Wolf Bait (Perry and Jonas)

Chapter 214

Christmas dinner is very formal and as I stand in front of my floor–length mirror in the baby blue dress that was brought up for me, I can’t help but laugh at the turn my life has taken. This year has been insane. My heels echo against the carpet as I make my way over to my room which will belong to Natalie for the night. Her eyes light up when she sees me and she runs up to me spinning around to show me we’re wearing the same colors.

“You look amazing.” I crouch down and give her an extra twirl.

-Jordan said I’m not allowed to stay with him and Tulip while we’re here-

“Yeah, but we can all still hang out, 1 cup her little face. She hugs my arm and nods, James and Valentina are here with her.

He’s staying upstairs, but since he’s technically her guardian now, he’s been going where she goes. When I straightened up. she skips over to him to take the little monster doll from him.

“Ready?” he asks.

“Waiting on the King.” I sit at the edge of the bed,

I look down at the spot where I was held down and marked as a slave. The very same place where I broke free and marked up the King’s face. That memory doesn’t feel real to me. Yet, I think about it often. Even dream about it.

One of the accessories falls from Natalie’s toy and rolls under the bed. I slide off the bed to get it for her. When I reach for it. I find one of the boxes I brought with me when I first moved here. I hand Natalie the toy and reach for the box

-What’s that?– she asks when I set it on the bed,

“Dunno,” I say and help her up to sit with me.

Using my thumb’s claw I cut the seals around the box and open it. It’s full of old pictures. I reach inside to get a handful of them. Natalie does the same. She holds up one of my favorite pictures of Darren and me and points at him.

“That’s Darren. He was mate before I married the King.” I tell her. She looks down at him and signs.

-Like Hunter?–

“Exactly,” I nod going through them all.

He printed every picture we ever took together and not just after we found out we were mates, but pictures of us as kids as well. I didn’t know I had this or that it existed at all,

at the King as he lifts Natalie onto his

-Mate.- she tells him.

tiny Perry,” he laughs taking some of the pictures from her. “Your hair was so

say reaching for one of Mackenzie and me with my mom. She couldn’t be older than three. “I grew it out because I

long hair- Natalie signs

forever for it to grow,”

-Worth it-

the King holds up the last picture in

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14:56 Sat, Jan 4

Chapter 214

took of all of us. My mom and Darren’s parents are standing behind us in the mirror of our building’s lobby, Mrs. Phurry is holding a baby Mackenzie in her arms. Morgan and I are both squeezing Darren’s chubby cheeks teasingly. We had been competing to see who could carry the

should go James

set the pictures back inside the box. Natalie sets the picture in Her hand on top and it’s a picture of me standing on the balcony of the apartment we had

shorts with a hoodie. I’m not wearing any shoes. I’m leaning over the balcony not paying attention to him. I was already pregnant here,

had been on the phone with him for a little over an hour trying to convince him that it would be the loophole

my mentor. He taught me alpha–level strategies that helped me in my beta training. I told him that it was none of his business what I chose to help my friends with. He said

I was watching the pups below play. One of them got hit in the back of the head with a soccer ball by one of the older kids and I laughed. That’s the only reason

over because he often wrote the dates on the back. The words I’m sorry are scribbled in his chicken scratch along with the date. It was two days before his birthday. I drop it back into the box and shut

nod and help Natalie off the bed

him were his competitiveness and the way he snapped. He treated me as an equal. He didn’t want to give me the world he

it. Darren Phurry and our family will always be a part

Natalie and walks out. The King reaches for my hand and I look up at him so he can see that I’m not upset. “On a scale from one to holy shit, this

he grins. Oz comes over with a couple of jewelry boxes. Big ones. “Also, this

“Will it be live?”

They don’t release anything to

“Sweet,

lady,” Oz curtsies. We both laugh as we’re escorted

front of us. My eyes wander the spectacular display here. The

the King asks. 1 didn’t catch what