Page 8 of Rejected Wolf Mate

“What sort of questions did they ask you?” Jameson asked.

“How many people, what sort of defenses, how often Rand visited me.” I raised an eyebrow at him. He met my gaze without flinching. “I told them they were full of shit and their intel was years out of date, but they didn’t believe me. They said even if you hadn’t, I’d be good leverage.”

A look passed between all of them, as if they already had a suspicion as to who was responsible for the attack. The back of my neck prickled, and for a moment, I wondered if my entire story was about to be picked apart.

“Anyway, I managed to escape,” I said. “They didn’t expect me to put up much of a fight, so I managed to get out when they were bringing me food. I was so freaked out that I just ran with the plan of stopping at the first pack I came across.” I gestured vaguely. “Which happened to be this one.”

“Jeez,” Tannen mumbled. He glanced at Jameson. “Are you thinking…?” he trailed off, apparently not needing to finish his sentence. The alpha seemed to know what he meant.

“It’s likely,” Jameson answered. “But there’s only one way to know for certain.” The alpha came to stand in front of me. “I know you’ve been through a lot, and I wish I could wait to ask you some of these questions, but we don’t have that kind of time.”

“Jameson, give her some…” Rand trailed off when the alpha stared him down. He wasn’t happy about it, but he listened.

“Just a couple questions for now,” Jameson said, turning back to me. “First off, do you know where they were keeping you?”

I shook my head. “Somewhere westish of here, maybe a day or so out. I didn’t keep track of time, but I did run through the night.”

“As a wolf?”

“For a bit. Until my arm started hurting too much to run on it.’

“When they were interrogating you, did they give any names or mention anyone?”

I screwed up my face as if trying to remember. “They talked about a gray wolf a few times,” I said. “It sounded like he was their leader, but they didn’t say his actual name.”

At the words “gray wolf,” all of the men tensed. Shock rippled through them, flicking across their faces.

“I’m guessing that means something to you?” I said.

“It might,” Jameson hedged. “Are you sure they said Gray Wolf?”

I nodded.

“Fuck,” Rand muttered.

I tried to keep my face blank, not wanting to give away that I knew more than I was letting on. Instead, I furrowed my brow.

“Could one of you please tell me who this guy is?” I asked, glancing around.

“A dangerous criminal,” Tannen explained. “The kind of guy you don’t want to mess with. The Wolf’s Council just asked us to look into him, actually.”

My spine prickled. That was news to me. “He’s that dangerous?” I asked.

“Ignoring what his crew did to you, yes,” Tannen said. “The council’s tracked a few deaths to him, including a few in Aspen a few weeks ago.”

Multiple deaths? That didn’t make sense. There had only been the one.

“If he’s going after people like Astrid, he’s escalating,” Rand growled. “We have to do something.”

“We will,” Jameson promised. He looked over at me. “Don’t worry. You’re safe here.”

Something uncomfortably close to guilt began to squirm in my stomach.

Chapter 4 - Rand

I kept my eyes glued on Astrid, barely able to register the fact she was here. She’d cut her hair, but beyond that, she might as well not have aged a day. Her slender frame complemented her shorter size and her heart-shaped face, though her figure still had soft curves. Even bruised and battered, she held her shoulders back, her blue eyes simmering with an almost fiery defiance that had always turned me on.

I wasn’t going to lie. I was thrilled to see her again, more so than I’d expected. So was my wolf. It had been years since I had smelled that scent—an enticing citrus and mint—but having it in the same room again brought up all sorts of old memories I hadn’t realized I still had. My wolf pressed at me, wanting to get closer to her, to rub against the shifter he had once thought might be his mate. It had been years, but that didn’t matter to him. He still wanted her with that same urgency. The more I looked at her, the more I realized that I did, too.

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