Page 21 of Stalked By the Wolf

CHAPTER TEN

SEBASTIAN

Claire insistson getting a car service to come pick her up from my place, and it physically pains me to watch her go.

The mere thought of being separated from our mate makes my wolf frantic, but deep down I know it was always too good to be true.

I never should have given in to the urge to claim Claire. It would have been hard to let her go before. Now it’s fucking excruciating. My heart feels as though it’s been ripped from my body, the wound left to fester.

I know Maddox will be by later to check on me, but I can’t bear to see him. I don’t want to explain to my pack brother how I ruined the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t want to be the object of his pity.

There’s only one thing to do.

By ten o’clock, I’m slumped over the sticky bar top at Two-Mile Tavern. I couldn’t bring myself to faceanyone I know at The Lucky Buck, so I drove an hour to my favorite dive bar in Bristlecone.

The tavern got its name for its elevation — nearly two miles above sea level. My shifter metabolism makes it difficult to get properly sloshed, but it’s easier at high altitude.

There’s only one other patron here this early — an old-timer with a gray beard who’s already hammered. A couple of thirtysomething humans blunder in for a hot toddy on their way to Breckenridge, but they leave in a hurry when they sense my mood.

The bartender brings me another round, and I hiss as the cheap bourbon hits the back of my throat. I’m about to ask if I can go across the street to the liquor store to buy something better when the door bangs open and I catch a whiff of wolf.

A tingle of apprehension shoots down my spine, cutting through my alcohol-induced haze. I shouldn’t be here in another pack’s territory, but I’d rather have to fight my way out of Bristlecone than face my own pack.

I can’t tell Maddox I was stupid enough to give Claire my mark, let alone Adrian. They know there isn’t a female in her right mind who could stand to be mated to me, and I don’t want to deal with my alpha’s wrath.

“If you’re gonna tell me to piss off, you’re gonna have to get in line, mate,” I slur when I hear footsteps behind me.

“Well, you just get to be more of an asshole every time I see you,” grumbles a familiar voice.

I lift an eyebrow as Axel plops down next to me, and the cold fist around my heart unclenches just a little.

Axel is a recluse and a grump, but he doesn’t bullshit, and I like that about him.

“Likewise,” I say over a burp before knocking back the rest of the horse piss that passes for bourbon in this place.

Axel cracks a grin and signals the bartender. He orders black coffee and a double platter of steak and eggs. He isn’t here to get drunk, and I resent him for it.

“I fucking hate this place,” I grump when the bartender shuffles off to put in Axel’s order.

“And yet you keep showing up,” the wolf replies without so much as looking at me.

“Well, it’s not for the other patrons, I can tell you.”

He follows my gaze to the old man at the end who smells like piss. Axel’s a man of few words, which is kind of annoying, but it’s better than someone who doesn’t know when to shut up.

I sense that he’s waiting for me to elaborate, so I say, “I found my fated mate.”

It isn’t something I’d normally confess, but Axel is barely more than a stranger, so it’s easy to talk to him.

He lifts his bushy brown eyebrows and lets out a low whistle. “You serious?”

I nod, fighting the acidic burn of self-loathing that is my constant companion.

“I fucked it up,” I rasp. “Found her by accident hunting the last of McGregor’s bears. I . . . looked into her, and she found out.” I shake my head and crack a smirk that feels all wrong. “Didn’t take long for her to realize what a fuckwit I am.”

“Yeah. That sounds bad.”

Axel nods at the bartender as he sets down a steaming cup of coffee in front of him and another bourbon for me.

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