This place shoved my bio daughter outside as a pet. I wasn't giving it slack. "My name is Zoan," I said to him lightly. "What's yours?"
He just looked confused, like he never got asked that.
"He hasn't been allowed to leave the property. He knows everyone and doesn't know strangers." Theodore oh so helpfully explained. "Oh, hello you two! My! It's raining potentials today."
Jill and Lily both looked at each other and then looked away from him.
"That's why they are just Darling," Zoan said to my sister. "You might want to downgrade him to a dear for that."
I heard a slight almost inaudible whine from Mattie. "I might."
"I make five figures and could comfortably handle children," he added.
"Okay," Mattie readily accepted. "He will start a darling but not a Theodore."
I was barely paying attention to that. "Does the boy always dress up that nice?"
"I was taking care of him," the darling said to me. "Everyone who helps take care of him has toys and clothes for him."
Toys and clothes. Everyone who helped. "Who helps?" I asked.
"All the darlings and the dears. Unfortunately, some of the bastards like to help too. Not as much, which is good. They don't have very good values to teach him."
"So, a hundred guys pretend to play dad everyday with him." I couldn't help the look I was giving him. I really just wanted to, at the very least, smack him. At the very most, make sure he was no longer a darling option for anyone.
"Don't." Grayson actually called me out this time. "I think your secret is probably solved about why she feeds them all everyday and keeps them happy."
But? "She should be able to spend time with them. Whenever she wants, not let a hundred different people take care of them." That part still didn't make sense.
"Hey, who are you?"
I turned around and saw a group of twenty different men, all dressed in differing styles. Some in no brands, some in dirty clothes, some in clean clothes, and others in ultra rich jewelry.
"Who is he, Zoan?" One of them called out. "Why's he so close to our son?"
Their son. Yeah, like I thought. I held my breath, getting a grip. They were probably there because I was a person they did not know, close to the boy that they all wanted as the son. They wanted Destiny, so they wanted him.
Well, that illusion would be stopping soon. None of these guys were spending anymore time with the boy or the girl once I was in.
"This is the bio dad," Zoan told him. "He's joining the home soon. Things will be changing soon. I will be joining too."
"How can you join your own sister's den?" one of them asked.
"I'll be guarding another woman." Zoan moved aside some and everyone got a good look at Mattie, Jill and Lily.
Jill and Lily did nothing. Mattie waved.
"There are four free women in the house?!" Someone shouted as the rest started to murmur against each other. They were yelling out for them with numbers attached to accomplishments I suppose? Values? They were yelling out the equivalent of a resume toward them. At least they weren't attacking.
We couldn't transform into wolves. No one mentioned not killing or hurting anyone in human form. Tougher, but it could be done if they tried anything we didn't like.
And eventually-
Grayson POVDisgusting. Pitiful. I grabbed the man that had charged toward my soon-to-be client for guarding. That room resembled more of the floor of a stock market. They weren't even talking to the women, instead trying to divide them up into who they should try amongst them.
All but this one I caught. "May I help you?"
"I just wanted to get closer," he said. "The hell are you doing? Why do you get to be so close, are you her brother?"
"No. I will be her guard." I let go of him as I pushed him back.
"I make seven figures, if one of you agrees to mate with me for a child, I will give you five figures a month until you are pregnant and we marry!" One of them yelled loudly.
"Five figures a month?" Mattie said stunned.
Yeah. At least Jill wasn't bothering to move. I looked toward Billy who also wasn't moving on Lily.
"I already have a boyfriend," Lily said to him. "He might marry me soon, once I get out of this place."
"Unless he's in this place, he doesn't count. I could make you very comfortable," the man replied again. "The offer is open to everyone."
"I think I'd like to make five figures a month," Billy said.
"To all females who can be pregnant," the man corrected himself.
Females? Really? Gah, what a job. Even with me guarding her, I hope Jill Hammer has some knowledge of fighting. I never sparred with her, I have no idea if she can take care of herself.
"No deals will be struck right now, the show hasn't even started," Zoan told them. "These women just arrived, and nobody is going to just start making deals with lots of money. They know their value is more than just money, you need to be respectful. Rules are changing, so you better start being more respectful to my sister too!"
"My sidder too," Devin's boy said from just a small ways from me. He was still repeating things others said. I'd noticed in Wolf Waters that children that changed more often tended to not speak as fast. I wonder if that was the case here, or if this boy named Wolfie wasn't encouraged to talk? If he talked about being a wolf on a camera, it wouldn't go well.
This whole information was screwed up shit. I can't believe a place like this existed. If Wolf Waters and Wolf Islands joined forces, places like these wouldn't need to exist anymore. But, then it would make humans even more nervous.
I remembered those nerves. That fright. Maybe that's why Wolf Waters just stayed away this entire time? Stayed hidden away beneath the waters where humans or the close-to humans couldn't find them anymore. "Don't press your lucky anymore," Grayson warned them all. "You might know our secrets, but we didn't come unprepared. Mess around and you'll find out how."
Those words seemed to make them take a few steps back.
Good. "Devin. You should go see Destiny. Find out why she willingly cooks and cleans for 200 guys every day." The brother of the poor woman said no one hurt her. That annoying judge said that no one hurt her. If that's the truth, then why did she do all of that for them?
Nah. They should find out the gritty truth before the show started.