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Not all
women are bitches, Gareth. I mean, you don’t think I’m a bitch do you?”
    He had to laugh. She had turned her head to one side to cut
huge doe eyes at him. “Stop that. You know I can’t resist the power of the
Olivia gaze.”
    Sighing, he carefully laid the boy on the rug again. Leaning
back, he let the warmth of the fire soothe him for a moment. He just needed to
gather his thoughts.
    “It’s not that I don’t want a mate. I do. I mean, I look at
you and Micah. You are so right for each other. But Olivia, I’m damaged goods.
Look at me.”
    She snarled at him. Actually freaking snarled at him. He
instinctively bared his throat, turning his head to the side and looking down.
She sighed.
    “Sorry. That’s becoming a habit. Hormones.” She shrugged as
she laughed a bit. “Micah told me I nearly made him go belly up the other
night. What I’m saying is you aren’t damaged goods. You think you are but your
scarring isn’t that bad once someone knows you. Yeah, I’m not going to sugarcoat
it. It is tough to see at first. Especially when you hide it the way you do. It’s
a shock then.”
    She surprised him by moving to sit beside him on the floor.
He leaned into her. That was one thing she and Micah never denied him—the
comfort of Pack. She stroked his hair once.
    “We just want you to be completely happy, Gareth. It’s hard
knowing you aren’t. That’s all. Just think about it?”
    She moved to her feet as the front door burst open. Talia
danced with impatience. “Are you done? I wanted to see if I could check on
Nala. Has she had her puppies yet?”
    After settling Koda back into the sling and giving Gareth a
kiss on the cheek Olivia took her stepdaughter by the hand. “Let’s go see.
Remember, your father and I haven’t decided if the puppy will stay here or at
the lodge.”
    That set off a litany of reasons why the puppy should stay
with her—in her bed even. He grinned as she listed various heroic dogs from
fiction as reasons her puppy should be with her. He agreed that she needed the
dog near. He knew, with her gifts of empathy and special senses, that Talia
would always need a pet of some sort to help ground her. He hadn’t really
mentioned that to Micah or Olivia though.
    Talia reminded him a lot of his sister and his niece. They’d
been strong empaths too. Yet another reason it made no sense to him that his
sister hadn’t left her abusive husband before he’d had a chance to kill her and
their kids. Some things just didn’t make any fucking sense.
    When the threesome left he felt just a bit of warmth leave
with them. Now he missed being around others. It hadn’t been that way before.
When Micah was mostly gone and working as a bounty hunter Gareth hadn’t missed
him so much. That was when Gareth had been running with the wild wolves. In
Pack situations that was taboo. Since he wasn’t doing that anymore he supposed
he’d gotten used to being alone except for formal Pack Gatherings.
    He skipped a majority of the informal Gatherings even though
he should attend. But as long as one of the seconds attended, it was all good.
Gareth’s preferences were well-known in the Pack council. His scarred face
still made him unwelcome to many.
    Micah had pushed for him to attend more often but Gareth
only went to the formal ones Micah oversaw if he could help it. He knew it
seemed cowardly but he really got tired of delivering repeated beatdowns to
some of the hardheaded males. Micah had seen reason only after Gareth had
snapped the foreleg of one of his attackers.
    Shaking his head at the memory, Gareth reminded himself that
he’d been tired that night. He hadn’t maintained his temper. That particular
male hadn’t come back after him though. He felt a slightly guilty satisfaction.
Of course not all hated him. Some had tried to befriend him but it was hard to
go against the desires of an entire Pack. Now, however, he was expected to be at
the formal Gatherings in his capacity as second