Page 3 of Primal

“T-Tyler?”

I blinked, and the wolf was gone, replaced by a very buff, very naked Tyler. Blood dripped from his chin and smeared across his chest. His arm had opengashes from the cat’s claws. I was in shock. I was having a traumatic response. Seeing things.

He held his hands up, mimicking my gesture. “Riley, it’s okay,” he said in his deep rumble. The one that used to turn me on. Now, I was freaking the fuck out. “Don’t run. I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

For one interminable moment, I remained frozen, unable to move. Then the impulse from my brain reached my feet.

I jumped to my feet and ran as if being chased. After seeing a mountain lionanda wolf, maybe I was.

1

CODY

“We have a problem.”I stalked into our alpha’s home office, removing my hat as I entered.

Tyler followed behind at a much slower pace.

Rob Wolf was behind his desk and looked up from his computer. In a western snap shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a crease in his dark hair–with the cowboy hat that creased it on the corner of the desk–he appeared the quintessential rancher. No one but those in our pack knew he was also a shifter. And… fuck, maybe one young human.

Rob’s gaze slid from me to Tyler, then widened. “What the hell happened to you?”

We stood side-by-side in front of him. Tyler wore nothing but a pair of sweatpants I had in the back of my Jeep for emergencies. He bore gashes in his torso and was covered in other cuts, bruises, and dirt. There were a few twigs in his hair. He looked like he fell down a mountainside, which may have been better than what he told me really happened.

“Sit,” the alpha ordered, pointing to one of the empty chairs. “Hell, Tyler.”

Rob didn’t rush to get medical supplies. They weren’t needed. A quick scan of Tyler–even though he looked rough–was enough for Rob to know he was quickly on the mend.

Tyler dropped heavily into the leather chair. “Mountain lion. But I messed up. I’m really sorry.”

I was proud of him for admitting it, especially to his alpha, but an apology wasn’t going to solve the problem. Rob arched a brow. “Oh? Do we need to track an injured animal and put it down?”

I sighed and let it out. Let Tyler talk. He was nineteen, not six. I would stand by him and support him, but to be a man, to be awolf,he had to own his mistakes. Especially with our pack alpha and also his boss. This wasn’t stupid cow tipping or other teenage shenanigans. This was a big fucking deal.

“No, sir.” Tyler winced as he shifted in the seat.The cuts and bruises that had been on his body when I’d found him had healed quite a bit. The bleeding had stopped, and the smaller wounds had already disappeared. The perk of young wolf genes. “I was with Riley Abbott down by the river.”

The corner of Rob’s mouth tipped up. I had a feeling the alpha and his mate may have spent some timedown by the riveron a day off themselves. I had no doubt Tyler’d had sex with another shifter teen before, especially after a moon run. The topic wasn’t embarrassing or a big deal to any of us.

“A mountain lion must’ve been stalking us,” Tyler explained. “We were… distracted, and I didn’t get the scent early enough. Once I got a whiff, it was too late. He was already up on us. He attacked. I fought it but switched to wolf form.”

Rob’s eyes widened, but he stayed quiet. His gaze slid to me.

I nodded. He wasn’t seeking confirmation from me; no one would lie to their alpha. He was silently confirming what Tyler hadn’t said. Yet.

“So she knows? This Riley Abbott?” he asked. I’d seen Rob get riled, but it was rare. Just like me, we were known to keep calm in sticky situations. I didn’t run a pack, but I ran the only bar in Cooper Valley,and I dealt with shifters and humans partying, drinking, and burning off steam.

“She’s Kyle Abbott’s daughter,” I added. “He’s a deputy sheriff with Levi.”

Having a shifter as county sheriff came in handy on occasion.

“Right,” Rob said, making the connection.

Tyler nodded. “Yes. She saw me. Watched me fight and kill the mountain lion.”

“You said you weredistracted.I assume then that she’s your mate?” Rob wondered.

I hadn’t asked Tyler that. I’d been too focused on the fact that a girl he knew from high school now knew that my son was a shifter. Hell, had he found his mate? At his age, it would be lucky. I was forty, and I had never met mine. Tyler’s mother was a female who’d been on a moon run with me when we were barely older than Tyler is now. Clara was not my mate. In fact, she’d met hers only a few years later.

Tyler’s words pushed my thoughts aside. “Actually, I was distracted because she definitelyisn’tmy mate.”

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