Page 79 of Fated to the Feral Wolf

But she just smiled, sickly sweet as poison, and swayed toward him. “Ooh, big bad alpha thinks he’s got a hold on the little she-wolf.” She ran her hands up his chest, and he froze, a deer in the headlights under her fingertips. “But I’ve got news for you. It could begold fucking platedand I wouldn’t touch it again with a ten-foot pole. The asshole it’s attached to isn’t my style.” She gave him a little shove backward, then stormed down the hallway.

“Those two are going to be endless trouble, aren’t they?” Dirge murmured as we watched him watch her walk off.

“Either that, or they’re going to kill each other,” I agreed, concern about the night growing again as I watched them dance around each other again.

It was starting to look like my inner hussy was going to be disappointed tonight, because we were going to be on babysitting duty.

The event was actually lovely.They’d chosen an indoor-outdoor party space, though most of the guests were milling around outside chatting under the twinkle lights or gyrating on the dance floor. The music was okay, but not what I’d have chosen. The breeze carried away many of the overwhelming scents, the fresh pine from the woods cleansing as well as soothing.

The food was good too. The waiters had just handed me some sort of seafood things that were too fancy for me to be able to pronounce, but I ate two of them with gusto.

“Do you want to dance?” Dirge asked as we set our empty plates on a passing waiter’s tray, his breath tickling my ear as his arms went around me.

“Mm, yes and no?”

“And why is that?”

I sighed, watching as Leigh danced with a tall, brooding alpha male from Pack Timberwood. He was handsome enough, I supposed, but not at all her type. Meanwhile, Gael was knocking back hard liquor like it was water and pretending he couldn’t see her.

We really didn’t need a multipack altercation added to the pile of shit we were already trying to climb out of.

“Your friend is a grown woman, and while she might bluster in private, I don’t imagine she’d ever do anything to hurt Brielle or Pack Blackwater’s reputation.”

“You’re right,” I said with a sigh, leaning back into his warmth.

A raindrop splattered right on my nose, but before I could wipe it away, another hit my cheek. Then my hair, and then it was like someone opened up the floodgates. Good-natured screams and squeals rang out as people made a mad dash for the indoor space.

I was laughing as I pulled Dirge along, not really all thatconcerned. Although, I didn’t want to look like a drowned rat either.

The indoor space felt cramped after our freedom, and within ten minutes, the many clashing scents and alpha pheromones were already getting to me.

I had been slowly edging us toward the back door, preparing myself for an early escape as soon as the party started to wind down, when a quick burst of cold air hit the back of my neck, and a too-familiar scent blasted me.

My pulse pounded, and the whole world seemed to narrow as I spun.

“Shay? Are you okay?” Dirge’s voice sounded far away, as if he were yelling down a tunnel.

Hewas here, and I was not even close to okay.

So I ran.

FORTY-EIGHT

Dirge

One minute, we were holding hands and making small talk, pretending like we weren’t working our way through the crowds toward the exit, and the next minute, a lightning bolt of emotion hit me dead center in my chest, so strong it nearly knocked the breath out of my lungs.

Before I could even process what had happened or why, Shay dropped my hand and bolted like someone had just shot a starter’s pistol. I tore after her as she deftly wove through the crowd, nearly bowling a few people over in the process. I wondered if Gael had finally snapped and torn some poor schmuck’s head off for Leigh grinding on them on the dance floor. But no. We passed Leigh—still grinding and impossible to miss in that fire-engine-red dress—and I followed Shay straight out the small side door and into the torrential downpour outside.

But she hit that wall of water and didn’t hesitate. In one stride, she went from my stunning mate in the purple dress that I planned to peel off her with my teeth to the tawny wolf who landed in a full-speed run.

My own wolf rose to the surface just as quickly, determined to stay with her, find out what had set her off.

That tuxedo was probably very expensive,I thought with fleeting regret as I tore after her on four paws. I couldn’t say how long she ran or if she even knew where we were going. Fuck, were we even still on Johnson City pack lands? No idea.

But still, she raced on tirelessly through the woods. The waxing moon was past its apex before she finally slowed, her wolf’s sides heaving as she staggered to a stop, head hanging low. I gave her space, stopping a dozen feet away before yipping softly to let her know I was there.

Shay was so exhausted, she didn’t even look up. She must have known it was me, for there was no visceral pain left in my chest.Herpain, I’d realized somewhere along the run through the towering, endless pines. Our bond had progressed again, slowly filling in the cracks. That fractured bond was no joke, for it had taken… quite a lot of physical contact in order to progress even this far. Or perhaps it was her wolf, calling out to mine in her moment of terror that had done it. I couldn’t say.

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