Chapter 11
eleven
Morgan
The phone continues to ring, but none of them make a move to actually answer it. “I'm sorry, do you not know what that sound means? It means somebody's trying to get a hold of you. Do you need me to show you how to answer a phone?”
Jake rolls his eyes and gives me a light swat on the ass before climbing down the ladder. They're being weird, so of course I'm going to follow.
Whoever's calling must actually want to talk to them and not just sell them shit, because when the guys don't answer on the first attempt, they just call right back. And again, the guys all just stare at the phone like it’s something confounding.
I'm kind of sick of the sound, so I swoop in and grab it. “Hello?”
“Morgan? What the fuck are you doing over there? Do you have any idea how terrified I've been? I've been looking for you everywhere. Why the hell did you run off like that? You could have gotten seriously hurt!”
Jake grabs the phone from me. Clearly his wolf hearing is set to on because he immediately starts answering questions.
“Hey big bro. Funny story. This gorgeous wolf wandered onto our property a few days ago.
Like seriously, pretty as can be. Sweet as hell, too.
Well, when she was comfortable enough to shift anyway.
I mean, she's a little sassy, but I think we'll keep her. Oh, and she did get seriously hurt. But no worries, we cleaned up your mess for you.”
Jake puts the call on speaker, and I am so curious about what's going to happen here. I lean on the counter, propping my chin on my hand, completely dialed in.
“Give the phone back to her. I need to make sure she's okay.”
Wiley smirks at me, rubbing his thumb along his new bite mark on my wrist. He speaks loud enough for his brother to hear on the phone. “Well, Morgan? Are you okay?”
The attention on the mark is making it hard to focus, the bond clouding my head and making me want things with them that I very rarely want. “I'm great. So good, yeah. No worries here. No complaints.”
“I'm coming to get you. You guys better not do anything stupid before I get there.”
“I'm sorry, we didn't invite you. We don't need your assistance, bro,” Troy snarks.
As the youngest, he tends to be the most playful and seems like he takes things just a little bit less seriously than the others, lives a bit freer.
I can tell from the tone he's using on Alex though how much resentment he holds against his estranged brother.
“We don't need you anywhere near our mate.
And if you come anyway, it's not going to go the way you think it will. So do us all a favor and just stay where you are and leave us out of it.”
“How did this even happen? Was she working with you guys this whole time or something? How the hell did she find you guys?”
“Alex, not everybody's out to get you.” I sincerely hope he can hear how exhausted I already am by this conversation with him.
“I don't even know why you left! I had you set up so nice here. Why the hell would you throw that away to go live in the middle of nowhere with them?” Oh fuck, he’s panicking. Nice.
I do appreciate that he's talking to me and not around me this time.
“Set up nicely? You mean in the place you got for me before I even really moved in with you?
The one you were planning on banishing me to the entire time?
You didn't mark me, I know you don’t want me.
You basically told me being a half-breed was a deal breaker.
I don't know what you're upset about. You don't get to be upset that somebody wants what you threw away.”
“I didn't even know that paperwork was in there. You weren’t supposed to see it, I certainly didn't put that paperwork in there. You have to believe me, Morgan, please. I would never...”
The eye roll comes naturally when I’m talking to Alex.
“It seems like there're lots of things you would never do, and committing to me is one of them.
I'm not about to hang around and beg for scraps from you, Alex.
You promised me things you didn't really mean; you failed to mark me when I gave you everything, and you barely even chased after me when I left.
And this is on top of you telling me you were about to leave town anyway.
You couldn't get away from me fast enough.
I'm going to hang up so you can go have your little pity party in peace.”
“No wait, Morgan please. Don't. Can I come visit? We need to talk.”
The guys are all giving me the floor to say what I want to, not trying to manage me or talk over me, which gives me the confidence to handle this.
But honestly, I'm just over this waste of life.
We didn't have some big, sweeping romance, Alex didn't even really break my heart.
He just showed me exactly who he was, and I believed him.
“Visit? I don't know why you’d bother with that.
You're the one that wanted out. And I gave it to you.
So go enjoy your freedom, don't even worry about me. Hell, don’t even think about me.
I've got three mates here, and they're already doing a better job of taking care of me than you did, and they literally just marked me.
“Ooh! You know what else? No skeezy job offer or manipulations to get in my pants were required. I don't want to make this a
competition or anything, but I'm trying to be happy here. Trying to start over. You calling now like a little bitch is not helping.”
With that, I step outside, craving some fresh air. I leave the guys to deal with Alex how they see fit to, because he's not my problem anymore.
“Feel like a company, or do you need some time on your own?” This is how you go after a woman, folks. I don't think I even made it 15 steps out the door.
I hold my hand out for Wiley to take, and I start wandering down one of the dirt paths that run through their property.
“Do you want to talk about him?”
I shrug. “I don't really know that I have much to say about him. He promised me he wanted me; I slept with him one time, and then he made it clear that's all he wanted from me. It sucks, but it's a loss I was always expecting. It’s also difficult to feel upset when I’ve already replaced him with a mega-upgrade.”
Wiley stops me with a tug on my hand, spinning me around to face him. His hands goes up to frame my face, tilting it to look at him. “You don't normally trust easily, do you?”
“Kind of hard to when your whole life has been one long lesson in why you shouldn't.
I'm not trying to be a downer or anything, just practical.
If I had... let myself hope I had a future with Alex, if I had planned for anything real, if I had bought into the fairy tale he was trying to sell me, I'd be a lot more torn up right now.
“Instead, I guess I'm more disappointed that I let my guard down around him the little bit that I did. I don't think my virginity is sacred or anything like that, but I kind of wish the person I gave my body to would at least appreciate the gesture. Not try and run as soon as they could.”
“What about us? Do you see yourself with a future here?
Because I've got to tell you, those marks aren't temporary tattoos that will come off with a bit of rubbing alcohol.
You know this is permanent, right? That even if you leave, you're going to be craving us until your wolf gets away and comes right back?”
I press a kiss to his palm, and I feel a smile take over my features.
“I'm counting on it. Because I know that goes both ways.
You marked me. You can't go and try and pick up somebody else, you can't ditch out on me without some serious repercussions. I’d say you're about as stuck as I am. Mutually assured destruction. Exactly the way I like it.”
He takes a step closer and laughs, sound rumbling through his chest. “You're something else; you know that? In case you were wondering, I am pinning all my hopes on a future with you. I've got color schemes picked out, china patterns, the whole nine yards.”
Is this how easy it’s supposed to be? “China patterns, huh? You think that's practical way out here? Who are we entertaining that we need fine china for?”
“Oh, it's for you baby. All the nice things are for you.”
“That's sweet, but not necessary. I like... practical things better.”
He backs me up into the nearest pine tree, almost aggressively leaning into me.
“Living here, we're practical about a lot of things.
We have to be prepared you know, and this life you're signing up for with us, it's not going to be glamorous.
Sure, maybe you broke the spell, but we're all pretty used to living here now.
If you wanted to move closer to town, we could certainly look at options—"
“Fuck the options. Fuck people. I don't need them.”
“What's your last name?”
“Belrose.”
“Well, Morgan Belrose, what do you need?”
Why does it feel like nobody's ever asked me that before?
It's such a simple question, but it's also so damn important.
“The one thing I've always been unable to provide for myself is simple affection.
I don't care about wearing the latest trends, making sure my hair has the right cut, I just need somewhere safe to sleep and people that get me.
“I like the simplicity of living out here.
I know I haven't been here very long, and there's every possibility I could get sick of it at some point, I've always lived in a city of some sort.
Maybe not a big one, but I never had good interactions with other people.
I'm either too human or too wolf. That doesn't bother you at all? That I'm not a real wolf?”
“You say you don't care about trends, but we don't care about pedigree. You're ours, and that's all we care about.”
“Well, I can't argue with that.”
He continues to stare at me, making my cheeks flush and my body heat up for him.
I'm probably not the most patient person in the world, but it feels like I've been waiting around for something to happen for a lifetime.
It's possible he's waiting on me to make the first move so that he doesn't make me uncomfortable.
Whatever the reason, when nothing continues to happen between us, I get sick of waiting. “So, are you going to kiss me or what?”
“Well, if you're asking.”
There's no sense of possessiveness when Wiley brushes his lips against mine.
It's sweet and earnest and exploratory, and he kisses me like I'm something important.
I've never felt important. Even with Alex, I was always second-guessing things, wondering if I was doing the right thing.
For some reason, with these three, I don't have those same thoughts.
They're easy to be around, and they play all their emotions right on their face.
His rough hands scrape down my side and hitch my leg over his hip in one smooth, self-assured movement, pinning me to the tree as he takes what he wants. When he opens his mouth to me, I turn into putty. The hot, wet slide of his tongue makes my body practically shake with need.
“I see, ditching Alex to come out here and make out? Nice.”
I pull my face away from Wiley and smile at Troy. “If you’re jealous, just say so.”
“Okay, I’m jealous,” he immediately retorts.
Troy strides up to me, checking in with me before making any move. “Is it just him, or…?”
“Come get your girl,” I taunt.
He shoves his brother out of the way so hard that Wiley actually falls on his ass, and I can’t help but giggle. Their buoyancy is infectious.
“You think that’s funny, do you?” Wiley taunts, standing up and stalking me from the other side while brushing dirt off of himself.
Yikes.