Page 8 of Wolf Touched

I winced and glanced over as she held a cracker to Josie’s mouth. Thankfully, Josie was conscious enough to take nibbles.

“Pretend we’re not here,” Octavia muttered, placing a finger to her lips. “He might think we left.”

“Fine, I’m calling Lafayette. I know you’re in there.”

Shit. If a vampire came here, they would definitely want to erase Octavia’s mind, and I wasn’t sure that was possible. I also didn’t want to chance her forgetting anything.

I released Raffe’s hand and marched to the door.

A witch somewhere on this floor must have noticed us walk by.Raffe hit one hand on his other palm.I swear, he’s like the plague, always hanging around.He then said out loud, “If you don’t want him to know who you are, you’d better play along and act like you’re not afraid.”

He had a point.

I opened the door and found Slade standing there—alone. His spiky blond hair was ruffled, and his emerald eyes were glassy as if he’d been drinking.

“Skylar,” he exhaled, his breath smelling of beer.

My stomach revolted at the foul scent, but I swallowed the acid down.

Slade pulled me to his chest and hugged me. “I’m so happy to see you.”

His touch felt wrong. I leaned back to get away, but Slade held on tighter.

Rage blasted through Raffe and into me as he marched over, snarling, “Get your hands off my mate.”

“Right.He’shere.” Slade loosened his grip with a frown. “I hoped Sasha was mistaken.”

Sasha.

I’d never met her.

That mustbe why I hadn’t recognized the witch when we headed in.

I took several steps back as Raffe came to my side. His nostrils flared as he glared at Slade and fisted his hands.

Given this already tumultuous situation, I looped my arm through Raffe’s. With Slade and Octavia watching, I didn’t want to try to unclench his hands. As soon as our bodies touched, some of his tension ebbed, but barely.

“You know better than to touch someone’s mate.” Raffe’s face twisted in fury.

Slade rolled his eyes. “Sky and I are friends. Friends hug from time to time.”

Even though Slade was my friend, he liked to piss off Raffe when he could.

I blew out a breath. “I’ve never been a big hugger, especially now that I’m mated with Raffe.” I had to draw boundaries, and Raffe’s feelings were more important than anyone else’s. Besides, my skin crawled whenever another man touched me.

“Whatever.” Slade scoffed and glanced over my shoulder. His back straightened. “What the hell happened here? And where’s Dave?” He’d noticed Josie. He shut the door behind him and walked farther into the room. Then his attention landed on Octavia.

She stood in front of the television across from Lucy and Josie with her arms crossed. She’d schooled her expression into one of indifference, but the corners of her mouth were tipped downward. I could only hope Slade didn’t notice that.

“Did you all get attacked?” Slade’s brows furrowed. “And who is this?”

“A visitor who helped us find Dave.” I didn’t want to say she was supernatural, but I also didn’t want to willinglyadmit she was human. Coven members didn’t have the sense of smell that wolf shifters did, so he might not notice if he kept his distance. “And Josie lost a lot of blood.” I told him about Dave.

Slade rubbed his forehead. “Shit. This is a huge mess.” He arched a brow. “Dave’s alive? After all this?”

If that didn’t prove he cared about us, I didn’t know what could. He and Dave were friends. Guilt churned in my stomach over doubting him again. I couldn’t let Octavia influence me.

“He’s fine.” Raffe shook his head. “I don’t fucking understand it. He should be dead from drinking wolf blood. I don’t know what made Josie do it.”

---