Page 23 of The Ashpaw: Part One

He nodded once. “If you need anything—”

“A pillow,” she blurted out, immediately covering her mouth.

His eyebrow quirked, his lips curving slightly. “What was that?”

“Nothing, sir. Alpha.”

He grunted again, starting to walk away when he paused and reached over awkwardly to pat her on the head. “I’ll see what I can do.”

He then left to join his mate-to-be and the other alphas at the head table, and Fern took a few deep breaths, begging her knees to unlock themselves so she could move. Finally, noticing the interested, amused looks of the other wolfkin, she retreated, almost running into Hyde on the way.

That evening, after another long day, she trudged downstairs to the sleeping quarters, warming as she discovered a small, buckwheat pillow had been placed on her cot.

* * *

“Alpha Darion seems to favor you,” Hyde commented the next morning.

“Hm?” Fern looked up in surprise, already accustomed enough to the repetition that she could afford to retreat into her mind as she worked.

“Makes sense, I suppose,” he said, although she wasn’t sure if he was talking more to himself or to her. “I don’t believe he’s ever marked and bound a woman before. Perhaps he means to petition you for himself.”

Oh, no…

Oh, please, her wolf barked.

“We were children. I doubt that was on his mind.”

Hyde gave half a shrug, like their ages were hardly a counterargument.

“And he’s courting someone.”

Another half shrug. “He’s an alpha. He’ll need heirs.”

“But… I’m small. Jules said it wasn’t…”

“I am smaller than the she-wolves who petitioned me. The wolfkin are a lot less picky than you’d think, especially in this.”

He stopped and turned towards her abruptly, putting down the plates. With one hand he grabbed her waist and pulled her into his chest, his nose nudging her braid to the side as he breathed in her skin.

Her whole body stilled, as though something inside her welcomed such unexpected, intimate touch. Even if her mind was screaming.

“You smell very nice, Fern,” he said, his breath warm on her skin. His voice was low, and he didn’t smell too bad himself. It was easy to see why he was a popular petition despite his shorter stature. “Wolfkin like that. A lot.”

And then he released her, continuing his work as she struggled to catch her breath.

“Do you think you could speak to him for me? On my behalf?”

Fern was still reeling from the touch, feeling somewhat bereft of its absence. “I… what?”

“Alpha Darion. I want to be reassigned to the stables. There are… no she-wolves there. I won’t have to worry about any more petitions.”

He was many places ahead of her now, and she rushed to keep up, placing forks and knives as she spoke. “I don’t even know if I have that sort of relationship with him. I’m not even allowed to serve the head table.”

Hyde stopped again, and in her rush, she almost ran straight into his back. “Please. I can’t… I can’t go through it again. Savina has been watching me, I know she’s going to ask. She already has two from me, I cannot bear to give her more that will never know me. And I cannot live with her mate again.”

He swallowed audibly. “He beats me when she is not around. He… he doesn’t like that I can give her what he cannot.”

Fern walked around the other side of him, his eyes closed and now lined with tears. Her heart cracked with the despair and fear she felt pouring out of him.