"Raven snores." Aspen lies down next to me and props his head on his hand. "It's like rumbling thunder every few minutes."
"Does he really?" I turn my head to the side and crane my neck so I can sneak a peek at Raven who doesn't face us or answer. He's lightly snoring, but nothing obnoxious.
Earlier, Raven stared at me with a sharp gaze, like he tried to read my soul. His demeanor is so very different from both Aspen and Dex.
"Uh-huh." Aspen moves closer, and now his sweet smell envelops me. "He's allergic to wool if you were wondering why he doesn't sleep with a blanket." He presses a hand to my shoulder. "If you weren't here, he'd sleep naked like we all do."
I jump up, my cheeks heating up. Images of all three of these handsome men naked with me flash in my mind.
"What's wrong?" He props himself up on his elbow and leans forward.
"Nothing." I shove my hand through my hair and groan, realizing it's still braided with the damn flowers
Quickly, I unravel it and toss the flowers on the ground outside of the area we'll sleep in.
Aspen smirks, watching me with his hands tucked behind his head.
"Let us know if you get cold during the night," Dex adds with a yawn, but his amber eyes glisten with the promise of much more in the moonlight.
Heat flares all over my body and I lick my lips. Did he know my lust at hearing they normally sleep naked had all kinds of scenarios parading through my mind? Though they'd probably not want to have anything to do with me, a broken half-breed.
Instead of playing into Aspen or Dex's flirting, I lay down, scooting closer to Raven than I might have normally, my back to both of them.
"Good night." Aspen and Dex chuckle.
The night drags on and I toss and turn because the ground is hard against my body, uncomfortable as hell. My fake mom might have disliked me, but at least I had a bed with an old, soft mattress.
The space between my shoul
blades tenses up and I struggle to breathe because all I can think about is missing Michael. I want more than anything to curl into a ball and cry. My wolf pines inside my heart and soul, longing for him, for what I can't have.
It feels like shards of glass dig deeper into my chest, making it feel heavy with longing.
Finding my real mother is my second chance to get my wolf out and prove to everyone that I deserve to be part of a pack. Maybe then Michael will accept me... and my reluctant wolf. I was so close to belonging in a pack and with one of the coveted positions of an Alpha's mate. No one would be able to make fun of me or hurt me ever again.
And these three Alpha wolves. Why aren't they part of a pack?
Aspen reminds me of all those Scottish historical romances with the guy on the cover having dark, red hair, and mischievous emerald eyes. While Dex is more of a jokester with an easy smile and golden curls. And Raven... I don't know what to think about him. Tattoos and glares.
What if they gang up on me?
I should be wary of them. Three muscled guys on one girl? A shudder
rolls through me.
They could do whatever they wanted to me and I couldn't fight them all. Yet the fact Raven doesn't want to help me calms me-which has to be messed up. These wolves are strangers and I shouldn't let down my guard or trust them.
But they're my only hope of finding my real mom. And I'm desperate that they can help me. It's time to stop being afraid and face my past.
"Good morning." Aspen's ass is in my face when I open my eyes and he's digging around in his bag for something.
I scoot, but there's not any room to move much since he's crouching in front of me.
"Sorry." My cheeks burn because I don't want to accidentally touch him and give him the wrong idea. The space we slept in seems somehow smaller than last night with Aspen towering so close to me. "I didn't know you were there."
He twists his head and shoots me an amused look with his turquoise eyes twinkling at me from under dark
brows. "You spent the night awake."
"How did you know?" I narrow my eyes, trying to be intimidating and not scared.
He straightens up, and I get my first look at him in the morning light. Dark circles frame eyes. And a five o'clock shadow hugs his square jawline makes him seem rakish and dangerous.
My chest feels tight, and I wonder for the thousandth time if searching for my mom will fix me. If I can trust these three or if I'm in over my head. Except, I can't just sit at home and wait for my wolf.
No, I can never go back to the pack until I have manifested my wolf and can prove it to them. To all of them. Deep inside I know if I don't, they will never accept me back.
What if she doesn't want to see me? I don't have her address or anything. My mom gave me up when I was a baby. Will she be like me with blue hair? What if she hates me?
After all, she gave me up when I was a baby.
I wrap my arms around myself and watch Aspen, Dex, and Raven pack up their belongings. I have nothing except the clothes on my Back
fast.
Crying won't help anything and it certainly won't bring my wolf out. I stand up and rake a hand through my hair, dislodging leaves and twigs. What I wouldn't give for a shower and a toothbrush.
"Hungry?" Dex asks me.
I nod.
He hands me a dark, brown piece of something and I stare at it. His laughter brings my gaze up to his smiling face. There's a glint of gold in each iris shining like a star around his pupils that mesmerizes me for a moment. "It's jerky. Don't you have that in the pack?"
"No." I shake my head, tearing off a bite of the jerky. It's dry and hard to chew. I manage to swallow it down. "We've got an icehouse to keep all the meat the pack hunts down for us and only kill when needed."
"Out here," Dex gestures to the land spread out in front of us like a blanket, "You never know when your next meal is coming. The game here is harder to hunt with us not being the only starving ones."
I shudder. "You mean the lost ones." The humans who didn't accept
the change after the meteors crashed into our water supply.
It was like the radiation brought out whatever was hidden inside people. For us, it was wolves. For others it was magic and they became witches. And for some, darkness and evil lived inside them and they became that on the outside.
"For the longest time, I thought Casey was one of them and couldn't understand why he was allowed in the pack."
Dex's upper lip curls. "He the one that rejected you?"
"No." I swallow, my throat suddenly feeling dry and tight. "Just a jerk." Somehow saying Michael's name out loud felt too final. Like I was admitting that he refused to accept me.
My wolf howls inside adding to the weight pressing down on my heart. I want to free her so we'll get the promise of my life back. Make Casey eat his words. Watch him eat his words and see me at an Alpha's side. Though I shouldn't care about Casey or Michael. But the rejection is too new, too raw from the latter who I thought was the answer to all my problems.