Wolf Women (The Madison Wolves Book 10) Read Online Free PDF

recommend you start with Michaela, but if you want human perspective, you can ask Michele. If you want wolf perspective, you are better asking me than perhaps your mate."
    "This is very kind," I said.
    "We have two we are going to talk to you about tonight," Michaela said. "First, has Portia taught you about taking your throat."
    "That's where she bites me here?" I gestured. Michaela nodded. "Actually, Elisabeth taught me."
    "All right," Michaela said. "If you have questions, you may ask."
    "Donald doesn't do that to me," Michele said. "I do it to him. I am the dominant in our relationship."
    "Oh. Wow."
    She smiled.
    "There is another tradition," Michaela said. "It is possible Portia doesn't know this one, and right now, Lara and some of the enforcers are talking to her about it. It is not something you need to worry about tonight, but you need to know about it. Do you understand the difference between being mated and being married?"
    "Portia explained."
    "Well then, you are mated, but not married," Hadley explained. "And perhaps you will not become married. But if you do, we have the same traditions as humans do, more or less anyway. But we perhaps have a few extras."
    "Sometime in the last few days prior to your wedding, there is something called Bride Ransom Night," Michaela said. "The bride is kidnapped and held for ransom."
    "What?"
    * * * *
    The three of them spent quite some time explaining. Per a request, I held my comments back until they were done.
    "That's-"
    "Tradition," Michaela said. "I learned when there was a group of wolves at my door, trying to quietly sneak into the room. Lara hadn't told me. No one had told me."
    "But... they would want to torture me?"
    "For humans, it is a little different," Hadley said. "For a wolf, it is a test of strength, an opportunity for her friends and closest family to show how strong she is, so her mate knows he is getting a powerful partner, someone strong enough to protect their young."
    I looked between them. They were all watching me.
    "If this is the tradition, I believe that Portia and I will be eloping."
    Michaela looked pained, but it was Hadley who spoke. "There are female wolves who refuse the tradition. It is run by her maid of honor and whomever the maid of honor invites. She may simply tell her maid of honor, 'no ransom night'. Although from time to time, the maid of honor does it anyway."
    I narrowed my eyes.
    Hadley went on. "When the bride refuses ransom night sometimes it is fine. The marriage proceeds. At other times, the groom's family may refuse to allow the marriage. Sometimes grooms back out of a marriage offer if the bride is unwilling to accept this tradition."
    "But-"
    She held up her hand. "I know. I do not think like a human, but I understand intellectually that this seems barbaric to you. And if we treated you like a wolf, it would be barbaric. Even we would feel it was barbaric, because you are not a wolf, and we would never treat a human that way. And so, with a human, it is symbolic."
    "More or less," Michele said.
    "Well, I'm not doing it," I stated firmly.
    "Zoe, you need to listen to us," Michaela said. "That is your choice, but you need to listen to us first, and you need to avoid any decision until you have thought about it. And then we're going to talk to you again."
    "You want me to do this? You said it was horrible, and you want me to do this?"
    "For me, it was horrible because I didn't understand, and then because I was very, very stubborn," she said.
    "But Zoe, it was very, very important to the pack," Hadley said. "It is very important for the alpha's mate to honor our traditions. Lara would have had a very difficult time elevating Michaela to alpha if Michaela hadn't honored a tradition she can never fully understand."
    "I would not be the alpha's mate," I said.
    "No, but you would be an enforcer's mate. Worse, this is an enforcer who did not grow up in this pack, and there are some who still eye her with distrust."
    "She's entirely