Page 4 of The Patron Saint of Timber Hollow

Green eyes flick over my shoulder before refocusing on me.

"You'll have to tell me, Tiny." Saint rasps before he steps towards Jay and me, grabs my neck, and kisses me full on the mouth. Immediately, he's demanding entrance, running his tongue along the seam of my lips. I open for him, sucking on his tongue,swallowing his groan. He tastes like tequila and cinnamon. Hesmellslike chasing the snow through the trees.

Jay's hands roam over my ribs and down my hips while Saint kisses me, my boyfriend's mouth leaving hot kisses against my neck and shoulders. I feel like a rubberband about to snap.

And then, too soon, the kiss is over, and Jay's husky voice is again in my ear. "So, who's better?" Saint's green eyes are still on us, onme,as he sips his drink, once again leaning on the bar, the line of his hips exposed.

"I'm not sure. Why don't you kiss each other and see what you think?" I sass, laying my head on Jay's shoulder, watching them through my lashes, taking a sip of my cocktail through a straw.

Jay chuckles, and Saint laughs, draining the rest of his drink. "I'll do anything for twenty bucks." The joke doesn't match Saint's intense green eyes. I don't know how I know that, but I do.

"Twenty bucks is twenty bucks!" Jay agrees, pressing a kiss to the side of my head.

I see the doors to the kitchen open just as the music cuts, and Ivy hops on the bar, shouting, "Time to sing for the birthday girl! Ya'll better do it, too!" She orders, pointing at the room with the soda gun. Cook emerges with agiantsheet cake, a pyrotechnics dream-worthy sparkler-candle thing on top with a fondant crown.

When the room chimes up with the first words of the happy birthday song, the three of us, along with everyone else. Angel doesn't seem thrilled by the cake, but I think it looks good. Cook serves up slices, drinks are refilled, and the playlist starts again.

The night goes on, Jay and I dance and kiss. I see Dante and Ivy sneak out of the room sometime later, laughing as Jay swings me around.

3

Cinnamon

Saint

Jay carried Artemis upstairs an hour ago. You don't have to be a genius to know what they are doing up there, even without wolfy hearing.

He makes her scream with pleasure, his name rolling from her lips over and over again. Even just the distant sound of her pleasure is enough for me to get off to. I don't know if I've ever wanted someone like I want Artemis Hunt.

Fuck.

When Jay emerges from his room, descending the steps with a satisfied, satiated look, it's confirmation I didn't need.

Don't be jealous.My wolf grumbles, cinnamon fur bristling.

I'm working on it.I snap back.

"Hey, man. What are you watching?" Jay asks, settling into the couch beside me, water bottle in hand.

"Hockey. 4-1," I reply, popping a piece of popcorn into my mouth. Jay grunts in return, attention firmly on the screen before us. At least twenty minutes pass before he says anything besides random commentary on the players.

"So, is it a crush, or do you just want in her pants?" Jay's question cuts me off guard, and immediately, that thought—that oldfearof being kicked out of the pack rears its ugly head.

"I'm not sure what you mean," I say, choosing my words carefully.

"I see the way you watch her. You can be honest with me, Saint," my Alpha says, but I don't immediately speak. I debate lying,but the thought of doing that to my Alpha makes my chest ache. Even if he's going to kick me out for telling the truth.

"It's not just getting into her pants," I admit. "I wouldn't call it just a crush either, though."

The admission makes me hang my head in shame. Immediately, my thoughts turn to packing away my things and how long it would take to get out of Timber Hollow. It's not the first time this has happened to me. My mother entertained the Alpha of her pack along with another wolf. When the Alpha found out, he killed the other wolf. A few months later, I was born. I'd been raised as the Alpha's son my entire life, trained like Jay to take over in my father's place.

Until my mother told us that I was not the Alpha's son. She'd been pregnant when my father died, hid it, and then continued hiding it for seventeen years. The day our Alpha– the wolf I thought was my father found out, I was kicked out of the pack. Banished. I haven't heard from her since, either.

I don't even know the name of the wolf who sired me.

Jay just nods like this is exactly what he had expected. "Artemis is hard to get over. I get it."

Looks like Jay's getting ahead of the problem.Me.