Page 10 of Wolf Desired
“I know the difference. You shifters are all assholes.”
Rafe ground to a halt and pivoted so quickly that Jason jumped back. “Tracking is more than following a scent or a footprint,human. It’s knowing your prey.”
Tiernan chuckled. The human didn’t understand alphas, and Rafe was definitely an alpha, even if he didn’t lead his pack back in Montana.
“The only reason you’re here is because we needed a human on our team,” Tiernan explained in a neutral tone, trying to keep the two from fighting. “And Rafe is right. There’s more to tracking.”
“No, the reason I’m here is to train. Unlike you shifters. The mark went the other direction.”
The mark.Tiernan had to beat his wolf down to keep him from growling at Jason for the insult. His wolf’s reaction was one more piece of evidence that his wolf considered Artemis his. A female to be protected, treasured. She certainly wasn’t some damnmark.
“Smell that? Sweet, like honey. That’s her,” Tiernan said, his eyes to the ground, looking for footprints. He could shift, but that would leave him more vulnerable to his wolf, something he wasn’t willing to risk, not unless he didn’t have a choice. Each time he shifted, his wolf grew stronger, bolder, making it harder and harder for Tiernan to retain control.
“Faint trail. East,” Rafe concurred.
“I’m surprised it took you so long,” Tiernan said, ribbing the alpha heir. A year ago when they’d first met, Tiernan had gained instant respect for how Rafe had fought hard to reach Tiernan’s alpha, to request the vaccine. He’d been denied access to Liam, but he hadn’t given up. He’d spoken with Liam’s second, even went as far to beg, something unheard of from an alpha heir. Tiernan had watched the scene unfold, and he could tell how hard that had been for Rafe at the time, but he’d done what he had to do to secure the vaccine his pack desperately needed. Tiernan respected the shifter, even though he tended toward arrogance.
“Alphas don’t track as much as scouts,” Rafe replied, with a bite to his words.
To some extent, Tiernan was as surprised as Rafe that he’d made the correct call. Lately, Tiernan had been having trouble distinguishing real from imaginary, mostly because his wolf tried to confuse him at every turn, the bastard. But when it came to finding this female, his wolf showed a rare determination to help, not hinder.
Tiernan’smate. He never thought he’d find a female to calm his wolf, least of all at the DSA’s training program. A sense of hope moved through him. He had a shot now. Blood-bonding this woman would stabilize his wolf, keep him from going feral.
But if he couldn’t convince her to blood-bond him, it was only a matter of time before he lost control. Weeks, maybe only days. There were plenty of shifters here to put him down if that happened.Thathad to be the reason Rafe stuck so close to him. The alpha heir suspected Tiernan was going feral. It was that stupid comment Tiernan had made earlier.
“Hey, you were right!” Jason said. “There she is. Looks like she’s been through the wringer too.”
Tiernan’s head snapped up. A huge growl erupted from him the moment he saw Maddox pinning her to a tree. Her top had been torn, and she was beaten, bruised.
His wolf’s rage at seeing his female injured and subdued by another male blindsided Tiernan, giving his wolf the chance to push past all of his defenses. Bones broke and reformed, and fur emerged all over his new form. Tiernan dropped to his hands, shifting in seconds.
Tiernan’s wolf leapt and knocked Maddox away from Artemis. As Maddox rolled, pieces of shredded clothing littered the ground. He’d shifted mid-roll into a large white wolf, teeth bared and ready to fight.
How could he forget Maddox was a white wolf?
Because his own damn wolf had been relentless since catching Artemis’s scent back at the compound. Fuck. A white wolf. Drake’s pack, no less. Those sadistic bastards took what didn’t belong to them, without remorse. By the snarl ripping through the woods, Tiernan knew he’d have the fight of his life on his hands, even as he flashed his teeth and lunged for Maddox’s wolf.
* * *
RAFE
Rafe didn’t havea chance of stopping Tiernan from shifting. The male had shifted too fast and lunged for 86. A white wolf. Tiernan wouldn’t last long, especially given 86’s build. The male had to be a guard back in his pack, which meant this fight that Tiernan had started wouldn’t last long. Unless Tiernan was indeed going feral, as Rafe suspected. A near-feral wolf often exhibited increased strength, along with a decreased ability to be rational.
“Aren’t you going to stop them?” Jason asked, his dull brown eyes practically popping out of his head when Tiernan shifted and attacked 86.
“Why should I?” Rafe said, amused. At least the day had proved more interesting than it had started. He’d always been curious how a white wolf would handle a near-feral wolf, and now he’d find out, first hand.
“They’ll rip each other apart!” Jason said.
Rafe stepped aside and swung his hand in invitation. “Feel free to get in between them. Though, I don’t advise it. Two males fighting over a female never ends well, but I’m sure you and your human sense of decorum can put an end to it.”
“Jason’s right,” the female said as she bounded toward him with a definite note of alarm, but not panic, in her voice.
Despite her disheveled state, the female glowed with a rare beauty Rafe could not ignore. He had never gone for blondes before, but there was something about how she carried herself that drew him in.
“You should break it up before one of them gets hurt,” Artemis said as the two wolves circled one another. “More hurt, I mean. The silver wolf is bleeding.”
“Tiernan can withstand a few claw marks.”
