Page 26 of Shadow Wolf
“The fuck?”
Chapter17
Jett
Ranger was in Mekhi’s room… in wolf form, growling at us. Or was I dreaming? It made no sense in my sleep fogged mind. Was something happening? Shit, we needed to go. We ran security with the Pack and something must have gone down.
“Where? Tell me where to go.” I jumped off the bed and onto the carpet with my bare feet, dropping my shorts in the process so I could shift as soon as I was out the house.
“Ranger, stop, now,” I heard Mav call out. Maverick and Ranger were my younger—by a year—twin brothers. Everyone said Ranger was a lot like me. He was a jokester like me. But he was a little hot-headed. I wasn't and I did enjoy poking the wolf a little too much with him. Especially when it came to his mate, Lexi. She loved it though. Was he messing with us now?
“Shift back,” Mekhi growled at Ranger, but he just bared his teeth as if he was gonna rip his throat out too. I put my hands up. What the hell had gotten into my brother? He had never been angry at Mekhi before. Well, not like this. This was extreme.
Lucky for us, Mav rounded the corner and assessed the situation before rubbing his hands through his dark hair. He was always having to reign in Ranger, and I could tell he wasn’t in the mood today. He had a commitment ceremony last night with his mate, Lexi. That was huge for wolf shifters. It was the same as an engagement for humans.
Same went for Ranger. They both shared Lexi as their mate. They were packmates and brothers. It wasn't that unusual in our world. Lexi was an awesome chick too. I loved messing with her, like when Ranger would flirt with Clare. Nothing funnier than stirring the hot-head up and having his own mate in on it. But I bet Mav would rather be with Lexi right now, not saving Ranger’s ass. Because I was about to kick it.
I reached out and poked Ranger’s nose. My hand moved away just in time before his wolf snapped his teeth. Mav let out a deep sigh, tired of all the shit.
“Look, he just saw Clare in Watson.”
I was waving my finger at Ranger’s face, taunting him again, when I registered what Mav had just said.
“Huh? She isn’t in Watson. She’s studying in her dorm. We spoke to the witch this morning.”
Ranger took his revenge while I was distracted, snapping his teeth over my hand, and I let out a loud roar, my wolf rearing up, just about to shift and fight Ranger. But I needed to know what the hell Mav was talking about. I wrenched my hand out of his mouth. Blood seeped from the teeth holes. They would heal fast but it still hurt like a bitch.
“Asshole,” I muttered.
“Yes, she was. Lexi and Ada spoke to her. Ranger hugged her; she didn’t know him…” Mav shook his head.
“No, no, tell me it isn't true, you didn't.” His eyes, the same color of mine, told me he was speaking the truth and he knew our secret. Fuck… fuck.Shit.
I looked back to Mekhi. But I didn’t get a chance to speak to him. Ranger had shifted back and slammed his fist into my cheek.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he spat. “Both of you.” He was angry. Hell, he was more than that. I had seen Ranger enraged before, but this was a whole other level.
This wasn’t the response I thought he would have; it wasn’t his business. But he was close to Clare, and I underestimated how much this would affect him. Of all my brothers, he was the one she spent most of her time with. Ranger latched onto her like a puppy dog when she first came home with me.
He had a little crush, and we all knew it. But she made sure they were friends; she never encouraged it or led him on. She told us to never mention it, that it wouldn’t be right to tease him. She was the first female that had been in our house since our mom passed. Clare thought maybe he was looking up at her with more maternal feelings rather than sexual ones. Ranger took it hard when we lost our mom, but it still didn't make me a little jealous when he flirted with her.
I shook my head and schooled my emotions.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My arms crossed over my chest as if I could hide this huge secret still. There were only three of us who knew about it. And two of them were in this room. My wolf paced inside, wanting to run from this situation. How could Ranger guess this… He wouldn’t have worked it out on his own.
No offense, but of all my brothers, Ranger was the dumb one. Every family had one, and he was it for our family. He wasn’t dumb, dumb… just, he’d be the last one I would pick as my partner for a trivia night kinda dumb.
“I’m not stupid, it was easy to work out. It was Galen, wasn't it? You got him to do it,” Ranger hissed at us. He now paced the room, watching us and running his hands through his hair. He was visibly upset and doing his best not to shift again.
I tried to hide my surprise at his words, but it was hard to mask my emotions with the heightened situation. Had they spoken to Galen yet? He would deny it… right? Fuck… maybe not anymore.
Galen was our resident vampire. He came to us after my mother was murdered five years ago. He was here to protect the Pack, but also protect us against humans when they accidently saw a teenage boy turn into a wolf at school, by compelling them to forget what they saw.
He was the local high school history teacher. Made sense as he was old as fuck. But it was his way to be close to where most accidental shifts happened in front of humans. Mainly cleaning up after Ranger and his impulsive nature to shift and fight the other wolf Packs… well, up until Lexi moved into town a few months ago. Galen went from a bit of an asshole to a big softie in love with his student.
Oh yeah, that went down well.
The thing was, Lexi had turned all the wolves here upside down with her supernatural scent. No one knew what she was… until now. She wasn’t a shifter, but her scent gave off as a female wolf shifter. One that had called all the wolf shifters in the three Packs—Pack Kiba, Pack Rawlins, and Pack Kenneally—to her. All believing they were her mate.
