Page 4 of Cruel Mate

“Maybe I’ll come find you tomorrow after I’ve had a good eighteen-hour sleep,” Zander chuckled, hoping it would be enough to ease whatever was going on in her mind.

Though she didn’t look entirely convinced, Sandy did smile. “I’d ask you to promise, but you werewolves are so bad at shit like that.”

“Ouch!” Zander scoffed, placing his hand over his heart. “That hurt.”

Sandy shrugged her shoulders and took a step back. “Your loss, I guess.”

With that, she turned and started to head back in the direction of the bonfire. The bounce in her step told Zander he wasn’t going to be the last man she tried tonight. He wished her the best of luck. After all, women had their needs, too.

As for his needs, right now what he needed was to find the damn she-wolf that scent belonged to, because every time the breeze kicked up again, his wolf tried to rip itself free of his flesh. She had some serious explaining to do about why the mere scent of her drove him so mad.

Maybe it was because he had been away from Nightstar so long, but its effect on him felt far worse than ever it had before he had left.

He’d managed to push it to the back of his mind for the entire mission overseas, but now he was back, and he had to get to the bottom of why this one she-wolf always seemed to linger on his mind after he’d smelled her.

What was so special about a pack messenger, anyway?

Chapter 2 - Layla

Breathing the familiar scent of her pine forest home, Layla sighed with relief. Though she enjoyed her job as a messenger between the packs in their little corner of the world, this latest trip to Blackwell Falls had been the longest she had ever taken.

It was still a miracle to her that wolves liked to do things the old-fashioned way when it came to passing on important information, but as her mentor had told her often, the general population of the world had no idea that supernaturals existed, and it was best to keep it that way. Sometimes it didn’t matter how careful you were when it came to technology; someone could always be listening.

Besides, before Karl Ryker’s untimely yet highly justified death, it had given Layla a chance to get away for a few days at a time. From him, from his cronies and from her-then boyfriend. Now, it was an excuse to forget everything and her lack of an actual life and just get out to experience the world.

“If you love it here so much now, why are you always so eager to be the first messenger on the job?” Darwin asked, his voice a low grumble.

She was so intent on the scents around her, the sounds of the crickets and other small animals chirping and rustling in her ears, that she had almost forgotten she wasn’t alone.

“You’ll understand it one day,” Layla insisted, keeping her eyes closed just a little longer. This was always her favorite part of her return, reacclimating with all the wonderful nature that Nightstar had to offer.

It was so quiet, so peaceful, not at all like the bustling cities and larger towns she was sent to on a monthly, sometimes even weekly, basis.

Packs didn’t often cross borders. They preferred to keep their territories private. But one thing could be agreed between them all—if they didn’t at least communicate a little to keep each other up-to-date on certain matters, they would all one day be sitting ducks for the humans.

Sure, werewolves were ten times stronger and faster than them, and there were other supernaturals besides, but humans outnumbered them all by more than ten to one, and that number grew yearly.

One could argue that the job she, Darwin, and a handful of other wolves across the world did was one of the most important.

And that made Layla feel special, too, even if Darwin didn’t quite see it that way. He’d understand one day, when he was older, she was sure. She’d taken her distant cousin under her wing the moment she had learned of his appointment, but she had yet to mold him into a proper messenger.

Real messengers loved their work—the travel, the social aspects, the freedom and getting to be a lone wolf for half of your life.

Darwin clearly hadn’t seen the beauty in all of that just yet.

“I’m sure,” Darwin scoffed, though his tone suggested that he didn’t quite agree. “What was so important that you had to high tail it to BWF at the drop of a hat, anyway?”

Layla didn’t answer. She stopped dead in her tracks, ears strained to listen.

Something just beyond hearing had caught her attention. As she listened, it grew closer, getting easier to hear. “Shhh!”

She placed her index finger over her lips and looked Darwin hard in the eye, warning him not to argue as he so often did. Young, weak and inexperienced as he was, he had a tendency to get himself into all kinds of trouble. It was incredible to her he hadn’t gotten himself killed just yet.

But for once, Darwin actually listened to her, and it was clear from the look on his paled face that he had heard it, too.

“Are we being followed?” he mouthed, and Layla gave a curt nod, gesturing for him to follow her quietly.

She had been looking forward to making it back to Nightstar in time for the monthly full moon bonfire. Nothing was about to spoil that, so she quickened her pace, hoping Darwin would have the good sense to keep up.

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