Violet only laughed.
By the time Alarick swung by, Violet had showered and drowned herself in her own deodorant. It was funny how much she missed the little things in her life. Her own scents. Her own body wash and shampoo. Even her own towel.
She gave her wolves a nod and left.
“She’s dying to see you,” Alarick said, pulling out of her dirt driveway. “Farkas kept her in the house while we were gone, which I think made her stir crazy.”
Maia, being stuck in a house with a baby and Farkas. Yep. Violet could definitely see why that would make her go nuts. It’d make any sane person lose their marbles.
Violet was practically bouncing in her seat when Alarick pulled up to their house. Unlike hers, theirs was a sizeable place with more than one bedroom—although she was fairly certain two of them still had to share a bedroom. She ran out of the truck before Alarick had the chance to shut it off.
Grimm sat in the living room, holding a swaddled bundle, and Farkas was nose-deep in the fridge when she burst through the man door from the garage. Farkas instantly pulled himself out of the fridge, gave her a dimpled grin, and said, “Violet! It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you. Like I’ve had no screen time in your life…” He trailed off when he realized she wasn’t here for him.
She went right past him to the hallway.
“Right,” Farkas called after her. “I’ll just be here, you know. Because I’m a dad now, by the way.”
“Congrats,” Violet called out without turning around. She burst into the bedroom and found Maia sitting on the edge of the bed, trying to pull on shoes. “What the hell are you doing, Maia? Aren’t you supposed to be off your feet or something?”
Maia threw the shoe aside. “Oh, not you too.” Before Violet could say anything else, she stood and wrapped her in a hug. “Alarick told me what happened. I was so worried about you. I thought…I thought the worst.”
“Eh, you should know me better by now,” she spoke, grinning as the hug ended. “We can talk about me later. How are you? I saw Grimm holding her. I wish I would’ve been there with you, though from what I hear it’s not a pretty sight.”
Laughing, Maia led Violet out of the bedroom. She still had her baby weight, and it would take her some time to lose it. She was a shifter though, so maybe things were a bit different. Maybe she’d drop the weight in a week or two because all shifters were ridiculously in-shape. Maia carefully took the swaddled bundle of baby from Grimm and turned to Violet, smiling down at the baby as if she were her world. In a way, she was. Childbirth changed people.
“Meet Emma,” Maia said, taking on such a sickeningly sweet tone Violet wanted to vomit. But she’d hold it back, considering there was a baby nearby. Her grey eyes flicked to Violet as she asked, “Do you want to hold her?”
No, not really, but Violet found herself saying, “Uh, sure.” Very smooth, confident.
Maia didn’t seem to mind, that or she pretended not to notice. She handed Violet the baby, watching with a warm smile as she took her, cradling her head. “Isn’t she beautiful?” she questioned, glancing to Alarick, who’d come inside while Violet and Maia were in the bedroom.
Violet was hyper-aware of the three towering and hulking shifters around her, and as she stared down into Emma’s bright, lively eyes, she wasn’t sure what she should say. She mostly looked like any other baby Violet had seen, nothing too special. A lot of pudgy skin and features that wouldn’t be grown into for a few years to come.
But she settled with saying, “Yeah. Totally.”
“Doesn’t she make you want to have your own pup?” Farkas asked, earning himself a glare from both Alarick and Grimm. Maia just laughed.
Violet, well…she sputtered and found she couldn’t say anything. Did staring down at this Emma baby make her want to have her own kid? Not really. In fact, she knew the baby would probably be just a pooping, peeing, crying and vomiting machine that would honestly make her not want to have one of her own.
No, no babies for a while. Not for Violet. Maybe in the far future.
Epilogue - Violet
Alarick, Grimm, and Farkas were already undressing. Maia was laughing at something they said, cradling Emma to her chest. The kid was six months old now, but still a baby. Violet wasn’t sure how long it took babies to grow up, but she couldn’t wait until Emma was older. At least a toddler. Less likely to shit whenever she felt like it.
Violet had her back turned to Maia and her mates; she didn’t need to see any of that. What she did need to see was her own mates and their naked bodies. Brice was shirtless, working on unbuttoning his pants when he moved before her, gazing down at her with a sloppy smile. His white hair was slightly longer now, hanging over his forehead. He hadn’t shaved in a while, so his face was stubbly, but he looked good.
They all did.
He bent to kiss her, a slow and passionate kiss that warmed her guts instantly. A kiss that made Violet want to say fuck it and drag him back to the car, have a quickie before their run. But she held back, barely. Brice said, “I wish you could run with us.”
“Me too,” she said.
Pushing him aside, Everett gave her a fast peck on the cheek as he quipped, “I think our Violet likes to watch, though.”
Violet felt her hand being tugged, and she was pulled away from Brice and Everett, right into Ivy’s arms. The woman had cut her hair shorter; it was the first thing she’d done, and Violet thought it looked good. It framed her face better and was less to manage. Plus less to put up when working shifts with her at the diner.
Oh, yes. They all had to chip in. None of them were getting free rides from Violet.
“You guys are disgusting, go shift already,” Ivy muttered, causing both her brothers to groan, finish undressing themselves, and shift into their wolves. Turning back to Violet, she added, “Now that they’re out of the picture…” She let herself trail off, leading her lips into Violet’s, smothering her with a kiss that put Brice’s heated one to shame.
Behind them, a middle-aged man missing quite a few teeth muttered, “Don’t mind me, just standing here waiting.” Violet smiled into the kiss, and after Ivy pulled away, she turned to face Roy, who now held Emma. Roy was quick to give her the baby, saying, “Don’t get me wrong, I like babies, just don’t like looking at ‘em. Or holding ‘em. Or being in the same room as ‘em. Okay, maybe I don’t like babies that much.”
Violet chuckled, watching as Roy sauntered to his house. Night had enveloped the land a few hours ago. Most of the town was in bed, the moon high in the sky, not like it mattered much. Roy lived on the outskirts of town near her house, and he had acres and acres of gentle rolling plains where the shifters could all change and run.
Soon she was surrounded by seven wolves. Maia, the beautiful red wolf circling her pack of mates, nipping and biting at their snouts while wagging her tail. Grimm was the largest black wolf, more of a lumbering creature than a graceful being. Farkas was lean but fast, his wolf brown with a shaggy coat. Alarick’s stood the proudest, with his chest puffed out, an ashy blonde. They were all unique and powerful in their own right, but it was the three white wolves near Violet that drew her eyes as she held onto Emma.
Ivy was the smallest wolf, the quickest out of the bunch. No matter what dirt she rolled in, it always seemed like it never stuck to her fur. She was gorgeous even as an animal with her white hair and bright, metallic blue eyes.
The largest of the three was Brice. His bulk and his height meant he wasn’t as fast, but sheer strength rippled from each muscle, his snout the longest and his fangs the sharpest. If it was just the three of them, Violet had no doubt he would be their alpha and not Alarick. Although Alarick was technically their alpha now, Ivy and Everett always followed their older brother’s lead.
Everett fit somewhere between Ivy and Brice. He was agile and lighthearted, even as a wolf. Unlike Ivy, though, if he rolled around in dirt, the dirt clung to him, even after he shifted back into his human form. The bathtub wa
s always filthy after nights when they ran, but Violet knew they needed this. They all needed this.
Violet took Emma, moving to sit on the dusty ground, leaning her back on one of the back tires of Alarick’s truck. She watched the wolves for a bit, mostly her wolves, as she said, “Someday you’ll be out there too, Emma, and I’ll be here watching alone. But I don’t mind.” She smiled to herself, moving her gaze away from the wolves and to the baby in her arms. “I’m actually happy where I am. Can you believe it? Me, Violet, happy? Those words really don’t go together, like, ever.”
The baby stared up at her, blinking with wide eyes that were reminiscent of Maia’s. She was definitely a shifter, having been born to shifter parents. Her time would come soon enough, but as far as Violet was concerned, it was still her time. Violet supposed she could pop out a baby too right now, but she wasn’t rushing anything. It wasn’t like she wanted a litter of her own.
No, she’d enjoy life as it was. Life with Brice, Everett, and Ivy. Three shifter siblings, each one of them completing Violet in ways she never knew she needed. Never even knew she wanted, for that matter. They were hers now, and she would never give them up. She would fight for them, tooth and nail, as much as any human could.
Violet had finally found where she was meant to be—little did she know it was where she’d been for years, only with a few extra tagalongs. This was where she belonged.
This was her life, these were her wolves, and she wouldn’t trade them for anything.
Dear Reader,
I really hope you enjoyed Violet’s story! It was world’s different than Maia’s, but Violet is a totally different character who can handle whatever shit life throws at her. Tough, stubborn, human one-hundred percent.
If you enjoyed the book, please think about leaving a review. Just twenty words and a star rating, that’s all it takes!
If you haven’t picked up the Crystal Lake Pack books yet, now’s a good time to start! They’re all set in the same world.
And think about stalking me on twitter for updates: www.twitter.com/candacewondrak and also my Facebook group: Candace’s Cult of Captivation ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/234452154135994/ )
Her Wolves: A Reverse Harem Romance Page 19