Page 17 of Torn Mate
Saint shifted into a gray wolf, much like my own, and disappeared into the dark of the night. The only thing remaining was the scent of sadness…
Dad turned to me as he closed the door and cleared his throat.
“That was very noble of him to come here and to tell you that himself. I suspect that he is confused over his feelings for Ada though. I could scent that, he was trying to cover that with a neutral emotion, but I could tell there was a tinge of hurt under it all.”
I smelled that too, but I didn’t want to talk about Saint. I just nodded in agreement and went back to my room to call Mason and River.
They would never believe this just happened.
Mason droveus to school and River wouldn’t shut up about Saint being my bitch. I wished I never said a thing to him. It wasn’t something I thought he would be a dick about. I wanted my friends to be respectful of him. My dads were right, it was a decent thing to do, both letting me know he was dropping out of the race, and submitting to my wolf. He must have sensed how hard I was struggling to contain mine because Saint Wood has never backed down from a fight. If anything, he was the one at school starting them every day.
“I swear, man, if Saint rocks up and challenges you for calling him that, I will not help you. It’s all on you so shut up already,” I warned River for the fifth time this morning. I was sick of hearing it. He admitted he was wrong, he wasn’t my bitch.
“That’s fine, my packmate will protect me,” he sang cheerfully from the backseat. I had called shotgun after he first mentioned Saint was my bitch and he made him sit in the back. I was surprised he thought his packmate would want to fight Saint. Mason wasn’t into that type of stuff. He avoided it. You would think your packmate would know that.
“River, I will help you in fights if I have to. But if you call Saint Huxley’s bitch and he gets pissed off… that’s on you. You’re asking for trouble and I don’t want any of it. I never want any of it and you don’t ever stop. So shut up or I will hurt you myself.”
I didn’t think Saint would even be there to hear him, but I was pretty sure the rest of the Kiba boys wouldn’t hesitate to tell Saint that River was being a dick. How I was related to River really baffled me at times. Clearly not full-blood related, thankfully, or I might be as dumb as him.
When we got to school I could see Noah standing out front waiting for Ada again. This was good. I could talk to him now. Or… he could wait there for her and I would find Ada later and give her my number… again. My stomach was at war with me. I didn’t want to fuck this up. Mason could tell I was struggling. He patted me on the shoulder before leaving the car.
“You got this, man. Ada is your girl. You just gotta get her now.”
Yeah, that was easy for him to say.
