Page 218 of His Hungry Wolf

Following his lead, I got up. “We could walk if you aren’t up for shifting again so quickly,” I told him wanting to spend as much time with him as I could before everything changed.

“No. I think I can do it,” he said closing his eyes and quickly shifting.

I wasn’t that surprised. Shifting had a lot to do with motivation. Clearly he wanted his new life to begin. The question was whether I was going to be a part of it. I hoped so, but if he wanted a life with them, didn’t it mean that he wasn’t interested in being a part of my life?

I shifted and was ready to follow him when I realized that he hadn’t yet figured out how to track his own path back. That made sense. As quickly as he was catching on, there was still a lot he didn’t know.

It took me years to figure out as much as I knew and even with that, I hadn’t been able to shift back and forth on command until a few weeks ago. Part of that was because of all of the work my father and I had done to stop me from shifting. Another part was that, before the day I had met Cage, it had been years since my last shift.

There was something about him that drew my wolf out of me. And it was only because of Cage that I have embraced my wolf as much as I have. I was still going to get rid of it, though, no matter how much harder it was becoming. Because as friendly as he had been with Lou and Cage, I couldn’t forget that he was a wild animal and could turn on someone I loved at any moment.

Leading Cage back to his cabin, we entered the still open door and shifted back. The first thing Cage did was put back on his jeans and grab his phone. Knowing that I had lost him for the night, I got dressed and got comfortable on the couch.

“Nero, we got back the results… Yeah. We’re… brothers,” Cage said with tears forming in his eyes.

There was a long pause before Cage spoke again. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he listened. Cage turned to me and mouthed, “He’s crying.”

“Yeah,” he said returning his attention to the call. “I would definitely like to meet our mother… What about tomorrow? I could drive up… Okay. Then I guess I’ll see you, and mom, then… I know, right,” Cage said with a smile.

Cage ended the call and stared at his phone.

“I’m going up tomorrow.”

“Can I come with you? I mean, if you want me to. I can get us a room for the weekend in case you want to stay over,” I told him wanting to be a part of what was going to be the most important moment of Cage’s life.

“Of course you can! None of this would be happening if it wasn’t for you. I want you there,” Cage said sincerely.

Relief washed through me knowing that he wanted me there. I was sure that he would hear that he had a brother and mother and things would immediately be over between us. I could never compete with that. Going with him at least gave us a shot.

In spite of what I thought it meant for us, it did warm my heart to see Cage as happy as he was. He seemed equally excited and nervous.

I couldn’t sleep thinking about what was going to happen when he was introduced to his mom. I hadn’t met another shifter until Nero, but even I knew the importance of a pack to a wolf. How could his family not be his new pack? Where did that leave me in his life?

Driving up the next morning, it was pretty tense in the truck. Neither of us was saying a word. Nero had suggested that we meet at the diner since nowhere in town showed up on a map. Approaching it, I asked Cage if we should check in with Dr. Sonya and drop off our bags before we met up. Cage didn’t see the point. I agreed, so we headed right over.

“You guys hungry?” Nero asked when we entered.

He looked like a different person than the one we had first met. For one thing, he had a smile on his face. Everything about him looked lighter.

“Are you going to join us?” Cage said as happy to be with Nero as Nero was to be with him.

“Yeah, I’ll join you,” he said enthusiastically.

“You’re not off yet,” the cook yelled from the kitchen.

“Is there anyone else in here? I’ll get back to work when someone comes in,” he said with bravado. “You guys want burgers? I’ll ask him to fix us a couple of burgers. Pick a seat,” he said before heading back to the kitchen.

“He seems happy to see you,” I told Cage.

As nervous as Cage had looked before we arrived, he was now glowing. I was an only child so I didn’t know how the two of them felt. Was this the way it was when you had a sibling or a pack? It must be nice to have someone you can count on to have your back.

I had always thought that was what a boyfriend was for. But, I guess when you grow up alone and thinking you are the only one of your kind like I did, that was as much as you can imagine.

Once Nero rejoined us. I couldn’t do much but sit back and listen to the two talk. Every so often Nero would direct a question at the both of us. He even asked me a few questions directly. I tried to keep my answers short, though. I knew why we had come, and I wanted this to be as little about me as possible.

Once we were done with lunch, the look on Nero’s face changed. A weight took over him.

“So, did you want to meet our mother?”