Page 19 of Shadow Wolf
If any girl could make Mekhi fall in love, it was Clare. And he fell hard. It took me more time to fall for her. Not that I didn’t—god I loved her—just, it wasn’t instant like it was for Mekhi. I kept my emotions locked up a little tighter than him. I wasn’t sure how she would feel aboutus, about the sharing thing. I had my doubts at first, but when you fall for someone, fast or slow, it hits you hard and you would do anything for them.
But how could you love someone and just keep them locked up? That’s what would have happened with Clare if she didn't leave for college, and she would have resented us. Clare was beautiful, smart, and determined to go to college when we first started dating. Her parents were set on college in Colorado. She wanted to heal injured animals and I never wanted to take that dream away from her. Mekhi would have clung to her like a spider monkey and gone anywhere she was.
We couldn’t chase her, though, even if we wanted to. We couldn’t leave Pack lands like that. There were other wolf Packs in Colorado, and they might be okay with our presence for a week or two… but years? That wasn’t going to happen, and we always knew that. We were stuck here, in Kiba on our Pack lands, and hoped she was safe. That she would return to us one day.
“We need to speak to the contact. I’ll text her now.”
Mekhi knew what I was talking about, but we never said it out loud. Father knew too, but I was tired of his bi-weekly updates. I wanted daily ones, so we had been speaking to the coven of witches in Colorado for the past few months on our own. It gave us relief that we had one of them looking over Clare. Protecting her. But I was sure the contact we spoke to the most hated us when we called or texted her. I could tell she was getting sick of us when she started sending the same update every day: “She’s fine.”
“You didn’t bring your phone,” he pointed out at my state of undress. I chuckled and pointed at his nakedness.
“Could say the same about you. But I like you this way. My cock likes you this way too.”
He chuckled and shoved my shoulder before pulling me in for a blistering kiss. I wrapped my arm around his waist and pulled him close until our hard cocks were rubbing between us. He chuckled as I rubbed my length against his.
“And good morning to you both,” my eldest brother Nash said as he strolled into the clearing… naked, like all us shifters usually were out here. I was so caught up in Mekhi, I didn’t sense him coming.
Mekhi hid his erection from Nash, but I didn’t. If Nash wanted to walk in on us kissing and having a moment, that was on him. He knew what was happening here before he even approached us.
“You’re both on gate duty tonight,” he said before turning and sauntering away. He paused for a moment on the edge of the clearing. “Oh, and some panther shifter will be in the Port Willow area next weekend. So just a heads up, he got the okay from the Packs to be here.” He shifted and sprinted off into the woods.
“I fucking hate when he does that.” I looked over at Mekhi, his cock now soft. I gave him a chaste kiss and slapped his firm ass.
“You know he never gets laid, so he comes out here to make sure no one else is getting some. Because if he isn’t getting any, why should the rest of us have fun.”
It was true. Nash was a grumpy ass and really wasn’t getting laid. But I had to cut him some slack. He was to be Alpha when my father stepped down or passed away. So, he couldn’t just be carefree like I was… Third in line was pretty much guaranteeing I wouldn’t be Alpha. And thank god. I couldn’t be a stiff robot like Nash was all the time.
I guess now was the best time to go and find out what this feeling we had about Clare was.
And I wouldn’t accept “she’s fine” today.
Chapter12
Clare
It had been a whole week since Frankie first kissed me. I had been so busy with classes and trying to make up for the failing marks that I had only been able to see Frankie at lunch, but even then, I had my nose in a book trying so hard to understand the gibberish I was reading so I could stay here. I didn't want to leave now.
My parents called on Wednesday night, asking me to come back for their wedding anniversary next week. I didn't want to go back just yet; I didn't want to see on their faces how much of a disappointment I was. So, I did something crazy. I asked if I could bring someone home with me. Someone special I had met. Mom wasn't sure at first. But when I told her about Frankie, how he was studying to become a chemist and how much I liked him, she was all for it. She was excited that I had met a nice college boy with a good future. At least something would make her happy for once.
I wasn't sure if he would want to come with me. It was a big ask, as we were still only just getting to know each other. There hadn't even been the mention of what we were… Like, were we friends that kissed? Plus, I was sure he was busy with his studies. But when I finally asked, he jumped at the chance of coming and seeing where I grew up. Then he asked me out on a “real date.” I said yes without even thinking.
The date was on Friday night, a whole week after that first kiss, and while there had been more kisses in between, he had been taking it slow, never pushing me for more. Not that I had time to do much else.
The place he took me to was a cute little restaurant that served the most amazing pasta. When the waiter had asked what we would like to drink, he’d said, "My girlfriend and I would like some water, please."
He had called me his girlfriend. My mouth fell open and the butterflies were back in force, dancing in my belly. But in a good way.
"Was that okay? That I called you my girlfriend?"
Well, I couldn't wipe the grin from my face. Was it okay? What a silly question. It was more than okay. I was speechless as I nodded.
Frankie was my boyfriend.
He walked me back to the dorm and kissed me… oh boy did he kiss me, and this time I wished he didn't have to go. I wanted to take him up to the room and keep kissing more. But he had to go meet his cousin. He met with him a lot. He never talked much about him, but from how much Frankie saw him I assumed they must be close friends too.
When I got back to the room, I barreled in full of giggles. I couldn't wait to tell Vicki what had happened. But I pulled up short when I saw Vicki's sister Jade was here. I had met her a few times before; she was a few years older but looked almost like her. You would almost think they were identical twins if you weren't up close to notice the small differences like height. Vicki was taller. And Jade had freckles sprinkled over her nose. I thought they were pretty.
"Jade, hey. Sorry, I didn't know you would be here."
