Deacon - Nicholas Bella Page 0,44

to be peculiar creatures, especially those who were wolves. As fierce as the males in many cases and some even more vicious. But delicate and sensitive at the same time, and that wasn’t even taking into account their timely, monthly mood swings. In any case, women and young men were making me a lot of money in my business. I owned a brothel, high-end, that catered to the rich who valued their privacy. It was a gentleman’s establishment on the surface where men could gather to smoke, drink, play games, and converse. But in the back rooms, they could also take pleasure in the flesh. That was why the two women were here, to become two of my courtesans.

“Have you no other desires to work elsewhere? You’re women, surely you have skills in other venues. Certainly, you could work in a bakery, as a servant, or as a seamstress?”

She lowered her head. “Work is hard to find, Sir.”

Ahh, I saw now. I chuckled. “Does your friend here know… about you?” I asked. They had mentioned being friends for a year. I was sure in all that time, Julie must have realized something was different about Charlene. And what happened on the nights when the moon was full?

The two women looked at each other, then back to me. Charlene spoke. “She does. It’s because I can hunt for animals that we have survived this long at all. No pack will take us and Julie will not leave my side. If you also refuse, all we ask is for safe passage through your territory.”

“Tell me, how did you become a lone wolf?” I asked. I was curious because she was quite beautiful and I couldn’t imagine a pack not wanting to keep her.

Charlene looked down, a sadness coming over her.

“Tell me,” I pressed.

She looked up at me and I could tell she was trying not to cry. “Another wolf pack destroyed mine. I barely escaped with my life. We were small and lived in a tiny village in Ireland. They were three times our size; we were no match. I would have died if I hadn’t had luck on my side. I managed to stab the wolf who wanted to rape me in his neck with a broken piece of pottery. I ran and didn’t stop running until I was safe.”

I nodded, understanding exactly how unfortunate that situation was. “And you?” I asked Julie.

“I left my husband who’d rather beat me than love me,” she said proudly. “I met Charlene while we were both at an inn begging for food.”

I could only imagine the things both of these women had to do to survive. One thing I was certain, though, Charlene didn’t let any man take advantage of them. I wondered how much blood was on their hands?

“Can you help us?” Charlene asked.

I’d been alive for over a century, and my standing as Capo was one of great value to the pack as my businesses ensured of financial power. However, I could not make the decision to induct a lone wolf into our pack as that was the decision of the Alpha alone. I sighed.

“Please!” Charlene gasped and grabbed my hand with both of hers, kissing my fingers. “Please take me in. I will surely die if you don’t. We barely escaped alive from the last pack who refused me.”

The terror in her voice was alarming, but I knew that wolf packs could be very brutal when it came to wolves not made by that pack’s Alpha or born into the pack. For an Alpha to even consider taking in a lone wolf, that wolf must be exceptional in some way. Rich, perhaps, a socialite in some way. Strong and powerful in their own right or with a skill the pack needed. Charlene, though beautiful, had nothing my Alpha would want. Especially, since he wasn’t that fond of having a lot of women in the pack.

However, she did have something I wanted. The one thing I felt like my life was missing, and that was a legacy. Having children raised your status within the pack, earned you extra favor from the Alpha. I was already a Capo, but I had loftier goals. I wanted to become a Beta Capo, and if I could produce children, natural-born wolves, which the pack so desperately needed and wanted, it would make me an even more valued member. Charlene might present such an opportunity. She did have some great child-bearing hips.

I sighed and sat back in