Page 1 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

ONE

Gael

We hadn’t even boarded the plane for Romania yet, and already I was anxious. Nervous energy thrummed under my skin that I couldn’t shake, no matter how hard I tried.

Wolves all learned relaxation techniques, ways to hold on to our control, keep our shift hidden from the humans. It was standard in our preteen years so that wolves didn’t start popping out in the middle of high school chem class. So, to be on the edge of that long-practiced control for no reason… well, it was rare.

I blew out a harsh breath, dragging in the scent of the Texas morning. The dirt smelled different here than in Alaska. Drier, even though we were probably about the same distance from the ocean. I shot a glance at the cloudless sky, sun blazing an almost angry circle just over the horizon.

An average day, with nothing to make me nervous. I tensed and released each muscle, starting at my feet, up my calves and thighs, and had made it all the way to my biceps by the time Kane clapped me on the shoulder.

“It’s that kind of day, is it?” He eyed my arm pointedly. He’dbeen my friend most of our lives, so he’d seen me work through this exercise enough times to spot it a mile off.

“Yeah, something’s gotten under my skin.”

“Someone, you mean?” My Alpha cocked an eyebrow at me questioningly.

I glared in response, and the asshole chuckled. “It’s going to work itself out. Just wait and see.”

Easy for him to say now that he was mated to the brilliant, demure, and lovely omega healer, Brielle. Meanwhile, I was trying to douse a stick of dynamite.

No, douse wasn’t the right word.

IlikedLeigh’s fire. She made me feel a spark I hadn’t ever felt before.

It was more like holding on to a stick of lit dynamite and hoping my hand didn’t get blown off. That was it.

“Reed is rounding up the girls, but they were supposed to be here five minutes ago,” Kane said casually, eyeing the waiting pack jet. The pilots were finishing up the preflight, which meant we should already be boarding.

“I’ll run and see what’s up.”

He nodded, but I could see hesitation in the way he ran his hand over the back of his neck. I’d known him too long to miss his tells.

“What is it?”

“I know you don’t want to go back home. We’ll make it as quick as we can, but I wanted to say it now, in case I don’t get a chance when we’re there. Thank you. I know you’re only doing this out of loyalty to me.”

Shit.

Was I that obvious?

I had family baggage a mile wide back in the old country, and he was right. For anybody but Kane or Reed, I wouldn’t ever step back on “home” soil. I liked Alaska just fine, thanks. In no small part because it was nearly as geographically faraway from Romania as one could get, aside from a tiny island in the ocean somewhere.

“Don’t sweat it, Alpha. I’ll be fine.”

The grin I tried to give him was more of a grimace, but I covered it by jogging off before he could needle me with questions.

The longer he was high alpha, the more honed his senses grew, and he was already too adept at seeing behind the hard shell I portrayed to everyone.

I jogged into the building where we’d been put up by the Johnson City pack, noting with dismay that the rest of our contingent wasn’t even in the hallways. It was a ghost town when it should have been a flurry of activity.

As I stalked down the hall, a sound from one of the rooms stopped me in my tracks.

Was someone vomiting?

The retching sound came again, and I quickened my pace.

My nose knew whose room I stood outside without having to check. I could smell Leigh, her coffee-and-cream scent pungent and mouthwatering even with a solid wood door between us. Goddess, every time I got a fresh hit, I felt like a junkie, itching to get my hands on her for round two.

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