Page 35 of Wild Wolf

“Yes. It’s pretty rare. We don’t have our bitches go to hospitals for checkups because it’d be pretty bad for us if they did an ultrasound and discovered a human woman carrying a wolf puppy.” Richard got himself a plate of rabbit and sat beside his wife. “Amber will probably sleep for about an hour, and then she’ll get sick again. One of us has to be on hand so she doesn’t redecorate your cabin with that crap she’s hacking out. Once she’s done throwing up, we’ll get her into the tub and soaking, feed her, and then we’ll rinse and repeat. Tomorrow morning, we’ll take her to the city, and we’ll likely be pulling over every ten minutes. Not much we can do about that. Frankly, I’m impressed she was ready so quickly. I was convinced I’d be watching her sleep for the next two months while participating in the dumbest fucking dance ever to be danced.”

“I’ll have the restrictions on witches being turned into wolves eased, and I can use Amber as a case study, as Declan’s cabin is still standing and there isn’t even a hint of soot anywhere,” Elliot promised. “I need to wait for a conclave. This plan was put together because it was the only legal way I had to do it. And sorry for using you like that, Declan, but it was my only option. Of all the Inquisitors, I’m the one who can’t break any of the rules.”

“Because you’re the leader.”

“Precisely. But there are exceptions in place now for desperate men saving helpless women.”

“I heard that, you bastard,” Amber said from my bedroom. “Helpless woman my fucking ass.”

The smiles from everyone in the room told me everything I needed to know about where the woman fit in the strangest family I’d ever been exposed to.

Richard set his food aside, hopped to his feet, and strode into my bedroom. “Distressed damsel.”

I debated going into my bedroom to rescue Richard from the woman’s wrath. “Think he’s going to survive?”

Desmond’s grin broadened. “Probably, but she’s going to make him pay for that.”

Petra lifted her head from her corner with interest, staring at Richard’s abandoned food.

I chuckled before clucking my tongue at the wolf to indicate she couldn’t steal Richard’s dinner, but to ease the sting of my refusal, I fetched a new bone from the fridge for her, offering it to her along with some of her raw meat. “Sorry, Petra. You get this bone and some raw meat, but I’ll see about having those big, bad wolves take you on a real hunt later.”

“Do you hunt with her?” Nicolina asked.

“As often as I dare, yes. She’s a good hunting partner. I think I’ll wait until we’ve found out more about what’s going on here before taking her out again. She’s adapted well to general captivity, but I try to make sure she’s comfortable, and that means hunting.”

A lot of those hunts I’d done as a human, helping Petra flush out prey and letting her get the kills. As always, change came when I least expected it, although I looked forward to seeing my new future.

“Probably wise.” Nicolina got to her feet and went to check on Amber, peeking into my bedroom. “I’m notifying you that I am your slave for the next seven days, but only if you swear you’ll let me help when you kick Richard’s ass.”

“If you want to have a puppy, just seduce him. He’s not going to say no.”

Desmond bowed his head, and his shoulders shook.

“Traitor!” Nicolina stormed out of my bedroom, shooting glares over her shoulder. “I offered myself into slavery for you, and you say that?”

Richard followed his wife out of my bedroom, smirking. “We’ll have a very nice suite in Beijing. Offer to be my slave instead.”

“I will kill you,” Nicolina promised.

“But what will you be wearing when you kill me?”

In my bedroom, Amber giggled, and the woman’s mirth broke Desmond, who groaned his laughter.

“Don’t worry about them, Declan,” Elliot told me, and like everybody else, he grinned. “We have fun at their expense all the time. When Nicolina decides she’s ready for a puppy, Richard will be dragged out back and used, and he’ll like it. Richard is happy to wait for her leisure, as he has a lot of pack puppies he gets to coddle, and Nicolina wants to learn how to be a good mother before taking the dive. They’re okay with being teased, so don’t fret.”

Her pout implied dismay, but when she stomped her foot, all I could smell was the sweet undertones of amusement. “Why are you all ganging up on me today?”

“We can’t gang up on Amber,” Elliot replied. “Her memory is long, as is her reach. She’ll add interest, and with her wolf backing her? We’ll lose even worse than we already do. You, however, are an easy target, because you love us too much to actually kill us, and the worst we’re getting from you is a jolt or some threat about no cookies, which Richard tends to ignore.”

Nicolina flung her hands into the air. “If he’d stop with that free-willed Alpha nonsense, that would actually work.”

With his smirk softening to a smile, Richard caught his wife in his arms and kissed her brow. “I like cookies too much to stop baking them, you know this.”

“Is she going to be all right?” Nicolina whispered, soft enough I doubted Amber could hear her.

“She’s going to be fine. If you want to take the first watch, go sit with her, and remember that the ritual sickness is going to be worse than normal.”

“Worse than mine?”