Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
CARTER
Sebastian whines, shifting restlessly on the couch next to me. The sound of running water from the bathroom masks Emma and Troy’s conversation, and it’s taking all my considerable willpower to remain here and not barge in on them, demanding to know what’s taking them so long.
“This is a good thing,” I mutter, as much to Sebastian as to myself.
He peers up at me, his hair disheveled. “I know. Doesn’t mean I’m not fucking jealous. Do you think he fucked her?”
I think of what we heard earlier, when Emma had followed Troy to his office. “No. If he had, he would have knotted her, and they’d still be at it right now.”
I’m almost certain this is true, but the possibility is enough to raise my hackles. It should have been me. Me. Me. Me. My wolf is banging around in my head, demanding to be let out, and I have to forcefully pull myself back from the brink of shifting.
The water shuts off in the bathroom, and Sebastian sits up, his nose twitching with a deep inhale.
“Relax,” I tell him through gritted teeth. “We can’t fuck this up.”
He sends me a dirty glare. “You relax. You smell like you’re about to go off. You’re almost as bad as that time one of the wolves in Nebraska was making fun of Troy’s tail.”
I growl at the memory, which does nothing to calm me at all.
We’d gone to a big shifter meeting in the hope of finding our last pack mate, but instead, we ended up being permanently disinvited from future meetings.
I didn’t mind, because those assholes cared more about protecting that idiot, who’d belonged to one of the largest US packs, than what was right, but I know what Seb is saying.
I take a deep breath through my nose and let it out again, then repeat the process until my skin is no longer crawling with the need to shift.
At the end of the hallway, the bathroom door opens, and Emma comes out, followed closely by Troy. If I thought he was obsessed with her before, always touching her, always hovering nearby, he’s almost plastered to her back now, his attention fully focused on her.
I get it.
Even though Sebastian and I have accepted him without question, loved him and all his scars, he’d been terrified that the fourth member of our pack would take one look at his wolf form and run.
He shouldn’t have worried about Emma. The moment I scented her, I knew she wouldn’t freak out. Well. I’d hoped. And I guess I was right.
Emma sees us waiting on the couch and flushes a deep pink. Then she reaches back for Troy’s hand and entwines her fingers with his. He gives a happy hum, then pulls her into his side, rubbing his cheek on top of her head.
As the steam billows from the bathroom, their combined scents, so rich and delicious, waft toward us.
I groan, my dick painfully hard behind the zipper of my jeans.
Sebastian isn’t faring much better, but he’s wearing another pair of sweatpants, so his hard-on is clearly visible to everyone.
He groans, then presses the heel of his palm to his groin in a clear effort to get his erection to subside, but his hips snap up as if even this rough contact is enough to get him going.
“Sebastian,” I growl, lacing the word with my alpha command. “Calm down.”
He sends me a grateful look and flops back against the couch, breathing hard. “Thank you.”
“Yeah.” I scrub my hand through my hair, then lift my head to focus on Troy and Emma. “We need to talk.”
Troy meets my gaze, and my heart pangs at the happiness and hope reflected in his eyes.
Whatever happened in that office, he didn’t scare Emma away, and I’m so fucking relieved.
That doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods.
Tomorrow, on Christmas Day, the full moon will wreak havoc on us, and Emma needs to know what that will mean for her.
Not explaining everything could be dangerous. She’s human, and if she’s not ready, we could seriously hurt her.
Troy settles on the other end of the couch and drags Emma into his lap.
She jolts, as if surprised, then softens in his arms, leaning back on his broad chest. Her scent is intoxicating—relaxed, sated, and curious.
I want to scramble past Sebastian and lick her neck, lie on top of her, and mark her with my scent, but I hold back. Barely.
Sebastian’s restraint snaps, and he lunges for her and Troy, then does exactly as I wanted to do and squishes her between his body and Troy’s. Emma squeaks, then laughs as she puts her arms around Sebastian’s neck and accepts his kiss.
I let them have a moment, then grab Sebastian by the shoulder and haul him off. “Talk first.”
I don’t use my alpha voice this time, but he obeys anyway, pouting at me. He settles for holding on to Emma’s naked ankle, rubbing circles into her skin with his thumb. I don’t even know if he’s conscious of doing it—he just needs to keep touching her.
“Right.” I clear my throat. “If everyone would hold back from mauling anyone for the next ten minutes, I’ll be very grateful. We have things to discuss, and they concern Emma’s safety.”
At that, Sebastian’s agitated scent calms down. He sighs, then nods. “I’ll behave.”
I raise my eyebrow at Troy, and he dips his chin as well. Knowing that’s the best they can offer me for the moment, I focus on Emma. She seems so content in Troy’s embrace, wearing Sebastian’s boxers and t-shirt, but her eyes are alert.
“What do you mean, my safety?” she asks.
“The full moon is coming,” I begin, “tomorrow night.”
She glances up at Troy, then back at me. “And that’s a problem? You’ll…what? Wolf out?”
I can’t help but grin. “Yeah, basically. But there’s more to it than just sprouting fur.”
I lean my elbows on my knees and take a beat to organize my thoughts. I have to explain this so she understands the danger, and it’s hard, telling all this to a human who had no idea we existed a day ago.
Then Sebastian’s hand lands on my shoulder, and he gives me a squeeze, offering support. I shoot him a grateful look. He always knows when I need his help. Finally, I turn back to Emma.
“You’ve heard stuff about wolves and the full moon in the human stories, right?
” I begin. At Emma’s nod, I go on. “They got parts of it right. It’s almost impossible for us to remain in our human skin on the night of the full moon.
Most werewolves will choose to go somewhere remote, shift to their full wolf form, and spend the night running and hunting. ”
She watches me intently. “Is that what you usually do?”
I purse my lips. “Not always. There’s a large pack not far from here, about four hours west, in the White Mountain National Forest. They have a safe hunting ground sectioned off, and sometimes, we run with them.”
Emma glances up at Troy. “Is it an issue, running with other wolves?”
He smiles down at her. “Nah. We know not to interfere with their pack, and they don’t mind us taking down a deer every once in a while.”
Her eyes grow wider. “You take down deer? With—with your teeth?”
I freeze, scenting the air. She’s worried, more than before, so I know we have to tread carefully.
“That’s who we are, Emma.” I keep my voice level, trying not to betray my worry, trying not to get defensive. “We shift into wolves, and wolves hunt for their food.”
Sebastian twitches beside me. He’s probably remembering our last hunt. It had been a good one, and he’d been the one to take down that particular doe. He’s an amazing hunter, his sleek body allowing him to be faster and more agile than either Troy or me.
He lets go of Emma’s ankle and tucks his hands between his knees. “You wouldn’t have to go with us.” He glances from her to me and back. “And I can hold off from hunting for a while, if it freaks you out.”
I want to snap at him to quit talking nonsense, but I wonder—would I offer the same if Emma wanted it? What wouldn’t I give up to keep her?
Emma chews on her lower lip, then blows out a long breath. “No, I wouldn’t want you to do that. You said it yourself, Carter—you’re wolves. And I guess lots of people hunt, they just use guns instead of their teeth.” She lets out a quick laugh. “And I can’t really judge. I’m not exactly vegan.”
Troy’s rumble of approval reverberates through the room.
He wraps his arms around Emma’s body and squeezes her closer to his chest. Her borrowed t-shirt rides up, exposing a sliver of soft, pale skin, and my mind locks on it completely.
I stare at her, panting, until Sebastian snaps his fingers in front of my nose.
Then I jerk back and drag my hand over my face. “Fuck.”
It takes all my control to reel myself in. When I finally look up, all three of them are staring at me, their matched expressions of concern almost comical.
“Are you okay?” Emma asks softly.
I force my shoulders to relax. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. But that’s exactly what I’m trying to get to.” I point at my chest. “This? This is not nearly the worst of it. The closer we get to the full moon, the harder it’ll be to hold back.”
Sebastian takes her foot again and adds, “Finding our last mate is a huge deal. I’ve been hard since yesterday, and that’s not going away anytime soon. But combined with the power of the moon, it’s an explosive combination.”
Emma’s eyes go a little glassy at his confession. I want to tell Sebastian off for being so direct, but maybe he’s right. We don’t have much time to explain everything to Emma—or get her ready for what’s to come. Maybe we need to be as forthcoming as possible.
“I told you that we mostly like to turn full wolf and spend the night in the forest,” I say, redirecting her attention to me. “But we also have the option to remain in our half form.”
She focuses on me. “Do you go hunting like that, too?”
I swallow, trying to find the correct words.
In the end, I settle on, “No. In our full wolf forms, we’re guided by our hunting instinct.
There’s nothing better for a wolf than to run through the forest, chasing prey, then feast on it as a reward for a good hunt.
But in our half forms, we’re driven by a different instinct. ”
Emma lifts her eyebrows in question, but before I can find the right way to tell her, Troy butts in.
“We fuck,” he says, his low voice raspy. “A lot. All through the night.”
“What Troy is trying to say,” I growl, “is that our half forms are wired to reproduce. And bond with our mates more deeply. So on a full moon night, we often…stay in our bedroom and do whatever feels good.”
Sebastian nods enthusiastically. “That’s when the biting comes in.”
Gods, if Emma didn’t want to run before, she most certainly will now.
“We lock ourselves in,” I tell her. I need to give her all the facts. “We fit bars on the windows, and the doors are reinforced. Because we don’t want anyone barging in on us—or one of us running off for a midnight snack in the woods, not here. We’re too close to the road and humans to risk it.”
Emma has gone pale at the mention of biting and bars on windows, her sweet scent acquiring a new layer of worry. “So you’ll do that this time around? Lock yourselves in?”
I dip my chin down. “We haven’t made arrangements with the New Hampshire pack, and the roads are too dangerous for a trip of that length anyway. But what we can do is get you out of here and to your home in time if that’s what you want.”
Growling explodes in the room, just as I knew it would. Suddenly, Emma and I are the only human-shaped creatures sitting on the couch, because Sebastian and Troy have both sprouted fur at my words.
“Guys, please. You know it’s the safest option.” I put my hand on Sebastian’s knee and squeeze, willing him to see reason. “That doesn’t mean we’d be letting Emma go. We’d just give ourselves more time to do things right. To get to know each other over the course of the next moon cycle.”
Troy is already shaking his head, his fangs showing. “Think of how difficult it will be to stay away from her. It’ll be agony, knowing she’s out there but not being able to get to her.” He casts a dark look at the door. “Are you even sure the doors will hold? Against all three of us in rut?”
I give him my most level stare. “They’ll hold. You made sure of it.”
He lets out a deep huff through his nose, then tightens his furry arms around Emma’s middle. “I hate this.”
“Me, too.” Sebastian morphs back into his human self, clearly miserable. “But I understand.”
“I don’t,” Emma says. “You said it would be dangerous for me. Because of the biting?”
“Yes,” I tell her. “It would be impossible for us to hold back. We’d claim you as ours, and that kind of bond is final. We’d be mated for life.”
Emma studies me for a moment, then says slowly, “And you don’t want that.”
She makes it sound like a statement, not a question.
It’s so ridiculous, I can’t help but stare at her. “What?”
“Of course we want that,” Sebastian says, shocked. “I’d bite you right now if you let me. You’re mine. Ours. And I won’t want anyone else, ever. Our pack is complete.”
Troy is nodding, his expression thunderous. “I want that, too.”
That only leaves me.
“I want to give you my mating bite, Emma,” I tell her earnestly. “But I’m not sure if you’re ready to make that decision so soon.”
She opens her mouth to protest, her brown eyes flashing in indignation, but I lift my hand, stalling her.
“I don’t mean to say you don’t know your own mind,” I amend quickly. “You just don’t have all the facts yet.”
“Then tell me,” she urges me. She disentangles herself from Troy’s arms and leans forward. “Lay out all the facts, and I’ll decide for myself.”
I grit my teeth, then force out, “The bites will affect you, too. They’ll send you into a heat state to help you take our knots more easily. And when that happens, I don’t think your human birth control will do much to stop us from getting you pregnant.”