By the Scruff
In order for me to be the father and that not to be a lie, Wolf Waters would have to be involved. It couldn't be true. I went toward the little girl. She had looked a little like Mattie. Maybe. There was only one real way to know the truth.
Cubs were too young to control transformation as well. Once they were picked up by the scruff, they changed. I pinched the back of her neck. As suspected instead of crying like any other kid, she changed and had a scruff right there. I picked her up by the scruff.
A wolf cub. Her collar even fit better, like that was what she was most of the time.
Mine. My. Mine. My cub? I had a cub with Destiny? I had a cub with Destiny? "I have a cub with Destiny?"
Grayson and Billy already had Juniper, which was good because if he had ran, I would have gone after him and ripped his throat out! I held him tightly in my hands.
"Probably shouldn't get violent in front of your daughter," Juniper told him. "She's left outside like an animal, and I'm one of the few watching over her. Her mom doesn't get the choice of when to watch over her. Zoan, could you watch your niece for a little while? I need to explain a few things more."
Zoan patted my shoulder and went over toward the wolf cub.
Left. Outside. They left my cub outside like an animal. People who themselves had werewolf DNA, had left her out there to the elements? I couldn't stop growling at Juniper.
"Four years ago, you interrupted my session. You signed contracts, but the contracts didn't start until another four years," Juniper said. "The director, someone much higher than I am, seized control of the situation by approving of you owning Destiny again."
What? "I owned her again?"
"Yes, but you couldn't be found to take care of her. Women are always taken care of, so she was put into another den," Juniper told him. "Still, she was owned by you and your identity was known now. I didn't understand at first what the director had wanted to do that for. He apparently knew how to find the information he wanted, reached above him and found someone who connected him to your area. He made a deal with them."
"What deal?" I demanded, glancing toward the cub playing with a small ball.
"It wasn't a good deal." Mads showed up by the back door. "There's no lie. You left Wolf Waters in a mess, someone was ready to expose us with actual proof."
Mads! "What deal?" I demanded again. "What did you do?"
"You are the one who messed up on Wolf Islands," Mads just said back to him. "Wolf Waters had to cover after your mess. Now? The situation is resolved."
The situation is resolved? "I see nothing resolved here."
"This island of Wolf Islands has been banned for plundering by Wolf Waters for the foreseeable future. For that promise, the authorities of this island helped get the blackmail back, the director has already been dealt with, and there is a stand-in," Mads said. "The last thing to be resolved is letting this show reach its conclusion. You'll either end up in the top of The Romances of Wolf Island or make it through one season. Without turning into a wolf on camera. Anybody."
I just jutted my finger toward the little cub. My little cub. Mine. Trapped. Outside. Next to a dog house and a dog bowl and in a collar!
"The kids don't get a pass. The boy is older," Mads said. "He controls it better. The girl never gets cameras on her. She's not allowed inside. She is being trained to be a submissive wife when she grows up. She is usually transformed so if seen, they will think she's a pet wolf." Mads caught Billy's punch. "You are stuck. It is what it is."
"You can leave," Grayson said to Mads. "We don't need you to watch our backs."
"You'll just stab it," I muttered to Mads. I went toward the little girl. Twoish maybe? She had already changed to a human again. Zoan had a slip on dress ready to slide over her head.
Yeah. Wolf Water style dress. Wolf Waters was here. They knew about her and about this. Everything said it. I bent down to see her. "Hello."
"Hi." She waved.
"Devin," Zoan said to him. "The boy is one year older. He speaks better. She lacks language skills even for a two-year-old. Destiny is also currently pregnant right now. Confirmed maybe a couple of weeks ago. I'm sorry your kind did this."
"Not my kind, just my area." They had to get that information back, and I made a huge mess. This though? "How could they just leave werewolves like this?"
"You don't have rights to them," Zoan warned him. "You have no extra rights than anyone else. They expired."
Considering Destiny was pregnant again. "Not very long ago?"
"Sorry," Zoan said. "It'll renew once the contract starts for the show. I agreed to my sister's pregnancies and so did she."
Huh? What did he mean by he agreed?
"It's the reason she's safe," Zoan added some context. "If she's pregnant, if she's taking care of your children, then she was safe. That's how I know that no one hurt her physically, and why no one would try. She was in the den because she belonged to someone that was approved but nowhere to be found. It saved her. Having them saved her, and I'd do it all over again. I'm still sorry though."
Permissions from everyone. Including her and her brother.
"Yeah, I did. I agreed," Zoan said firmer. "Do you know what she's doing right now? She's got all these men she has to live with. They weren't her courters, they dipped out a long time ago. Without any physical comfort, they stay because they get their own illusion of a wife, illusion of a girlfriend, or the self satisfaction of control."
"Plus a free meal and free housing," Mattie said to Zoan. "You two stuck it to my brother, to keep her safe from how many?"
"Last count, there's usually 200. She does not know many by name. Just the ones she appreciates," Juniper said. "There's about 30 Darlings. They are the ones that, when she can choose to be free, she will most likely pick from to be her mate. About 70 or so Dears. Good guys. Not quite Darlings, they aren't really interested in being picked as a mate. Different reasons for being here. Then you've got 100 Bastards. Your little girl isn't named or in the house because of the Bastards. Your little boy is known as Wolfie, named by the Bastards. Frankly, you don't want her in that house. She's safer out here."
"Safer out here." My throat was so dry. "Living like a dog instead of inside a mansion?" What was I supposed to say to that? What was I supposed to say or do or even feel about any of this? "The women are always the treasure in Wolf Islands. There aren't many. They are the treasure, so why-"
"I don't know, but I think there's some kind of loophole that makes Destiny slave over a stove to fix breakfast, lunch and dinner for 200 guys," Zoan told him. "Something that keeps her cleaning that huge house. Something that is making her make sure they are all nothing but deliriously happy. She pretends to be a doting wife to the Darlings, she pretends to be flirtatious with the Dears, and I don't wanna know what she does for the Bastards to keep them quiet." Zoan looked toward the little girl. "I thought pregnancy would let Destiny relax and live in peace. She's doing this of her own free will, which means, even though the proof is gone? Everyone here also knows the truth. The children are werewolves. They exist. 200 people can get proof any time they want."
"No they can't."