Page 31 of Wolf Mate

“Skylar!” Raffe’s deep, sexy voice called out. “Wait.”

My feet damn near stopped.Oh, hell no. I gritted my teeth and continued to march to the Howling Building next door.

At least the theme of the building names made sense now.

A towering presence loomed behind me, and I knew who it was.

“Let me explain,” Raffe almost pleaded, making my blood boil and fizz. “I’m acting like this to protect you, believe it or not.”

I spun to face him and thrust a finger into his chest. “How is making sure no one will want to be friends with me protecting me?” I regretted it as soon as I’d said it.

He sighed. “Because you’re causing a ton of uncertainty in our world.” His full lips and commanding presence distracted me from everything he’d done to me back there.

“As if I haven’t had that uncertainty my entire life!” Was he seriously trying to turn this around and play the victim? “Youhumiliatedme.”

“I talked with my father last night, and we agreed that, with your inability to control your magic, it’s too risky for you tobe around humans more than you have to be.” Raffe karate-chopped the air. “I was hoping to talk to you about it, but you lost control again, and I had to act that way. I’m sorry. I swear, I wish this was all different.Believe me.” His voice cracked as if he were in pain.

He’d labeled me a social outcast, yet he was acting like the victim. Part of mestillwanted to soothe him!Andhe was taken, which made all this worse.

“You’re a jackass.” Rage overcame me, and the edges of my vision hazed red. I pushed my finger harder into his chest to make my point. But all I accomplished was hurting my finger. Well, la-de-fucking-dah. “That wasn’tyourdecision to make. What you did back there affectsmylife, not yours. You can take your explanation and shove it up your ass, Raffe.” I dropped my finger and marched away, discreetly flexing the finger to work out the slight ache. His chest was all muscle, no fat, and I’d expected more of a cushion, or I wouldn’t have jabbed him that hard.

“It’s my responsibility—” he started, but I merely lifted my middle finger over my shoulder, not making him read between the lines.

Though I walked off in anger, with my blood damn near humming again, I ached like I’d left a piece of my soul behind.

An hour and a half later,I shut my chemistry book. Once again, Slade was in my class, and I was relieved to have a friend by my side. He’d tried to talk to me about the whole Raffe situation, but I’d shut that conversation down, not wanting to give the jackass any more of my time than I already had.

Still, the betrayal and hurt stabbed just as hard as it had when it all went down. The only solace had been my classes, which were over for the day.

I wanted to keep myself busy.

My chem lab was on Thursdays, and I was free for the rest of the day. I was restless and couldn’t go into the woods. I wanted to be around animals, but I hadn’t done my training class for the animal shelter yet, so I couldn’t go there either.

“You have another class after this?” Slade asked as we headed out the back of Howling and toward the apartments.

“No, I’m free until tomorrow.” My voice dropped, revealing exactly how I felt about that.

He smiled. “Me too, so … while the sun is high and less …unusualactivity is going on, do you want to go into the woods and have your first lesson?”

I stopped in my tracks. “Now?” Excitement bubbled inside me, but I squashed it.

“Sure.” He nodded back to the building we’d been in. “After this morning, it might be best if we start right away so you feel more confident and Raffe can back off.”

“Thatsounds like a plan.”

He clutched the straps of his backpack. “Then let’s go.”

I followed him a while into the woods, and I’d expected to feel uncomfortable, but with Slade knowing how the supernatural world worked, I wasn’t worried at all.

We stepped into a small circular clearing ten feet in diameter. Slade leaned his backpack against a fir then took mine and placed it next to his.

We stood at the edge of the clearing, facing the other side.

“The first thing you need to learn is how to summon your magic.” He closed his eyes and held out his hands. “Make it rise within you. Find where it’s stored and imagine tugging it upward. Your magic is similar to that of a warlock and witch,but our magic doesn’t infuse our blood. Instead, it infuses our essence, which isn’t as strong, but our bodies are supernatural. That means we can endure the magical drain better. There’s always a weakness for every strength a supernatural has. So call your magic and let me know when you feel it.”

I snorted. He couldn’t be serious about needing to yank on his magic to feel it. I closed my eyes and hoped he could help me calm the storm once it started. Then something strange happened.

CHAPTER TEN

---