Page 33 of Predator

The wolves of Winter Creek are going to look for one of their own.

Well, not all of them.

“I’m a wolf now,” I remind my mate as I face off against him in the kitchen. It’s shortly after Tristan and I finished cleaning up the breakfast that Kirk prepared, right when the three guys were getting ready to leave me and Eleanor behind.

I get Eleanor. She’s not actually a wolf.

I am.

“Come on, Luc. Let me come. I can help.”

Lucas thins his lips. If I wasn’t so annoyed with him, I’d marvel at just how kissable they are—and crap. I’m fantasizing over my mate even as he dips his head, a stray curl falling forward, curving toward his eyebrows.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that.”

Yes, he can. “Lucas?—”

“Can you track?”

What? “Well, no?—”

“What about scents? Can you pick out one and follow it?”

Damn him. “Not yet?—”

“It’s not a patrol, Fallon. It’s a search for a she-wolf who knows these woods better than almost anyone in town.”

Translation: you’ll never find her.

He’s protecting me again. I know that’s what he’s doing. Jade is conveniently missing, there hasn’t been a sign of Remy or any of my grandmother’s witches since the full moon, and his little dip there in the river proved that the curse hasn’t completely been broken—which means that the witches are probably still plotting.

Is that why the other wolves are determined to track down Jade? Because she might have somehow gotten caught in the crosshairs?

There are other dangers that could be out there. Living in New York, I’ve seen how dark some people can get. Just because non-supers don’t have powers, that doesn’t mean they can’t hurt Jade if they catch her off-guard. And what about other supes? In a bid to educate me about his world, Lucas told me about ferals—and rogues. Broken wolf shifters and hungry vampires, quite a few have found their way to Winter Creek over the years.

The protectors eliminated them as soon as they could, proving their worth to the townsfolk, and though Lucas doesn’t come out and say it, I think he’s worried that Jade’s disappearance is supe-related.

He’s also careful not to let me know he’s not so sure I really caught a familiar scent on the breeze before I shifted for the first time.

What about scents…

He’s the Alpha. If there was a peppery scent on the wind that belonged to a person and not, like, a plant or something, he would’ve caught it, too. And maybe he was too distracted by me turning into a wolf and then attacking him, but he’s a protector. We were both naked, and his beast had been in control moments before I scented it. If he had, the Lucas I know would never have let that go.

I asked him about it. During our trek back to the pack house from his cabin, I mentioned that I could’ve sworn I smelled something that triggered a memory so fleeting, it was gone the instant I went wolfy.

He looked worried, then admitted he knew nothing about it. He promised to look into it, but since it had already been two weeks and no one else had mentioned it, it was a lost cause and I told him to forget it.

If only I’d been able to as well…

That’s not why I want to go back out into the woods, though. If being part of the pack means I get to do chores now, what about being a shifter? Shouldn’t I get to go out and search?

Not according to Lucas.

“Are you telling me I have to stay behind? I demand.

“Because you’re my mate, I’m asking you to.”

Oh, Luc. So damn slick, aren’t you? He already knows me well enough to tell that I’ll chafe against one of his orders. But if he asks me? How can I say no?

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