Elder by Holley Trent

Author:Holley Trent [Trent, Holley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: wolf shifter, werewolf, shapeshifter romance, wounded alpha, single mother, wounded heroine, domestic abuse, alpha wolf, fated mates
Published: 2016-05-08T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

“If you want him to actually hear you, you need to knock louder.”

At Ashley’s sultry whisper, Esther nearly leapt out of her sneakers from fright. She clutched her chest and caught her breath while her cousin’s wife snickered.

“Gods, you let me sneak up on you like that? I wasn’t exactly quiet, and little Adam doesn’t quite grasp the concept of stealth yet.” Ashley pointed to the babbling baby boy on her hip.

Esther shifted the warm covered dish to her other arm and cringed. “I guess my head was elsewhere. I was—well, thinking.” Thinking about what she’d say when Nixon answered his door. Thinking about how he might react to seeing her there. She’d never been all that good at reading men, but she didn’t want to think he would react badly to her taking him dinner. And she had to. She’d cooked, and she’d fretted, because that was apparently what wolf women did when they liked people. She’d never felt that for Michael. Toward the end of his life, she wouldn’t have cared if he’d starved.

“Want me to knock for you?” Ashley asked. “I can be your wing-woman.”

“What makes you think I need one?”

“You so do. It’s okay if you like him, you know.”

“How do you—”

Ashley waved a dismissive hand, effectively silencing Esther, and sighed. “Es, when you let wolves pair off naturally, funnily enough, they’re nice to each other.”

“I’m not trying to pair off. I’m just—”

“Bringing him food. Right. Because he’ll waste away if you don’t feed him.” Ashley lifted the foil at the edge of the plate. “Ooh. Is that sauerkraut?”

“And sausages,” Esther muttered. “Michael hated sauerkraut. I missed it.”

“Michael was a shit stain.”

“Ashley—”

“Nope.” Ashley shook her head hard. “I don’t like speaking ill of the dead, but he got what was coming to him. I’m sorry you got matched with him. Fortunately, I was too young when his turn for a match came around.”

“I pushed him.”

The words came out of Esther’s mouth unbidden, and she felt like time ceased to exist. Her body froze, her mouth hanging open and eyes wide with self-inflicted terror.

And Ashley just stared.

She kept staring until little Adam gave her ponytail an innocent yank.

She swallowed, untwined Adam’s fingers from her hair, and made some sounds that weren’t quite words. “Uh. You—”

“It was an accident,” Esther whispered. “He was drunk, and he lunged for me, and I—”

“Self-defense. Okay?” Ashley’s whisper was sharp and insistent, so Esther nodded.

She didn’t know what else to do but nod. “I snapped,” she said after a few seconds of tense silence.

“About time someone snapped. I’m sorry it had to be you. I wish it had been some woman who wouldn’t have felt guilty.”

The door creaked open and Nixon leaned into the frame with one eyebrow raised. “What’s with all the mutterin’ out here? Y’all having a party I wasn’t invited to?”

“Wasn’t much of a party until you arrived, Nix.” Ashley squeezed past him into the house without waiting for a welcome.

He stared after her, shrugged, and then got out of the way.

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