Page 14 of Wicked Wolf

Gina shook her head. “I’m not saying we send babies to other dens when you’re not there. I’m saying the maternals plan things together and get to know one another first. Then as things progress, we teach our children that it’s okay to be friends with another Pack. If we start young, they won’t learn the prejudices we have now.”

Quinn studied her face then gave her a slight nod. “That idea holds merit.”

From anyone else, she would have snorted, but with Quinn, that was almost praise.

They talked for another hour, and before she knew it, it was time to call it a day. Quinn met her eyes with a question in his gaze, and she nodded. He was on the same page.

“Time to call it,” he said.

“Yep,” Gina agreed. “We have good ideas down. I think we should mull them over and each of us work on a plan. Then we can come together again and talk through it. Once we’re ready, we can go to the Alphas with our ideas. This way it’s not a jumble.”

“I agree,” Quinn said.

Wow, she was on a roll.

They all stood and began to leave. She let the others leave before her so she could have a moment with Quinn. She knew it was stupid to do so, but if she didn’t, her wolf wasn’t going to leave her alone.

“What?” he clipped.

She held back an eye roll. “I just wanted to say thank you for listening to my ideas rather than barking at me like last time.”

Tact—she had it.

Quinn narrowed his eyes. “I won’t let anything harm my Pack or Alpha. If that means I must work with you, witch, then I will.”

With that, he stormed away, and she was left frozen.

Witch?

He’d called her a witch.

Why did it sound like a curse on his tongue, rather than just a title?

She swallowed hard and pushed down any feelings she could have had for him. She didn’t even know the man. He couldn’t hurt her if she didn’t let him.

Knowing it would be too much if she didn’t release it, she jogged out of the room and into the forest. She felt Parker’s eyes on her, but her cousin seemed to know she needed time alone.

She made it to her car, her hands still shaking, and then drove directly to the den and to her home. Her mind warred with itself as she tried to push Quinn’s words from her thoughts. The fact that he seemed to hate her just because of who she was, without even knowing her, hurt far more than it should have.

She still lived with her parents even though she was well past the age of moving out. Her brothers were all so much younger that she hadn’t wanted to leave her mom alone with them. With six brothers, things could get a bit crazy.

She honestly had no idea how her mom had done it, but now everyone was growing up, and it might be time for her to move out.

Especially now that she had new responsibilities…and her wolf wanted a certain wolf she shouldn’t.

When she walked into her home she smiled at her mom, Melanie, talking with Gina’s cousin, Brie, and Brie’s mother, Willow.

While the men of the family were some of the most dominant wolves in existence, it was a well-known fact that the women of the Jamenson family were the heart and soul.

Plus they could fight to protect what was theirs better than most wolves because they held that power.

She might have come into the family through the most painful way possible, by losing her birth parents, but she’d never known a life without love or protection. For that, she was grateful. Even on days where she could barely breathe over the pain of her loss, she knew she had others to lean on when she couldn’t do it on her own.

Mel turned to her and smiled. “You’re home. We were just talking about you.”

Gina raised a brow, and Brie snorted. “Oh really? Should I be scared?”

Willow smiled and squeezed Brie to her side. Willow was in her forties now, but looked to be in her twenties. That’s what happened when you were a wolf; genetics favored you. Soon all of the Jamensons would look the same age. The poor humans wouldn’t know what hit them.