Wolf Broken (Wolfish 2)

He lingers near my face for a moment more before turning back around and joining in on the conversation with Vivian and Marlowe.

I feel Kaleb drag his mouth against the other side of my neck and turn around to meet his eyes. He kisses me, right here in front of everyone. It’s not a deep kiss, but it’s enough to make Romulus exert a low growl which Lydia taps him on the shoulder for.

When Kaleb lifts his head away, he smiles at me and the reflection of the fireplace flames seem to dance across his face.

“Stop doubting us,” he says. “We love you. You should know that.”

He brushes a strand of hair away from my face. “Isn’t that enough?”

I feel myself warm at his words, but even as I let my guard down slowly, the truth of the matter still sits like lead in my core.

I wish it was.

6

Sabrina

The day turns into evening as we are all hanging out in the mansion together, playing games and talking while sipping on glasses of liquids that I know we’re all technically too young to drink.

But when you’re practically invincible and going to live for a minimum of four or five centuries, it kind of makes concern for that sort of thing disappear.

The last thing I’m going to do is remind them that the same doesn’t apply to me. There’s already enough constant reminders of the differences between us.

Soon, my inhibitions have melted enough to leave me with a warm feeling all over—but even that isn’t enough to cover up the equally strong feeling of being watched.

Vivian hangs out with the boys as if she’s always been one of them. If it weren’t for the perfect slope of her nose, the exotic cut of her cheekbones, or the way her full lips seem to part with laughter at every word my boys speak, I’d think she’s practically a fourth brother. I’m as jealous of her ease with them as I am the way the way the boys seem as intimately comfortable with her.

I can’t quite put my finger on what kind of relationship they all have, but there seems to be no boundaries between them. She’s equally as comfortable sitting in their laps and putting her hands against their chests as she is trying to beat them in arm wrestling matches and slapping them on the backs with the gusto of a testosterone-fueled football player.

Somehow the most unsettling part is that as much as I’m keeping an eye on her, she’s doing the same to me.

We’re testing each other, watching to understand how each other fits into this puzzle that is the Gray family, and I don’t like it.

Every time I glance at her she’s already staring at me. Even when our eyes meet, she doesn’t avert her gaze. She just keeps on staring with that unsettling gaze of hers.

It’s a gaze that sees right through me, challenges me. She’s testing me.

This is the extent of her invasion until, all of a sudden in the middle of a game of Jenga, she catches Rory reaching over to squeeze my thigh and she can’t seem to keep her questions inside anymore.

“So, you guys are all in some sort of love triangle then?” she asks, looking directly at me as the boys all stare on.

“I just can’t do this right now,” Romulus says, suddenly getting up from his seat and walking out of the room. “I’ll be back after a trip down to the wine cellars.”

Lydia laughs and gets up to go join him. “Don’t mind him,” she says to us, gently. “He’ll come around, eventually.”

At this point, I highly doubt that.

After Lydia has left the room, Vivian picks up with her questioning again. “So how does this work then,” she asks. “I mean, humans and shifters and all.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I answer, feeling the sweet liquid I’ve been drinking all day make me more brazen than I normally would be. “I’m certainly not the one to ask about any of this stuff. You should ask them.” I wave my hand toward the boys, who all look as though they’re being put on the spot.

Good. They deserve to squirm.

Besides, I’m far more interested in hearing what they have to say than Vivian could ever be.

“So, they’re going to turn you?” Vivian persists. “That’s the only option. I mean, it would be for me.”

She lets out that bark-like laugh that marks her kind. “I can’t imagine trying to be with a human.”