Pack

Chapter Twenty-Two

I blinked. How could one guy handle that many women? I supposed when you're king, you managed.

"And your son?" I nodded to the little boy, who looked an awful lot like Stephen.

"His."

"How many kids does he have?"

"All of them?" her tone turned bitter. "Or only the important pups?"

"All of them, I guess."

"Seventeen. But Emma's pregnant now, and she's having twins, so in a couple months, nineteen."

My jaw dropped. "That's a lot of kids."

Her eyes looked me over. "Now that you're here, he'll have more. Better hope you give him pups though." She reached forward, grabbing the remote to turn down the volume. I noticed she had a mark on her wrist similar to the one I had from Logan on my neck. Stephen's mark no doubt.

"Why?" I asked, but I already knew the answer. He only wanted werewolves.

"Isabelle had three girls, and Stephen barely talks to her anymore."

"So why doesn't she leave?"

She gave me a funny look. "Why would she? She gets everything she wants here. Just because he pays her no attention, doesn't mean Stephen doesn't take care of her and her girls. If she leaves him, she'll have to support herself and her girls alone. At least here she has the rest of us."

"Can she date?"

Cleo arched an eyebrow. "What do you think? Stephen doesn't share."

"But you all have to share him."

She shrugged. "He's gorgeous, and he takes good care of us. It's a fair enough trade."

"Ugh. Not for me." I'd meant to say that more to myself, but it had flown from my lips before I could stop it.

"Do you think you have a choice? Stephen makes the decisions. If he doesn't want you anymore, then maybe you can leave, but until then, you're his."

This conversation was making me even more desperate to find a way out of here. I knew this kind of thing was natural for wolves in the wild, but I'd hoped werewolves had some type of human decency inside them.

I guessed not.

With a smile and a good-bye, I left Cleo and headed down the hall back to the stairs. They went both up, and down, since jumping off one of the balconies for escape didn't sound that appealing, I headed downstairs.

Getting to the main hallway, I stopped on the last step to listen. I didn't hear anyone, so I followed the runner to the front door.

The door started to open, so I quickly ducked down one of the side hallways. I heard Stephen talking to one of his guards about the council's arrival. Deciding I wanted to be anywhere but there, I quickly moved down the hallway. It ended at a door that led downstairs. I quietly opened it and slipped into the stairwell. Maybe I'd find a secret passageway that led off the territory. At the very least, I hoped to find a door that led outside.