Page 21 of Wolf Mate

I hated how weak that made me sound, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I wished I could push through the fatigue, but this exhaustion was different from before. It was as if my soul was drained as well as my body, the sensation eerie and cold.

“Well, you’re relieved of duty,” Raffe replied, his sizable hand clutching my arm and pulling me backward.

My breath caught in anticipation, and I craved to feel his strength once more. His chest was more muscular, and he felt safer than Slade, despite knowing he was part animal.

But Slade’s arms tightened like a vise, keeping me within his embrace.

“Let her go,” Raffe warned. “I need to take her back to Lafayette so he can alter her mind.”

I whimpered, remembering sharp teeth sinking into my neck, and I yanked my arm free. “No, I don’t want to do that. Slade, we need to go.” I shook my head and buried my face in Slade’s chest. Even though I desperately wanted to go to Raffe, I didn’t have a death wish, and my survival skills had kicked in. Slade was on my side. I had to believe that Raffe wouldn’t want another human exposed to his freaky-ass world.

My head bobbed as Slade inhaled and said, “What the hell happened out there?” His arms tightened around my waist, feeling weird.

“Edward lost his damn mind and attacked her and some other girl who goes to school here.” Raffe kept his voice low and full of warning. “We came when he was feeding off her in the open. When I pushed him off, he went fucking rabid trying to get back to her.”

“Shit.” Slade huffed, and he leaned back, pushing me away slightly so he could examine me. “Did he bite her?”

The way he acted so casually about it made my blood run cold.

Heknewabout thisworld.

Slade joining the conversation to talk about me as if I wasn’t hereagainpissed me off more. “Yes,shedid get bitten, but most importantly, am I the only person here who didn’t know that monsters are real?” My anger gave my legs strength, so I pushed out of his grip then stumbled a few steps.

Raffe placed his hands on my shoulders to steady me as Slade countered my movements.

Grimacing, Slade lifted his hands in front of him. “No. Over half the student population here doesn’t know about the supernatural world. It’s not just you.”

That didn’t make me not knowing any better. I leaned toward the trunk of the fir tree closest to me. Raffe helped me keep my balance, and I pressed my back against the trunk. Then I grittedout, “Neither one of you touch me.” I couldn’t trust either of them. They’d hidden what was going on here, but at least Raffe’s warnings made sense. Some of my anger at him thawed. He’dtriedto convey to me a need to be cautious.

“Yeah, whatever.” Raffe shrugged and dropped his hands, but his face creased with hurt before smoothing out.

Not wanting more to analyze, I wrapped my arms around my waist and breathed. Being vulnerable pissed me off. I wanted to get away from these guys, but I didn’t have the strength to walk past them and make it to the apartment.

Not that they would let me. Then I’d put Lucy in their crosshairs.

“He must have taken too much blood from her.” Slade frowned and shook his head. “She can’t even stand.”

Lafayette, Keith, and Adam stepped into view. The two wolf boys wore scowls, but Lafayette tilted his head as he stared at me.

“What thefuckwas that back there?” Keith scratched his head. “Where the hell did that noise come from?”

“Her.” Lafayette stared at me. “She did it. Just before the noise increased, the scent of her blood changed. It smelled heavenly, more so than witch blood—which has proven to be deadly.”

My heart stopped.

Had he just compared my blood to witch blood? How many sorts of supernatural people existed?

“You’re a witch?” Adam’s brows lifted to nearly his hairline. “But your underlying scent doesn’t smell like herbs. You’re more earthy and floral.”

I blinked, trying to keep up with the conversation. “What? No. I’m not a witch.” If I were, I’d be aware of that, surely?

“She’s not. I would’ve sensed it.” Slade wrung his hands. “She radiates human.”

My mouth went dry, and a scream of frustration lodged in my throat, but screaming would take way too much energy. “Of course you’re supernatural too.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness from my tone. The one genuine person I’ve met here, and he has a huge-ass secret.

“None of this matters.” Raffe blew out a breath. “We need to alter her memory, and weallneed to forget about what happened tonight.”

Lafayette wrinkled his nose and huffed. “I’ll alter her memories, and we’ll go from there.”

---