Wolf Fur Hire(12)

“You didn’t fit in?” He knew all about that. He wasn’t a man-eater like the rest of his family, but he wasn’t a bear like the pack he’d chosen either. He had betrayed the McCalls to save Elyse, but he would always ghost the outskirts of the Silver family until the day Ian put him down. He hated that Nicole didn’t feel like she belonged either. It was the loneliest feeling in the world.

She shook her head and moved her scarf down a little farther, exposing her chin now, too.

Good mate.

Link gritted his teeth and barely resisted telling Wolf to shut up again.

“I always felt different, but I couldn’t figure out why. I spend way too much time thinking about it.” She sipped her hot chocolate with a thoughtful look in her soft brown eyes. She wore her hair down today, and it fell in dark, shiny waves down her shoulders. In the stark lighting of the shop, it looked like black silk. He wanted to touch it.#p#分页标题#e#

Do it.

Link gripped his cup harder.

“I didn’t find out about Buck until a month ago.”

“About his death?” Link asked, surprised.

“No, about his existence. My mom and dad—er, stepdad, who I thought all along was my real dad—just got divorced. I know it’s supposed to be easier if your parents split up when you’re an adult, but it kind of shattered my world for a while. It was an ugly divorce, and my mom was awful, just spewing hate all the time at my stepdad. She was the one who’d been unfaithful, and I was so angry at her for breaking up our family. She showed zero remorse, so I picked a side. I wanted to spend more time with my stepdad and make sure he was okay, you know? My sister and brother were doing the same thing, and he was receptive to their attention but, for some reason, he didn’t want me around. And when I showed up at his office one day to ask him to go to lunch with me, he told me.”

“Told you what?”

Her voice turned dark, her words jagged. “That I wasn’t his. That he didn’t want anything to do with me because I had been part of the problem with his and Mom’s marriage.”

Link shook his head and leaned back into the bench cushion. Naturally, he had a shit dad who’d been put down when he was too young to remember a single good memory about him. That’s just the way it was for McCalls, but the reality of his life had always been harsh. Link had no qualms about the way he was raised. It was the same for every McCall, but Nicole…she’d had a decent life and a decent family, and then they’d betrayed her. He didn’t know any differently, but she’d had a good life snatched away in a moment.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.

Her full lips stretched up in a slow smile. “So here I am, searching for myself in a place I’ve never been.”

“That’s pretty brave. Alaska isn’t exactly a spring break beach trip.”

She laughed a pretty tinkling sound and grinned down at her steaming cup. “I admit I was completely unprepared for this place. I mean, we have snow down in Mission, but nothing like this.”

“The bone-deep cold is hard to get used to.”

“Yes! I don’t think I’ve been fully warm since I got here. And look.” She pulled her gloves off and rested her hands on the table, palms up. They were torn and blistered, and Link winced at how painful they looked.

“Chopping wood?”

“Trying to. I’m pretty shitty at it. I even read a book on it. I bought a chainsaw from Hardware Jack today.”

When a warning snarl left his throat at the mention of that prick, Nicole’s eyes went wide. “What was that?”

Link fingered the handle on his mug, unable to look at the horror that would be in her eyes. “I told you I was bad.” He tapped his temple. “Voices.”

“In your head?”

I’m here!

Link gave her an empty smile. “I should go.”

“I won’t mention that sound again,” she rushed out as he made to stand.

Link looked down in shock at where her fingertips rested on his knuckles. Where they connected, a sparking sensation shot up his arm in waves. What the hell?

She’s touching us. Us. She knows she’s ours. Wants us to stay.

Link relaxed slowly back into the chair.

“Is that why you live way out here?”

He nodded once.

“That makes sense to me. I was confused to why a man who looks like you settled way out here.”

“A man who looks like me?” he murmured, head canted in confusion.#p#分页标题#e#

Nicole pulled off her scarf completely and mirrored him, head cocked as she looked at him with such a strange expression. “I have a pet wolf.”