Page 9 of Wolf Touched

Swallowing a small bite of cracker, Josie cleared her throat. “I … I don’t know. I had the overwhelming urge to save him, and it wasn’t like we had options.” Her words slurred as if she’d been drinking, but she was speaking in full sentences. Between getting her some calories and her shifter healing, she was improving, but fatigue had hit her hard. She needed rest just as much as calories.

“That is odd. I’m sure Mom will want to visit him and figure out what’s going on.” Slade rubbed a hand over his chin. “I’ve seen vampires die from drinking wolf’s blood. Is he here or back in his room?”

“That jackass is the one who drugged Sky so those crazies could capture her.” Raffe’s hands clenched tighter until his knuckles blanched. “We’re keeping a close eye on him, and I don’t want him anywhere close to her. I don’t care if he fucking dies as long as he lives long enough to tell us everything he knows about that secret society.”

“He’s a student, so he’s Mom’s responsibility. She’ll want to check on him.” Slade removed his cell phone from his back pocket.

Raffe snarled, “She may be on the board, butwefound him. Therefore, he’s under wolf shifter watch and protection.”

The two guys glared at each other, and when Slade swiped his phone to show he was going to text her, Raffe coiled, ready to snatch it away.

I’d hoped that one day we could all get along, but clearly, that wasn’t today. “Slade, I get that she’ll want to check on him.” I held on to Raffe’s arm tighter, trying to squeeze sense into him. Being all alpha-y and throwing his weight around would only get Priestess Olwyn over here tonight. Selfishly, I was exhausted and didn’t want to deal with any more drama. I needed to come to terms with Octavia and get some sleep. It’d been a long-ass day. “But he’s unconscious and needs to rest. She won’t get anything out of him until he wakes. Believe me, if we could, we’d all be over there with him.”

Slade lowered his hand, my reasoning hitting the mark, unlike Raffe’s. He pursed his lips. “He’s that bad off?”

I nodded and glanced at Josie, whose eyes were closed. Good. I didn’t want her to hear what I was about to say. Whatever connection those two had, she’d been willing to risk death to save him. “Honestly, even after her feeding him, I’d be surprised if he survived.”

“What the hell is wrong with this university?” Lucy placed her head in her hands. “Ever since the school year began, there’s been one attack, chaos, or kidnapping after the next. If I hadn’t attended school here last year, I’d be certain this place was cursed.”

Cursedwas another word people threw around to describe me, but not as often asfreakandweirdo.

“Fine.” Slade placed his phone back into his pocket. “I’ll call her later and get her to put it off until in the morning. I assume he’sat Raffe’s apartment since the wolf shifters are monitoring him.”

“Not my place anymore,” Raffe interjected, placing an arm around my waist. “We’re mated. I stay here now.”

Maybe I shouldn’t have appreciated the possessiveness, but dammit if my heart didn’t flutter. My wolf wanted to trot in pride, knowing our man wanted everyone to know we belonged to each other.

Slade frowned. “This is the women’s apartments. The rules state—”

“We have a completed mate bond,” Raffe cut in. “That’s more than equivalent to marriage, and her roommate is my cousin. I’m not going anywhere, and if Lafayette tries to make it where we can’t stay together, Sky and I will move off campus.”

“Both of you, stop it.” I’d forgotten how they acted when we were all together. I placed my hands on my hips. “We have problems, and I’m sick and tired of you two having a pissing match every time we need to work together.” Sometimes, I wondered if Slade was meant to be a wolf shifter with how much posturing these two did around each other. “Raffe is my mate—you need to accept that.” I pointed at Slade.

From the corner of my eye, Raffe beamed.

But I wasn’t finished.

I turned to Raffe, our chests touching. “And Slade is my friend, so it’ll be easier if you two could pretend to get along.”

That’ll be the day,Lucy linked to me.They’ve always been hostile toward each other, but it’s been over the top since you came along.

Something else my presence had impacted. Everywhere I went, something bad followed. Those weren’t good thingsto bring, especially for a future vet, and only validated what King Jovian thought as well.

“Fine.” Slade sighed and waved a hand. “I’m just trying to come to terms with you two being together.”

“Get there faster,” Raffe spat.

Raffe,I linked, wanting him to defuse the situation.Aren’t you a political science major? Shouldn’t you be skilled at working across species and with negotiations?

Not when the person has the hots for my mate.Raffe's body vibrated with anger.Imagine if a girl came sniffing after me all the time. You wouldn’t be all logical.

Uh, did you forget about you and Josie?I shot back.Yeah, you might have been pretending, but you guys were excellent at it. And your dad would be way more accepting of her than me.

Point made, I turned back to the matter at hand. I needed to be careful and not give away too much about Octavia. “Slade, I’m not trying to be rude here, but we’re all tired.”

“Yeah, okay.” Slade bit his bottom lip and glanced at Octavia. “Who are you, anyway?”

Octavia’s eyes widened slightly.

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