Wolf Castle (Sinful Wolf Pack Romances)

When I get to my room I snatch up my holdall from the bed.

My dad saw me dressed like this, in this see-through camisole and panties, grinding on Uncle Karl’s lap.

He knows.

My dad knows.

There is nowhere I can run to. Nowhere will take me away from the fact that he knows.

I drop the holdall with a thunk and curl up on my bed, my arms wrapped around me knees. I feel helpless. I feel like I am going to be sick.

Oh God, what have I done?

I want to cry but my face feels strangely numb. I want my friends. I want Lola. She could help me find some way to deal with this.

But I don’t deserve her help.

Finding my damn phone would do no good anyway. Heck, I’d been shocked it had been able to receive a call from within Otherworld. I certainly don’t expect it to be able to make a call out to our world.

Of course Roxy took it. Stupid of me not to have realized earlier. She must have called my dad. It is just the sort of thing she would do. She’s told me often enough that no one fucks with her. This is why.

I bury my head in my knees, wishing I could take back the last few days.

No, not all of them. Just the bad bits, these last awful few minutes especially.

Because the rest of it had been spectacular. Beyond my wildest dreams.

Roxy was right after all. What happened in Otherworld will stay in Otherworld. I have no doubt that Uncle’s Max, Karl, Jake and Anthony will choose their friendship with dad and their business over me.

This could only ever have lasted as some sort of sordid secret. Not out in the open.

Roxy was right when she said I was just a passing delight for them.

It’s just that for a tiny while earlier they had seemed so happy to know it was me. They had not rejected me. But none of us had expected reality to come crashing down on us like that.

Remembering the furious look on Uncle Max’s face, I shudder.

I’ve never seen an alpha werewolf get mad before. I don’t want to ever see it again. Just that glimpse was enough for me.

And yet I can’t bear to leave. I don’t want to go without saying goodbye.

I rock back and forth on the bed, trying to think what Lola would say. She is the most practical of us, the least dreamiest. Heck, she had the nerve and willpower to leave the love of her life, Aeron, rather than to hurt him.

One drunken night, one kiss with his best friend Tyler, and it was all over for her. Those two guys were pack, they were tight. She feared she had broken up their brotherhood, ruined their friendship forever. It had tormented her. She had left them both rather than fight for her relationship.

I’d told her it was stupid. It wasn’t her fault. But she had said it was. She had known how close they were. She had crossed a line.

What would she say to me now? She would say that I shouldn’t have messed round with my dad’s friendships. My dad isn’t a werewolf – they are not pack – but I still shouldn’t have done it.

She would tell me it was time to stop thinking of only myself.

Feeling heartbroken, I force myself to get up from the bed. I take my coat from my wardrobe and put it on with arms that are stiff and unwilling to obey. Flimsy lingerie sufficiently hidden, I pick up my holdall and slip out of my room.

My timing is as terrible as ever.

I come face to chest with Uncle Karl. I don’t even have to look up to know it is him.

And I can’t bear to face him. I keep my head bowed and try to walk around him.

He takes me gently by the shoulder.

“Where do you think you are going?”

“I have to leave,” I say quietly, my voice hoarse. “I’m so sorry, Uncle Karl. It’s all my fault.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

He picks me up and takes me back into my room. I find myself unable and unwilling to resist him as he sits on my bed and cradles me in his lap, his warm strong arms wrapped securely around me.

“I can’t stay, Uncle Karl. Dad will be heartbroken.”

“And we can’t let you go, honey. So what should we do?”

“How can you say that? I’ve messed everything up. Your friendship. Your business…” My voice cracks.

“You haven’t messed up anything.”

“I have.”

He tips my chin up with his finger until I am looking right into his eyes. They are blue and filled with light and surety.

“Don’t you understand baby? Whatever is broken, we will fix it. But you and us? We’re not broken. We are exactly as we were always meant to be.”

“How can you say that?”

“Because it’s true,” he says in a light tone. “You’re so delicious. And we wolves love a tasty treat. How did you think we would ever let you go?”

His teasing fingers play over my waist in a light tickle, and to my surprise I start to giggle.

I slap at his fingers, but he only tickles me harder. We collapse back on the bed, me giggling. And then he kisses me tenderly and all thought of leaving runs out of my mind.