Page 3 of Lost Fate

I position myself against the log. I squat down, getting a good grip right next to the wolf’s body. I try the weight...

Fuck. It’s big.

“Okay. One. Two…”

I don’t say three.

The tree is enormous. I strain, lifting the massive amount of wood and whatever else is inside this thing, and grunt… But it moves.

“Go!” I bark.

The wolf scrambles. He pulls himself out, and I drop the tree, which makes a resounding thud as it slams back into the ground.

I turn. “Well. That wasn’t so bad.”

The wolf is standing. I see the second, though, that the blood loss takes over. He sways. Then, he collapses.

I look over his body. He definitely took some kind of bump to the head. He has a lump that’s soft to the touch, and while I’m hopeful it isn’t some kind of brain damage, I’m not sure.

Shifters are pretty resilient. It takes a lot to take us down, but being whacked in the head by a tree that probably weighs more than a house isn’t exactly a situation where anyone is going to walk away easily.

I have to take him back to my cabin. I could probably take him to the clinic, but if I do that, then the enforcers will probably circle him and take him somewhere, especially if he’s not from Oakwood pack.

The strange feeling prickles down my spine again. Well. If I’m following my gut… Decision made.

I don’t want them to do that. Not yet. Instead, I make the call to take him with me.

Gently, I situate the wolf until he’s on my shoulders. His feet dangle from either side of my body, and I take one deep breath to make sure he’s there. With the wolf across my back, I stand.

I know I’m strong. Lifting the tree was clearly in my wheelhouse. I’m stronger than any female wolf, and stronger than most males. After fighting the crocodile shifter in the cage fight in Denver, I’ve been trying to figure out exactly how strong I am.

The only wolf stronger than me, so far? Thorne, my alpha.

So, lifting an injured wolf is no problem. As I walk back toward my place, I notice something.

Finally, for the first time in days, the wind has stopped.

The strange, itching feeling in my mind diminishes. As I tromp through the woods, the wolf slung across my back, I realize that I feel settled. Grounded.

And like whatever just happened was absolutely meant to happen.

My cabin is eerily quiet, but that’s probably best. I don’t really want the crowd of girls around me while I’m fireman-carrying an unconscious wolf into the house. Honestly, it’s a 50/50 chance that they would tell the enforcers… or try to flirt with him. He doesn’t need that, at the moment.

Carefully, I tuck him into my bed. When he wakes up, he’ll shift back into his human form… I think.

Poor guy. He’s bleeding from that head wound still, but as I pass my fingers over it, I think that it looks a little better. That’s good.

I get my first aid kit, cleaning up the cut on his head as best I can. It’s definitely improving. Then, I settle back.

I’ll be here when the wolf wakes up. Something tells me that would be the right move.

I don’t know this wolf, and I don’t know why he survived that tree, but… for whatever reason, the universe wants us together.

So, together is where we’ll be.

Chapter 2

Leander

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