Page 43 of Fated to the Lone Shifter
“You’re shaking,” he murmurs.
I wasn’t. Or maybe I was.
He reaches for my hand. I pull back, but it’s too late—he’s already seen the slight tremor. But that doesn’t stop him from his mission. “What the hell was that at the cemetery? And then you take off in the middle of the night.” His tone is scalding.
I shake my head. I can’t explain it to him. To myself. I feel his disappointment in every bone in my body though.
My brain scrambles for an excuse, a lie,anything—but I’m exhausted, and the truth’s too close to the surface. So I resort to an old FBI technique–I change the subject.
“I have something you need to see,” I whisper.
Noah takes it, his fingers brushing mine, sending a flicker of energy down my spine. He doesn’t flinch. He slides the body cam out and connects it to my laptop with silent efficiency. For a moment, it’s just us and the whirr of the machine.
The footage plays.
I watch his expression morph—from disbelief to recognition to something darker. Something primal.
When it ends, the silence is thick.
“How do we explain this?” I ask, my voice barely audible.
He doesn’t speak right away. Then, without looking at me, he closes the laptop and stands.
“I don’t think we do.”
He tucks the camera back into the bag, turns toward the door, and opens it.
“I trust you’re going to get that back into evidence,” I say, more statement than question. "I promised."
He pauses a moment, digesting my meaning. And just like that, he’s gone.
I sink onto the edge of my bed, airless. What just happened?
Did he recognize the wolf?
Does he know who it is?
Is he starting to connect the dots of why I am really here?
I stare at the door long after it clicks shut.
The secrets are piling up. So is the danger.
And I’m no longer sure which one of us has the most to hide.
Chapter fourteen
The Mark of the Alpha
NOAH
The night clung to me like smoke—thick, choking, impossible to shake. I woke up damp with sweat, her scent vanished.
My wolf reacted before I could form a thought, already lunging toward the door, toward the woods, toward her. I didn’t shift, not yet. I followed the pull, half-man, half-beast, driven by something ancient and raw. But I never found her.
Until I spotted her getting out of a black SUV, slipping back into the dorms like nothing had happened. She was safe. But a great deal had happened.
She had disobeyed me. And worse—shechoseto.
