Page 73 of Hunted

I study Bennett as I think through the reasons for my distraction.

Ever since I first picked up that wolf’s scent, I’ve struggled to focus. “His scent.”

“You know it?” He cocks his head.

“No.” I think about it a little longer. “Yes. Maybe.” I shake my head. “I don’t know.”

He nudges me toward Colton, Warren, and the wolf. “Then let’s find out for sure.”

I keep sniffing, but I’m as confused as I was before. It isn’t often I don’t recognize a scent I’ve heard before. This one feels familiar. But it isn’t. Even my wolf is confused.

The wolf meets my eye and snarls.

He’s not an alpha wolf. Dominant, but not as dominant as I am. I need answers from this wolf and for that to happen, he needs to be human.

“Shift,” I order him.

He tries to shrug off the command in my voice, squirming to get free from where Colton and Warren have him pinned. Neither of them moves, so the wolf goes nowhere.

I let my amiable nature slide away. This shifter is in Winter Lake.Myterritory. His presence poses a threat to Aerin, and he was responsible for setting up the ambush I walked into.

“Let him go,” I order Warren and Colton as I hold the struggling wolf’s gaze.

They hesitate for a beat, and then release the wolf.

The wolf immediately surges to its feet. That’s okay. I’m ready for him.

I grab the wolf by the scruff of his neck and slam him back to the ground, holding him there.

He struggles.

I snarl at him. “Shift.Now.”

He fights me, but slowly, his wolf submits. And even slower, he shifts back to his human form. Once the shift is underway, I take my hands from him, but I remain close by, ready to grab him if he tries to run.

His shift, triggered by my order, is slower than it would have been if he’d wanted to shift himself, and I wait, in a crouch, inches away from him, watching him closely.

He’s older than I thought he would be. Late thirties, maybe, with a few threads of gray woven through his shoulder-length dark brown hair. He wasn’t a big wolf, and he’s not a big man, about 5’7 but he has the lean, coiled strength that most shifters have.

One look into his dark green eyes and I know why his scent confused me so much. The last time I smelled it was over twenty years ago, when I was still a child.

Colton is staring at the man with enough shock that he must recognize him as well.

“You were a Raleigh,” I say.

“I amstilla Raleigh,” he spits out.

That’s not true. The Raleigh Pack died years ago. My former pack only exists in shifter history. So why does this guy, one of my former packmates, believe it does?

“You’re in my town. Why?” I demand.

He doesn’t respond.

Colton shifts and approaches, standing beside me to stare down at the man. “He won’t be here alone, Mack. There’s no way he dug those traps on his own.”

“I know,” I say, not taking my eyes off the man as I fumble for a name I once knew.

I haven’t stopped listening for any other wolf close by. Neither would have Bennett. This felt like a trap because it was one, and I have a feeling it hasn’t sprung shut yet.

---