**Paige’s POV **
The woman’s cabin is near the centre of the makeshift vige. It’s bigger than I expected,
surrounded by flowers that climb the wall in bursts of colour. She’s already on the porch.
when we arrive, as though she was expecting us. I assume one of the guys contacted her
mate to warn her we wereing. Her warm brown eyes meet mine, and they instantly
brighten.
“Paige, right?” She says as she stands from her chair.
I just about manage a nod as my stomach twists, and I don’t <i>know </i>why. <i>She </i>is like me, so I
should feel the mostfortable around her, but for some reason I don’t. She’s maybe a
little older than me, early thirties, with light brown skin and Jong dark hair braided over her
shoulder. She wears jeans and a button–up blouse that shows her figure well.
Behind me, Remy’s hand presses firmer against my back, guiding me forward.
The closer I get, the louder my pulse bes, until I’m sure everyone can hear it. My body
still hums faintly with that lingering heat, my skin prickling under the weight of too many
stares. I don’t know if I’m more afraid of her answers or of hearing that there aren’t any.
She steps down from the porch, her smile softening. “It’s okay,<i>” </i>she says softly. Her voice is
the kind of calm that makes you want to believe her. “Come on in.”
We follow her inside, the cabin smells like freshly cut wood and roasting meat. She stops in
a cosy sitting room, <i>two </i>couches face each other across a low wooden table, an open
firece sits in the centre of the far wall and I can imagine how homely it would feel on a
dark winters night with the fire roaring in here.
“Please take a seat,” she gestures to the couch as we crowd in.
Ryder crouches to Jaxon’s level. “How about you go outside, pup? There are kids your age ying out there.”
Jaxon’s eyes light up. “Can I really?!”
“Come on,” Callen chuckles, ruffling his hair before leading him back toward the door. Remy lingers a moment, his eyes flicking between me and Ryder, before finally nodding and following the others out.
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The door closes, and the sudden quiet makes my pulse deafening as it pounds in my ears.
“I’m Cora,” she says warmly, patting the couch opposite hers. “Come, we have a lot to talk
about.”
I lower myself onto the cushions, twisting my fingers in myp. Ryder and Parker don’t sit, they position themselves against the wall by the door like silent guards.
Cora studies me for a long moment, her smile soft but her eyes hold something sad. “You
look exactly how I felt the first time I felt something was different. I thought I was going
crazy.”
I swallow hard. “Did you…” I pause, unsure if I can even form the words. “Did you go through
this?”
Her eyes scan over me, and she nods slowly. “The heat cycle? Yes. Not at first. It took almost a year after I bonded to him, but when it hit, there was no mistaking it. The need. The
desperation. It’s like your body is no longer your own.”
A shiver runs down my spine. “How did you deal with it?”
She leans back, her eyes briefly flicking to Ryder and Parker. “Honestly? I fought it at first. I
tried to tell myself that I had control. But the bond doesn’t care about what you want to
believe. For me, it was terrifying.” She smiles faintly. “Yet, it was also the most intimate thing
I’ve ever experienced, because he never left my side. Not once. He gave me everything I
needed without making me feel weak for needing it.”
Her words twist something sharp inside me. My mates have already done the same. I never
doubted they would. Ryder and Remy this morning, Parker and Callen clinging on the edge of
restraint around me.
I whisper, even though I know my mates can still hear me. “Weren’t you scared he’d see you differently? Like you’re no longer the person you were? That you’re just a broodmare to him
now?”
Low growls sound from behind me, but we both ignore them, and her eyes soften. “Every day. I still am, sometimes, but you’ll learn that wolves… they don’t love halfway. Once you’re theirs, you’re theirs. As for feeling like a broodmare, it can feel like that, but you are still human, and that means our bodies don’t reject contraception the way female wolves do.”
I blow out a breath as relief floods me. Thest thing I want is for my body to force my mates into being fathers, especially this soon. We still have so much to learn about each other. I
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have thought about it, but I don’t even know if they want kids, because it felt too soon to have
those kinds of conversations. We already have Jax, and although I’d love a sibling for him,
now doesn’t feel the right time for any of us.
Cora hands me a small paper bag that she pulls from behind a cushion. “This is the only real
option you have for right now, until you can visit a human doctor <i>to </i>arrange something long
term, which I don’t suggest you do until your current heat cycle is over.”
I open the bag and peer inside to find a package of condoms. I <i>look </i>back up at her with
raised eyebrows. “But what if it’s toote for these?”
“If you’re still in heat, then it’s not toote,” she winks.
“Thank you,” I huff augh, feeling so much more at ease already.
“So now we have the awkward stuff out of the way, how about some tea or coffee?” She
offers.
The thought of coffee makes me feel queasy. I think my nerves are too shot for it today. “Tea would be great.”
We head into the kitchen, Ryder and Parker staying behind but still close enough that I can
sense them.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, I’ll answer what I can,” she says as she fills the kettle with water.
“How are the rest of the pack with you?”
Her smile falters. “That’s harder. I won’t lie to you, it never really goes away. Most of the
females around my age resented me from the moment they realised I’d bonded to him. They
saw me as someone who stole a potential mate from them, even though fate had already
decided. It was lonely at first, but they’re not all bad.”
My stomach drops. That’s what I’d feared, what I’d felt in the nces thrown my way and
some of the less than friendlyments.
“But,” she adds, leaning forward, “it was worth it. Every scowling look, every whispered word,
none of that matters when I’m with him. Because when he looks at me, everything else.
bes irrelevant. He doesn’t see a human who doesn’t belong, he sees his mate, and that
is everything.”
I want to believe her, want to cling to the promise that it’s worth it, because how could it not
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We talk for a long while. She exins the heat cycles and how unpredictable they can be, sometimessting days, sometimes only hours, sometimes vanishing for months before returning stronger. She describes the wolf behaviors I might see from my mates, their protectiveness, their heightened aggression to other males, their relentless focus on me when I’m in heat. She tells me about the tug of the bond, the way it makes separation unbearable at times, and I realise I’ve already felt some of that, that raw ache whenever
they’re gone too long.
“I’m scared I won’t be enough. That I’ll fail them somehow<i>,” </i>I admit.
Her eyes lock on mine, and I see nothing but how kind she is. “You will feel that a hundred
times over, Paige. But here’s the truth… you don’t have to be enough for them. <i>You </i>already are. The bond wouldn’t exist if you weren’t. Fate doesn’t make mistakes.”
Her words sink in deep, soothing something inside me. I know my mates have said the same thing, but that’s their job. With Cora, I feel like she is not just telling me what I want to hear to
make me feel less insecure.
When the conversation finally slows, Ryder clears his throat from the other room. Reminding me that time is passing, that Jaxon is somewhere outside ying with strangers‘ children.
“I should get going,” I sigh, standing from the kitchen table.
Cora stands <i>too </i>and takes my hands in hers before I can step away. “It won’t be easy, but
when
you lie down tonight with them at your side, remember that you’re not alone.”
“Thank you, Cora, <i>you’ve </i><i>no </i>idea how much you’ve helped me today.”
Outside, the sounds of Jaxon’sughter hit me. His bright and carefree giggles rise above the
rest.
We round the corner, and I see him in the tree–line, crouched in the grass with a group of kids. Callen is kneeling nearby, showing them how to stack sticks into some kind of fort, while Remy stands back a little, his arms folded over his chest, and his eyes scanning the area. I catch a faint smile tugging at his mouth when Jax runs past him with something in his hand.
My chest aches watching it. My son, so at ease in a ce that still feels like a battlefield of stares and judgment to me.
I nce at Ryder, then back at Jaxon, and for the first time all day, I let myself breathe a little easier. Because maybe Cora is right. Maybe it’s all worth it.