in bed with the three of them.
Dom, still humming, turned his head and caught me staring. He didn’t say anything though, just grinned at me before turning back to watch the road again.