Page 13 of Wolf Duty

Approval glinted in the man’s eyes as he glanced at Mandy. He cleared his throat and addressed the room at large. “The lawyer who drafted these documents argues that the law gives Sonya Berg,” he shot Sonya a smile, “guardianship of her stepbrother, Karim Berg, because she has had an instrumental parental role in his life from the age of two, thereby covering many of his formative years. Furthermore, changing guardians while the pup is still young, and so close to the event of losing his father, would be detrimental to the child’s mental and emotional development.” Hope bloomed in Sonya’s heart, but then the elder continued, quickly killing it. “Therefore, the law clearly states that if Ms. Berg mates with a wolf and becomes pack, she will retain guardianship of Karim Berg until he reaches adulthood?—”

Dale banged his fist on the table. “Exactly. She has to marry someone in the pack.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Bay growled.

“She doesn’t,” the elder agreed.

Sonya’s head throbbed. She rubbed her temples. “I don’t understand. Am I or am I not Karim’s guardian?”

Bay took her hand in his. Since she expected the sizzle this time, she didn’t flinch. His blue-gray eyes watched her solemnly. “You are,” he said.

“As long as you mate with a wolf,” the elder added.

Dale threw up his hands. “Like I said. She will marry someone in the pack.”

“No,” Bay said again, pulling her closer. “She will marry me.”

What?

The throbbing in her head grew to full pandemonium, or maybe that was the noise coming from the rest of the pack behind her.

CHAPTER 8

Bay’s wolf ran through the forest bordering Sunbeam. They were looking for Karim, but the beast kept getting sidetracked by the smells of critters that didn’t live in the Marin Headlands. So far, they’d followed tracks of a wolverine, a pronghorn, a non-shifter wolf, and a fucking squirrel, which they had at home and shouldn’t have been distracting. The beast reveled in the snow and kept pouncing at imaginary things in the powder.

He’d tried his best to keep his animal brother focused, but finding Karim today, tomorrow, or next week had the same urgency for the wolf. It lived in the present and focused on whatever scents and sounds currently surrounded them. If it was thirsty, it looked for water. If it was hungry, it hunted for food. If it was tired, it searched for a safe place to rest.

Right now, it was focused only on tracking animals for fun.

And when it wasn’t running with its nose on the ground, the silly animal aimed its snout at the sky, delighted by the mingled scents of firs, pines, and spruces. As if it had never run in a forest before.

Impatient, Bay mentally sent his wolf an image of the sequoias north of the San Francisco Bay Area. The wolf ignored him.

Arek had led several full moon pack-runs in the giant redwood trees. Bay didn’t understand why the snow and average-sized trees of this forest enamored his wolf so much. They’d run through winter landscapes before. Although it had been a while since they’d run in animal shape. Maybe the beast’s senses were just overstimulated.

He could wrestle control of the body but risked pissing off brother wolf if he did. When the beast pouted, it sometimes didn’t fully share its senses with Bay. And he needed the two sides of his soul to work together right now.

Sending the beast an image of Karim, he tried to broadcast that they were running out of time.We need to find him.He needs help.

The wolf paused, one paw in the air, but then a rabbit dashed across its path. The beast put its snout to the ground and lost all thoughts but the one focused on catching the bunny.Fucking hell.

Bay made a vow to spend more time running as a wolf in the wild.

Luckily, these distractions happened only when no threats loomed. When they had to fight, man and beast operated in synchronous harmony no matter which shape they chose, human or wolf.

He cursed again. Chasing rabbits was not how he’d imagined spending his wedding day.

Actually, he’d never imagined a wedding day, but here they were. A twinge of a guilty conscience lingered when he thought about how he’d manipulated Sonya to agree to be his mate.

But being part of Arek’s pack must be better than having asshole Dale as alpha, even if it meant being married to Bay. Right?

As soon as they were back in the Bay Area, he’d ask Justice to send him on longer missions away from the pack house. Hopefully, his absence would soothe the misery being shackled to him caused Sonya.

The wolf stopped mindlessly pursuing the rabbit, slowed to a jog, and tuned in to Bay’s thoughts.

Mate, it growled.

Fucking hell and back again.

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