Chapter 3 A Rescued Wolf

• I didn’t know where I’d come from or why I ended up wandering hungry in the woods.
• I knew I was fortunate Jaecar had no interest in me.
• He had his eye on a she-wolf already.
• Samantha. He'd been chasing every male away from her for years, from what I understood.
• In some ways I envied her. He seemed to be the only kind wolf among the bunch of lascivious males.
• I used all the oversized clothes to pretend to be a frumpy little female to keep the pack from being interested.
• From preying on me under the Mating Moon.
• It worked. I kept the heavy bindings under my dress each day. And the bodice loose enough to hide any hint of shape. Then I kept my hood low over my face.
• Doing my damnedest to not earn any attention.
• I’d kept hidden in the rundown hut for a while, but those aggressive males had soon scented me.
• Three virile males that were never apart. They looked identical. Good looking, well built, and dark.
• The Hayden Brothers.
• ***
• THE HAYDEN BROTHERS
• We liked the smell of her. It aroused us.
• We were triplets, the last of the Hayden line. What one of us wanted, we all did. So, we learned to share all our things.
• And we're going to share her. One way or another.
• Afterall, everyone knows Vanna Rae belongs to us.
• ***
• The triplets were nicknamed for what they did best in the pack. Vanquish, Hunter, and Racer. They were exactly how they sounded.
• Vanquish was highly dominant and prone to violence toward other wolves in the pack. Commanding. Easier to distinguish from the other two because he had green eyes rather than their blue ones.
• Hunter was a phenomenal tracker and often kept the pack fed well during the winter.
• Racer had a mole just under his left eye. He could run down anyone, anywhere. Except our young Alpha, Draven.
• But no one is as fast as Draven.
• The three of them had been scratching at my door ever since I arrived.
• And, sick of me refusing to open it, one eventually crept in my window. Curious to get a look at me.
• And so, it'd begun.
• Thanks to Hunter.
• ***
• Now after months of them rounding me up to drag me out with them, I'd taken to pretending I wasn't home to avoid their bullying.
• But I was tidying my small amount of property when I rounded to find Hunter in the middle of my hut.
• Again.
• A glance at my open window confirmed how he'd gotten in.
• The boards I'd nailed over it hung loose along the floor.
• "Not your best work." He gestured. Towering over me at six foot, he was an imposing figure. Softened only by his constant grin.
• He's not smiling now though.
• Hunter sniffed the air as he descended on me. “You smell good. Faint, but sweet.”
• I bolted for the door but when I threw it open Vanquish was there with his dark hair and green eyes.
• I’d yelped.
• “Don’t be afraid. Just us." He growled in his low, harsh, voice.
• "We’re going to the creek to find a snack and wash up.” Hunter explained from behind me.
• “Care to join us?” Racer materialized next to him.
• Probably through the window too.
• “No.” I shook my head. Eying the two of them before feeling heat generating at my back and realizing Hunter had closed in behind me.
• They're always too close. I glanced over my shoulder and he peered under my hood suspicious.
• When he reached to pluck it off, I ducked and lunged forward. Stepping right into Vanquish's range.
• ***
• “Sure, she does.” Vanquish caught the shoulder of the oversized cloak I was never without, roped around the waist. Refusing to let me by as he turned with me in tow.
• I looked like a plump monk. But I didn't care.
• It serves its purpose.
• Vanquish drug me from the hut and toward the creek. “You don’t want to stink, do you?”