I looked away quickly to make sure he couldn’t read my thoughts in my eyes. “That’s a very good point. I hadn’t considered it.”
Renz made a noise, and I tensed, certain he was going to start scolding me for my lack of faith or something. Just like he had when I admitted my insecurities about my body. As though I needed to be told I was insecure…
“For what it’s worth, and I know that it’s not worth much yet, I am sorry,” he said.
I pushed myself to sitting, searching the darkness for his face. “What?”
“I’m sorry. For earlier, what I said. About your feelings. And before that. I didn’t really mean to say that we were going to keep bullying you. I…recognize now that it is what we used to do. I can’t even think of why, except you were an omega, and Owen…it didn’t sit right with me. Even then. I don’t know, maybe that makes it even worse that I went along with it,” he murmured, almost to himself now.
“Maybe.”
Renz sighed. “In any case, I hope your heat won’t come for a while. Give us a chance to adjust and actually figure out where we are with each other. The Goddess couldn’t have told us to marry if there was no chance of happiness, right?”
A lump rose in my throat. I had to focus on my breathing, tightly controlling it, to avoid letting him realize how emotional those words made me.
Should I tell him that I was a virgin? I wasn’t sure. It would be a good idea to tell them before it came time for sex, right? So they understood they shouldn’t expect much from my performance. I closed my eyes, picturing it. The four of them touching me. Kissing me. Pressed in tight around me. Before, the images left me uncertain and frightened.
Now, heat pooled in my lower belly. Something inside of me swelled. I wanted hands on my body. I wanted their lips on me. I wanted to learn how to have sex, to give and take pleasure.
The desires were so unexpected that they left me unsettled. I got to my feet. “We should go back. They’ll be wondering where we are.”
“Let them wonder,” Renz protested.
I shook my head. “I’m going back. And remember your promise. You’ll punch him in the face any time I ask.”
Not that I was going to ask. I didn’t think punching anyone would solve any problems.
We started back, in human form rather than wolf.
It was more difficult to navigate the forest in this form, but I didn’t want to shift again. Not when I heard that scents were so much stronger in wolf form. Right now, I was sure he couldn’t smell my brief arousal. But what if he could in wolf form?
We had just reached the edge of the forest when the other three came running through the brush. All were in their wolf form, but they shifted upon seeing us. All three scowled deeply at us, but none looked as furious as Owen.
My heart sank as all the relaxation I’d gained from playing disappeared.
“Where have you been?” Jace demanded. “Do you know how it looks when one of the alphas and the bride both disappear from our wedding?”
“The wedding was over. It was just the party that nobody was partying at,” Renz said with a casual shrug.
“For once, can you not treat this so casually?” Jace pinched the bridge of his nose.
I wrapped my arms around myself. This white dress that had been made so hastily for me was covered in forest debris. The back was probably stained from when I lay on the ground. At the time, it hadn’t bothered me. Now, I watched, worried that they were going to turn the scolding on me.
“What? We had the wedding. Neither Jasmine nor I wanted to stick around, so we went out for a bonding experience,” Renz continued. “I’d say that our relationship with her is more important than putting on a façade that the pack can see right through.”
“And whose idea was it?” Owen asked. He folded his arms over his chest and glowered at me.
Renz shuffled forward slightly, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with me. “Mine. The Alpha Fuckers cornered her when she left for a breath of air, and—”
“So, you were the first to leave the party?” Owen accused.
As I shrank back from him, Killian gripped Renz’s shoulder. I thought he should be holding onto Owen, but maybe he didn’t want to get slugged.
“We should be putting on a united front,” Killian said.
“And you,” Owen pointed at me, “should be acting like an alpha mate. You don’t go running off all the time. How do you think that makes us look? Do you have any idea what sort of problems you’ve caused us tonight?”
Renz put an arm around me and tugged me closer to him. “Lay off, Owen. She was with me.”
