Page 38 of Wolf Bitten

I stopped breathing. “What time was the phone call?”

“A little after midnight.” Jared’s brows furrowed. “Why?”

That was around the time Slade and I had escaped from the underground bunker.

Raffe punched his palm. “That fucker ran. He was alerted about the escape.”

I was still trying to reconcile Dave, the druggist jerk, with the nice guy I’d known up until he’d injected me. The night he’d fought so hard to resist my blood when I was damn near losing control had earned my trust.

Maybe he’d fought the temptation so hard because he knew the Veiled Circle wanted me.

Had I been wrong about him this whole time?

“A coven member must have helped him.” Adam pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Reasons I don’t like coven members.” Keith pursed his lips as if he’d tasted something bad.

Jared huffed. “Because wolf shifters are sogreat.”

I wanted to reach out and shake him. Was he trying to provoke Raffe? Couldhebe part of the secret society?

Glancing at the clock, I noted the time. We were already five minutes late meeting Aldric. “Raffe, we need to go.” Though I was nervous as hell about going to Raffe’s home, I didn’t want to piss off his dad further.

“Yeah, okay. Come on, guys.” Raffe took my hand and headed toward the door. “Let’s go. Jared, contact one of us immediately if you see or hear from Dave.”

I flinched at the barked-out order. Just asking Jared would have gone a long way.

“Sure. I’ll get on that,” Jared replied as the four of us entered the hallway.

Keith and Adam glanced at each other as Raffe and I headed to the elevator. More tension filled the air, which puzzled me. We’d left Jared—what else was there to be upset about?

A guy stepped into the hallway and paused when he saw us, then hurried back into his room.

Strange.

When the four of us got onto the elevator and the door closed, Adam cleared his throat and said, “Raffe—”

My mate released my hand and shoved Adam into the wall, anger pulsing off him. “Don’t say anotherfuckingword.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Ijerked back, startled. I understood he was mad, but I hadn’t expected his anger to be directed at Adam.

Keith ran a hand down his face. “Man, we—”

“Shut up!” Raffe bellowed, and something strong lacing his voice made my lips close.

What the hell?Something was wrong with me.

“Why did you wait until morning to tell me Dave had disappeared?” Raffe released Adam, stepping back to glare at both men. “I should’ve been notifiedimmediatelyto search for him.”

The strange presence in me nudged forward harder, and my body warmed inappropriately. Part of me always hated it when he got controlling and rude, but another side thought it was hot. Suddenly, I found itextremelysexy and wanted to jump him here in front of everyone.

“See?” Keith lifted a hand. “Told you he’d get all alpha-y. We should’ve told him.”

Adam cut his eyes to Keith and scowled.

That was enough to take my hormones down a notch. I swallowed my snort, not wanting to make the situation worse. Leave it to Keith to throw someone under the bus.

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