Wolf Bargain (Wolfish 3)

But it seems that Romulus isn’t in a fighting mood after all.

And it doesn’t even take Lydia to calm him … as it often does.

His face turns up in a wicked grin of his own as he plucks an apple from the fruit bowl and brings it to his lips to take a bite. The crisp fruit crunches between his jaws as the grin grows ever wider.

“I know that, Rory,” he says, after swallowing. “Not when in just three weeks’ time, you’re going to be a married man.”

“And who knows how long after that pups are going to follow?” Lydia adds, turning away from the sink to wipe her hands on a dishtowel—but not before flicking some of the lingering water over at Rory this time.

He flinches out of the way as all three of us howl.

“No way!” I say, half covering my face with my hands. “We are not having this discussion now.”

“Aren’t you the one who was over there covering your ears just a minute ago?” Marlowe adds, screwing up his face as Romulus and Lydia share a mischievous kiss here in the middle of the kitchen.

Rory, meanwhile, has gone red from head to toe. “There’ll be plenty of time for that. For now … I think we’ll be more focused on helping Sabrina settle into her life as a wolf shifter.”

Marlowe scoffs. “More like just focused on keeping her alive.”

Romulus nods along with that, but Lydia just rolls her eyes.

“Sabrina is far more capable than any of you give her credit,” she says.

“Don’t worry,” I chime in, slipping over to plant a kiss on her cheek. “I fully expect she’ll be running circles around us before all is said and done. There’s a reason she’s ended up with all three of us.”

“Because even with all three of us,” Marlowe says, stepping up to jab me in my side. “We’re going to already have a hard time keeping up.”

“Well maybe you’ll have a hard time keeping it up …” I start, but I’m not allowed to finish.

Rory darts away from the sink after me, his soapy hands grasping at the air just behind me as I dodge out of reach.

“You little …”

Romulus has to pull Lydia aside to keep either of us from slamming into her as we duck and weave around the kitchen counter, Rory swiping out to try and box my ears and me staying just out of reach each time.

“I don’t know about you two,” I say after ducking a particularly close swipe, only to pop up on the other side of the kitchen island with a grin on my face, “but I don’t think I’ll have any problem keeping up with Sabrina’s every desire.”

I dodge again. “Because unlike you two, I haven’t yet gotten crotchety in my old age.”

“Hey!” Now Marlowe is swiping at me too. “I’m only six months older than you, you know.”

I pull down the corner of my face a bit to make it sag. “Like I said, you’re already an old man. Just imagine how ancient Rory is compared to you.”

I don’t manage to completely stay out of the two of their grasp for long. Eventually, first Rory and then Marlowe manages to grab me by the back of my shirt and between the two of them—start dragging me out into the garden.

I mock fear, flailing my arms out in front of me as I call out to Lydia to save me.

“Look what your sons are doing!” I call back, over my shoulder.

But Lydia just shakes her head—almost as much as her own shoulders are shaking from laughter.

It’s Romulus who answers.

“We’re not coming to your aid tonight, Kaleb,” he says, and then suddenly, his voice takes on a more serious tone again. “It’s time for you and your brothers to learn how to sort things out on your own.”

And I know, even as I’m dragged out onto the lawn where I’m sure I’ll spend the next half hour wrestling my way out of both my brothers’ grasps, that he’s right.

Even with all this talk of marriage, of pups, of responsibility … it isn’t just Sabrina about to start a new life.