Page 30 of Stealing His Human

His wolf growled in his mind, telling him to hurry the fuck up.

Swimming toward Brett, Nedrick caught Brett’s eye.

His mate smiled at him. “You about done?” Brett asked, arching a brow.

Nedrick nodded. “Yeah.” Taking a chance, he stated, “We’ll have to come back here after you get that cast off and do this again.” Hurrying on, Nedrick continued, “That way, you can swim properly.”

Brett swiped his tongue over his bottom lip before saying, “I’d like that.”

Relief and pleasure swirled through Nedrick in equal measure. His mate was amenable to thinking about a future together. Nedrick intended to build on that.

“Come on.” Nedrick lowered his feet to the bottom and held out his hand. “I brought soda and snacks.”

Brett sighed while taking Nedrick’s hand. “What I wouldn’t give for a beer.”

“Not while you’re on those strong meds,” Nedrick countered, drawing Brett after him. He didn’t mention that he might have a few buried under the towels in his bag.

“I’m not on the strong meds anymore,” Brett countered, smirking at him. “And I took the last of the antibiotics this morning.”

Nedrick frowned. “Aren’t you in pain?” He didn’t like that idea.

Shrugging, Brett admitted, “A little, but it’s manageable.” When Nedrick went to open his mouth, his mate told him, “I’m not a fan of medication. Heard too many horror stories about people getting addicted to shit, and I never want to be one of those guys.” After a squeeze of his fingers, Brett released him. “Besides, I’ve seen Trina lift some heavy shit she shouldn’t be able to.” He smirked at Nedrick. “I wanna know if there are any other perks to being the mate of a werewolf than just increased strength.”

Freezing, Nedrick watched Brett continue toward their blanket. Even his mate’s enticing ass couldn’t get him to move. His brain seemed to be totally stuck.

Brett reached the blanket and flopped back onto it, evidently having gotten pretty comfortable with being naked around him. “Well?” he called. Patting the blanket beside him, he asked, “You gonna tell me? Youarea werewolf, too, right?” Brett cocked his head and furrowed his brows. “Or are you going to tell me I’m nuts, and I got it all wrong?”

Slowly, Nedrick started forward. His brain began processing again, and he took in the amused expression on Brett’s handsome features. Disbelief filled him, beating back his arousal just a little.

Dropping to the blanket beside Brett, Nedrick squinted at him. “You believe in werewolves?” he whispered. “How? Why?” Then Nedrick shook his head quickly, lifting his palm out. He certainly didn’t want Brett to get the idea that he was going to go with his last option. “We call ourselves wolf shifters,” Nedrick revealed. “Not werewolves, but how did you find out about us?”

Brett nodded slowly. “Okay. Wolf shifters. Makes sense since it wasn’t a full moon when we saw Preall change.” His tone sounded musing.

“You saw Preall change?” Nedrick jumped on that. “When? How? What happened?” Shocked, he mumbled, “Why didn’t he tell me?”

“Because Preall doesn’t know we saw him,” Brett told him, scoffing softly. “Not the kinda thing you bring up over a coupla beers, right?” Grabbing a soda, Brett waved it in the air and stated, “Hey, Preall, man. We saw you change into a wolf last Tuesday night. Wanna tell us about it?” Smirking as he refocused on Nedrick, Brett shrugged. “See what I mean. Some shit’s secret for a reason. Besides, he’s not hurtin’ anyone.” He narrowed his eyes as he mused, “Unless you count the bite scar on Trina’s shoulder. Then we noticed the same on Jason and Deke’s shoulders when they went swimming, so we figured their partners were ones, too. Does that scar turn you into a werewolf, uh, wolf shifter, too?”

Gods, so many questions, even as he’s so very accepting. Where to even start?

Right. Safety first.

“Okay,” Nedrick whispered. “First off, who iswe? And where did you see Preall shift?”

Chapter Twelve

From the look on Nedrick’s face, Brett knew he’d gobsmacked the guy. He grinned, figuring he wasn’t the only one who had a little explaining to do.

“So, got any beer?” Brett teased.

To Brett’s surprise, Nedrick reached over, grabbed the backpack, and rummaged around inside. He drew out two bottles of some IPA that Brett didn’t recognize. After popping the cap off both, Nedrick handed him one.

Brett placed his unopened can of soda aside and took a swig. “Huh,” he murmured, staring at the label. “Not bad.” Then he inhaled deeply, let out the breath, and revealed, “Tyler, Tabatha, and I were walking home from the library late at night last fall. There’s a large nature park we have to walk through to get to our dorms. We saw Preall down one of the narrower side paths. We almost shouted to him, but then we saw him take off his shirt.” Brett paused, staring at Nedrick. When the man nodded, he continued. “As we watched, Preall stripped the rest of his clothes, tucked them into the bushes, and turned into a wolf.”

Scoffing, Brett muttered, “Tyler put his hand over Tabatha’s mouth because she nearly screamed.” He took another swig of his beer before eyeing Nedrick. “Then the wolf jumped into a pile of leaves that had been blown up against a tree trunk. It rolled around, waving its legs in the air like a dog.”

Chuckling, Brett shook his head. “Funniest damn thing I ever saw, especially knowing that the animal had once been Preall. I mean, the guy’s big and friendly, but he can be pretty serious and intense, too. Once the wolf disappeared into the underbrush, we rushed to my dorm room, since I’m in a private one.” Holding Nedrick’s brown-eyed gaze, Brett admitted, “We vowed not to tell anyone, but to keep watch. We started noticing things after that... about Preall and Trina. His devotion to her. Her bite scar. Normally, he calls her love, but every once in a while, he’ll use the term mate.” Tipping his beer bottle in Nedrick’s direction, Brett added, “Just like you do to me.” Seeing the questions and concern in Nedrick’s eyes, Brett quickly added, “And no, we kept our vow. We’ve never told a soul.”

Brett hummed quietly as he recalled his, Tyler, and Tabatha’s whispered conversation at the fish fry the prior evening while Nedrick had been deep in conversation with Preall. “They’re the ones that reminded me about themateterm and said that the care you’ve been showing me reminds them of how Preall treats Trina.” After a second of hesitation, Brett met Nedrick’s gaze again. “So?”

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