Page 50 of Wolf Trial

“Yeah well,” I dropped my gaze to the floor, trailing over the rug and the warm floor boards beneath. “Why would I stay with three men I don’t know?”

“Three mates,” he corrected. “And even if we weren’t your mates, we would still be pack.”

“That doesn’t mean anything to me,” I said, and a lump formed in my throat when I saw him flinch. “None of this means anything to me,” I explained. “Not the vampires. Not the wolves. Not the training. The only reason I’m here at all is because my gran sold me, and I’m trapped in this place until I find a vent and an amulet.”

Now it was Verne’s turn to sigh. “Of course you wouldn’t know what it means to be a wolf,” he said, his tone apologetic. “I’m doing a poor job of teaching you.”

“Don’t make this about you,” I said playfully, even if I meant it deadly seriously. “This is my pity party, thank you very much.”

I straightened my shoulders, and eyed the mass of ingredients he’d gathered. “So what are my chances of survival? Should I start making arrangements now, and plan a lavish funeral I don’t have the money for?”

“You are not going to die,” he said, and suddenly he was in front of me the same way he’d moved so quickly in the forest. His hands found my face, lifting so I was forced to meet his unyielding stare. “You’re not going to die, Sadie. Contrary to what the leeches at the academy believe, silver isn’t fatal for a wolf in small quantities. If you’d dropped your body into a whole vat of it, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But the packs have remedies for silver burns”

“Hence, the pestle and mortar,” I mused, giving it another suspicious look. He was still touching me. I should probably push his hand away. Soon. “How disgusting is this going to be? Give it to me straight.”

“Oh, it’s going to stink,” he replied, dark eyes dancing with amusement. His thumb swept my jaw and I tried to hide how much I melted. “And it’ll be hell on your sharp senses. But luckily you don’t have to eat it.”

“Oh thank God,” I groaned. “That root over there looks like actual dog shit. I think I’d rather keep the burns than eat it.”

“You’ll be fine,” he said quietly, making my heart jump when he tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered over the shell of my ear, a cool shudder racing through me, tipping me closer to him.

“Stay,” he said abruptly. “Stay here where we know you’re safe. If you go back to that academy…”

“I’ll get paid for my time and become a wealthy woman?”

“You have everything you could need here,” he said, and he was pleading now, his brown eyes big and desperate, his hands dropping to his sides.

“Except freedom,” I said quietly.

“We would never cage you”

“No, you just expect me to be the perfect little wifey, to give you kids and keep your house in perfect condition, all the while keeping all my silly little opinions to myself”

Verne blinked, taken aback for a moment. “No.” The word was deep and guttural. “You would be an equal, not a subordinate. You are our mate, and our packmate. Your opinions aren’t silly, they’re important to me. To all of us.”

I laughed. “Now I know you’re just lying to my face. Lainsz doesn’t give a shit about me, so don’t tell me what I say is important to you. Don’t tell me that I would be listened to instead of silenced. That school,” I said with scorn, “trains killers, and every class is a risk to my life. But I can be myself. I can speak my mind there. Here… I don’t think you’ve looked at me and seen me one single minute since we met.”

“I have,” he protested, but I was already shaking my head.

“I had concerns, and you distracted me with sex.”

“No, no, that’s not how it happened.”

“Fine, it was mutual. You said the mating instinct was driving me, and I don’t even know what a mating instinct is. If it’s not designed to get me pregnant, to mate in the very basic sense of the word, then what is it?”

Verne had no response for that. I could see it in his eyes. So that was what the instinct was. A biological urge to make babies with these people that I just met, and apparently had a fated connection to. It was bullshit.

And yet…

Something had eaten away at me all day, urging me to come back here, and it was finally quiet. An itch that plagued my skin all day was soothed. And there was a part of me that didn’t want to leave, even if I knew it was madness.

“We’re not the men you think we are,” Verne said, adding herbs and liquids and God knew what else into the mortar and grinding them up. “I swear we’ll prove that to you over time, just give us a chance.”

I’d heard that before. That was the problem with pretty words. I’d heard them all before and I knew exactly how this ended up.

“Over time,” I relented quietly. “I don’t deny that pull here, something urging me to come back to you when I leave. But I just feel—out of control. Like none of this is my choice.”

“Then what do you choose, Sadie? We’ll take things one choice at a time, and you’ll be in full control.”