Page 47 of Fated to the Feral Wolf

Brielle bit her bottom lip and looked over at me, the unspoken question hanging between us.

“I agree. This was not on you,” I said, holding her gaze the entire time.

She shuddered again, the two of us hemming her in until Kane returned to gently pry her from our grip.

“You should listen to your friends, baby. You’re in a position of power now. People always try to tear down those they see as above them. All you can do is lead well and surround yourself with good people.” He quickly smiled at the two of us. “And you’ve already done that.”

She nodded, going gratefully back into his arms.

That familiar pang started to hit me, but then I remembered. And when I turned, Dirge was there, eyes glued to me as if I were about to disappear. There was still a small distance between us—it was odd, knowing him as a wolf, but now having him standing before me all manly and muscled—distractingly so—and I was suddenly shy.

He stepped forward, hands clasped behind his back politely as he stopped in front of me. “May I escort you back to the plane? The assassin has been loaded, and Reed bagged up the knife for lab analysis as soon as we can secure a courier.”

I nodded and took his proffered hand. When our fingers laced together, something inside me settled ever so slightly into place.

THIRTY-TWO

Shay

After locating a courier, the world’s fastest shower, a plane ride, and Dirge inhaling about a dozen sandwiches later—he’d really missed human food while he was living as a wolf for three years—we landed on Ushagat Island.

It was lovely and serene, the wind whipping off the Alaskan Gulf bringing the taste of salt to my lips and the smell of grass to my nose as we stepped off the plane onto the undeveloped grassy knoll. The whitecaps on the sea couldn’t distract from the three imposing figures waiting for us.

They were the largest males I’d ever seen, broad through the shoulders and thickly muscled. Even their necks were as big around as one of my thighs. They each wore their hair buzzed on the sides with a bit of length on top and had deep, terra-cotta-toned skin.

The one in the middle stepped forward, extending a hand to Kane first with a wide smile. No one would have been remiss to call it slightly predatory, but it seemed like the man just couldn’t help it.

“Welcome to Ushagat Island. I am Finn, and these are my sleuth mates, Hudson and Dax.” He gestured as he spoke, andthe correct male nodded and stepped forward as they were named. Once the first round of handshakes was finished with Kane, they moved down the line.

Our travels and meetings with various leaders were starting to take on a familiar pattern, and I found myself bored but simultaneously acutely aware of Dirge’s presence at my shoulder as we waited to greet the three emissaries.

Heat radiated off him, even in this cool weather. He wore a shirt of Gael’s, plain black and stretched tight over the lean muscles of his chest. Reed had offered, but Dirge had shrugged off his more formal button-ups in favor of enforcer gear.

I could still see the shape of those muscles, both from my dream and from waking up in his arms a few hours ago. But somehow, it didn’t feel real yet. I’d just started to accept what life would be like going forward with a shifted mate, and it was like whiplash now that everything had turned on its head in a moment.

It was good, though. Overwhelming too. I let the side of my hand brush his, the barest touch, just to feel that energy flow between us. He smiled and cut a quick glance my way as he felt the slight touch.

But it was the return trace of his fingertips over the inside of my wrist that sent my heart hammering, my pulse racing in sheer, burningwant. Which was utterly ridiculous. Wrists weren’t sexy, and we’d had sex twice already. Dream sex, at least. So why did I feel like we were back to the beginning, like hormone-fueled teenagers in the early days of lust and exploration?

Mate bonds were wild. I suddenly had all-new empathy for what Brielle had gone through, not to mention all the stress of pack dynamics on top of these insane emotions. I cast her a quick glance, but she was smiling kindly and shaking the massive bear shifter’s hand as if this was what she did all day, every day.

Finn—no, Hudson—stepped up to shake my hand then, and I welcomed the distraction from my own untethered thoughts.

“Hello,” I murmured, extending my hand with a polite smile. I ignored the small growl from Dirge as Hudson returned the gesture with a nod.

“Lovely to meet you…?” He trailed off as our hands touched, but it was me who startled as a near-electric shock passed between us, and his eyes started to glow ominously.

Bears and wolves had some similarities, of course, but the sight of amber ursine eyes peering down into my soul made me want to hide behind Dirge like a big fat chicken. He wasother, and my wolf’s hackles were up at his unwelcome attention.

Dirge must have felt the same because, with supernatural speed, he flew between us, knocking Hudson’s hand from mine.

In my shock, I hadn’t even realized he was still holding it until the contact was severed, and it felt like the tight band around my chest released.

“You,” Hudson spoke, his tone guttural and deep with the influence of his bear as he looked eerily past Dirge to me. “You’re unbonded.”

“Umm,” I stammered, confused and concerned that he could even tell. Was he going to make an issue of it like Iaoin had? That hadn’t ended well.

I mean, nobody died, but that was a pretty low bar.

---