Page 16 of Gavin

“That’s a good idea,” Merrix said.

“I’ll be safe, I promise,” Aeryn said.

Midas and Maya called for the pride to enjoy the full moon and hunt, and the large crowd dispersed into the woods to shiftand head out. It was a warm night with a light breeze, which would be helpful in hunting the game in their territory.

Merrix and Aeryn moved away for privacy, but Gavin didn’t care if anyone saw him naked. Shifters were pretty casual about nudity, but if he was mated, he wouldn’t want his female stripping where anyone else could see her either, so he understood Merrix wanting her out of sight.

Gavin stretched once he was in his shift, his cat chuffing in his head.

All day he’d been feeling strange, like something big was going to happen or a change was coming. He couldn’t place it but it had been making him nuts. His cat was on edge and now that he was in his shift, the beast wanted to run away immediately.

Hell no, we have to stay with Aeryn.

His cat let out a disgruntled growl.

Aeryn padded over with a purr and swatted at Gavin as little Seraphina let out a happy giggle as Merrix lowered her to pet her mother.

“Have a good hunt, you two,” Merrix said.

They joined up with their parents who were waiting just outside the clearing and they bounded off into the night to see who the better hunter was.

Gavin knew it was him.

The breeze changed direction as they were on the trail of some deer, and he paused, lifting his muzzle and inhaling. Sorting through the scents, he picked up something sweet that made his cat sit up and take notice and his heart clench.

What was that?

He had the urge to follow the scent and although he knew that Midas wouldn’t be happy with him, he didn’t wait for anyone to follow him so he wasn’t alone. Checking to make sure his sister was safe with their parents, he took off in the direction his heart was telling him to go.

He knew he was near the edge of the territory when a white blur nearly collided with him. He let out a growl and the white blur spun and froze.

Reddish eyes glowed brightly in the darkness and Gavin let out a curious chuff.

An albino wolf?

Holy crap.

He’d nearly run into his truemate.

Was this what all the fuss from his tiger was about?

His cat let out a happy purr and Gavin grinned, his whiskers twitching as he picked up the sweet scent he’d caught on the wind and realized it had come from his mate.

She was gorgeous and clearly not from the area because he’d never heard of an albino wolf anywhere in Northern Ohio, let alone near Whisper Creek.

He padded closer and she sat on her haunches with a whine.

How had his cat known that he’d meet his truemate tonight?

Chapter

Seven

Fate was funny.

In a bat-shit-crazy kind of way.

Sadie had been running on pure instinct, only marginally aware that she wasn’t sticking to the wolf pack territory and had clearly been traveling for a while. She’d picked up a scent that she hadn’t recognized except that it belonged to shifters of some kind that weren’t wolves, and then she’d stopped running and froze in place.