Page 38 of Crowbar

“Mate?” I looked at Crowbar. “Is that what I am?”

“Yeah.” His thumb was still moving across my cheekbone. “My wolf chose you.”

“Your wolf.” I glanced at Noodles in my lap then back at Crowbar. “Does that mean she’s going to turn into a wolf too?”

“She’s a dog, Spencer.”

“Right. Yes. Obviously.” Everything was upside down and backwards, and I was sitting on my floor with a puppy in my arms while my werewolf boyfriend knelt in front of me. “This is a lot.”

“I know.”

“Ken’s dead.”

“Yeah.”

“You killed him.”

“Would do it again.” No hesitation. No apology. Just fact.

My arm throbbed. The pain had faded to background noise during the fight, but now it roared back, making me wince. Crowbar noticed immediately.

“Let me see.”

He examined my arm with gentle hands, checking the sling and the swelling underneath. His touch was careful. When he pressed against the muscle, I sucked air through my teeth.

“Tore it worse,” he said. “Need to get you back to urgent care.”

“Can’t afford another visit.”

“Not arguing about this.”

Riot snorted. “Told you he’d be stubborn.”

“Runs in the family apparently,” Diesel said.

“I’m not family,” I said.

All three of them looked at me like I’d said something ridiculous. Preacher stepped forward and crouched beside Crowbar.

“You’re his mate,” he said. “That makes you pack. Pack is family. Therefore, you’re family. Math checks out.”

I’d failed math but believed him.

* * * *

I sat up when Crowbar closed the bedroom door.

Trent had taken Noodles for the night, promising to spoil her rotten with treats and belly rubs. Leaving just the two of us in a room that suddenly felt smaller than it had an hour ago.

Crowbar stood with his back to the door, watching me.

“How’s the arm?” Crowbar asked.

“Fine.” A lie. The urgent care doctor had given me stronger pain medication and a lecture about rest that I’d only half listened to. My brain had been too busy processing werewolves and mates and the fact that Ken was actually, permanently dead.

My life had become completely unhinged.

Crowbar crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. Close enough that I could feel his body heat, but not touching yet. Waiting for permission I couldn’t give when every nerve was firing, skin buzzing with fear and relief and a raw, aching want that made my teeth hurt.