Free A Wolf’s Deception (Novella) by Sherilee Gray

nails digging into his forearms.
    ‘We could finally be together.’
    ‘What happened?’ He kept his voice even when all he wanted to do was roar his frustration.
    ‘He found the test before I had a chance to tell him, before I had a chance to go to you.’
    She swallowed hard. ‘He knew you were the father of my baby. He was a bastard, my father, full of anger and hate. The idea that I would accept a mate who wasn’t a pure blood wolf wasn’t something he would allow. Ever.’
    A tear streaked down her cheek and she dashed it away. ‘So no, he didn’t throw me out like I’d hoped. He threatened a forced abortion or to send Sawyer to one of the hybrid camps. And I knew, I knew how much you’d suffered at those camps. I couldn’t do that to our cub. He needed me.’
    The pain of her words spread from his chest, hitting every nerve ending until he felt it in every limb, shit, even the surface of his skin ached. He leaned in, ran his nose along the column of her throat, taking in her scent, offering his support and encouragement, his comfort. Taking it in return.
    ‘Go on, Tressa. Tell me the rest. I deserve to know.’
    ‘He locked me in my room that night. There was no way for me to get out without smashing the windows. He had guards watching our cabin. I was stuck. He came to me the next morning. Told me he’d found me a mate, a male willing to take me in my disgraced state. He thought when Sawyer shifted for the first time, my new pack would either put him to death or send him away. He didn’t care what happened to either of us, as long as he saved face, as long as he retained his respected place in the pack.’
    She squeezed her eyes shut for a few seconds and he felt her pain. ‘He sent me to end things with you. He said he’d kill you if I didn’t. I didn’t doubt him, how could I?’
    She flinched, like she could see it playing in her head. ‘So I did it, I did what he asked…for you…for our unborn cub. I…I…’
    A sob broke past her full lips, swollen from biting at them.
    He didn’t know what to say, couldn’t speak, the lump in his throat made sure of that. He felt numb, the emotions coursing through him too strong to process all at once. Loosening his grip on her, he eased her in close, wrapped his arms around her and held her as she cried. Cried enough tears for both of them.
    ‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,’ she whispered against his throat. ‘I didn’t know what else to do…I…I…’
    ‘You never wanted to leave?’ He held her close, tight enough to bruise, afraid to let her go again. ‘You never wanted to leave me?’
    She stilled in his arms and looked up at him, shook her head. ‘No. I never wanted to leave you. You were everything to me.’
    He couldn’t think, didn’t want to do anything but feel, hold the female in his arms and lose himself.
    Her hands rested on his shoulders, moving up to the sides of his throat. He sucked in a shuddery breath, close to losing his goddamn mind. Rage over what had happened to her, to them, fought with the relief he felt at having her back.
    ‘Why didn’t you contact me over the last four years?’
    ‘I was afraid. I knew you’d come for us. The Harlow pack follows their own rules. If they’d caught you, they would have killed you.’
    She’d tried to protect him. The beast in him fucking hated it. That was his job. He was supposed to protect her, not the other way around.
    ‘I’m a Guardian now, Tressa. Shit…if you’d only trusted me. If you told me the truth sooner.’ He sounded pissed, he knew he did. He didn’t want to make her feel worse, but they’d been cheated. All three of them. Cheated out of four years together. He’d missed his son being born. His son had missed having his father around…and another male had claimed Tressa, had claimed his female.
    The scar Dan had given her, peeking out from the neck of her shirt, should have been made by him. Instead some other male had stolen that right, had marked