Mated to My Step-brother and His Best Friend novel · Chapter 9 of 32

Chapter 9: What She Married For

I looked past my mother's head.

The Alpha was looking right at us.

Wolves hear everything.

He'd heard every word she said.

So had Arlis. He was smiling.

"Sherry," Abner said.

My mother let go of my sleeve.

"Nobody in this hall is choosing between anybody," the Alpha said. "My marriage stands. If the girl claims her mates, the claim stands too. The Elder can argue the law with me till the Hunter's Moon."

The Elder opened his mouth.

Abner looked at him.

The Elder closed it.

My mother made a small, choked sound of relief.

I turned to the room.

My knees were shaking again, so I locked them.

"Deacon Lovett and Bowie Shepherd are my mates," I said. "Both of them. I claim them. They're my guard."

On my right, Deacon went completely still.

On my left, Bowie said, "Yes, ma'am," very quietly.

"The guard is hers," the Elder said.

Arlis bowed to me.

Actually bowed, from the waist.

"Congratulations," he said. "Twenty-eight days, Miss Caskey."

My mother didn't speak to me until noon.

I found her in the pack kitchen, alone, chopping onions like they'd insulted her.

The kitchen was bigger than our whole house in Graylick had been.

Two stoves. A walk-in. Copper pots hanging from a rack.

She didn't look up.

"You could've died in there," she said.

"I could've died at supper."

"You didn't tell me you were a handler." The knife came down hard. "Five years. Twice a year on the phone. You never said a word."

"You never asked anything but whether I was eating."

"Because you never answered anything else."

I picked up the other knife and started on the celery.

We worked side by side for a minute without talking.

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