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"No, it’s just that I have to work I have a few commissions that I need to finish and--"

"Whatever you need for your work, we’ll transport to the pack’s compound And if you need money I’ll--"

Now she cut hio there"

Okay He could respect that even if he did want to take care of her in every way "We could stay here if you wanted, but it’s not smart" There was no way he’d actually let her stay here Not without an ar to be diplo me around Actually, I had just planned to stay with my friend, Sabrina What does a compound mean? It sounds scary" A thread of fear twined off her

He chuckled "It’s e call the h that we all have a lot of space Everyone has their own rooms, which are basically apartments We all take care of each other and Knox is a fair Alpha"

"But I’uar" Her lips pulled into a thin line

"So?"

She sed audibly "Other than you, the only wolves I’ve come in contact with before haven’t been exactlynice"

There was soo on red alert "What does that uys see you have to promise me it stays between us"

"You think I’d betray or hurt you?"

"No I just don’t know if I can be punished for what I did What I had to do" Her body had gone completely stiff as she watched hi at hie I uessed there had to be other shifters out in the world, but none lived in Miauar shifters" There was a note of sadness in her voice that heso intently "Anyway, they were all doant and one of them pushed me too far He tried to rape h to be packless" She gave a derisive snort, but the pain etched on her face was deep

Rainer’s inner wolf flexed its claws, death and rage the only thing it saw for one brief htened alined her at the mercy of some asshole

She continued "That was my first lesson on what packless meant and why I’ve avoided shifters ever since Iwas forced to kill hi and just stared at Rainer, clearly waiting for his response

It took a long ht of her being targeted because she didn’t belong to a pack had his claws aching to unleash and lash out at anyone who’d ever tried to hurt her He’d never been so grateful that soer--was dead Whoever that as, he was damn lucky he wasn’t alive

"Rainer?" Estrella’s soft voice brought him back to reality Her eyes ide as she stared at hi was erratic and he had to force his inner wolf back down Though he couldn’t see hied to a darker shade of green, revealing his wolf--which explained the way she atching hi him," he finally said "Whoever he was, he was likely packless or a lone wolf by choice Shifter violence against fe all the different species I’m sorry you ever had to deal with any of that I e’d o Hell, I wish you’d had your parents or so a lone female shifter was hard and he hated that she’d been by herself for so long No wonder she’d been so wary of hi so arrogant

A small smile touched her lips "Everyone has crap to deal with and even though I ood life Trust me, it could have been a lot worse I’ve seen what happened to some of the kids in the foster syste his ar the feel of her lush body pressed against his She wasn’t alone anymore and he desperately wanted to be the one to protect her Even if things didn’t work out between theht killed him and he kneithout a doubt it would be because she pushed hiht be a wolf, but she was now under his pack’s protection There was no doubt his Alpha would welcoht now, Rainer just needed to convince her to stay with hio to her friend "Coht kiss on her forehead

Estrella sighed and nuzzled her face against his chest "You’ll fight dirty if I say no, won’t you?"

He s her sweet scent "I can think of plenty of dirty things I’d like to do right now"