Page 15 of Mates for the Rejected Wolf

“Yeah. I guess it all started a few weeks ago when she was ambushed by one of them who was wasted and trying to offer her drugs. She said no to the drugs and his offer of a date, and he didn’t like that. Luckily, I came across them before he could really do any harm.”

Ishould have been the one there for her. “Shit, that sounds terrible. What happened after that?”

“He fell, and I guess he passed out by the boat tours office. Fern’s boss found him in the morning and called the cops. Now, Fern hasn’t said anything to the police about it, she doesn’t want to even acknowledge that she knew he was there, But the Nightshade Hunters are after her anyway. She’s been getting threatening messages.”

I hang my head low. How could I be so selfish, only thinking about my feelings, when she is going through something awful. I wish I’d known. I wish Fern had the faith in me to reach out so I could be there for her.

“Do you think it’sjustbecause of that, or because of who her father is as well?”

Jace purses his lips thoughtfully. “I guess it could be. I mean, I don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but that could have something to do with it. Although, I would have thought that if the Nightshade Hunters were smart, one of them would be trying to woo Fern rather than upset her. You know, try to marry her so that we won’t be able to go after them as much. Leaves them freer to do whatever it is that they want to do.”

I shudder. Somehow, that’s even worse. “We need to stop this,” I say seriously. “I think that maybe we should go to Echo, just us, and try to reason with him. I know he’s been talking about the bigger picture, but there isn’t going to be a bigger picture if we don’t fix this right now. If someone else dies, if Fern is killed, won’t that start a war?”

Jace goes silent, and I know why. Fern might be the daughter of one of the pack’s elders, but he doesn’t really treat her like a daughter. It’s been that way since her eighteenth birthday came around and she didn’t shift. It was such a shock, such an anomaly, that even being a princess didn’t keep her from being shunned by everyone. She became an outcast.Finallyshifting two years later didn’t even make a difference to her father or the pack.

It must have been really hard for Fern. Jace and I were so wrapped up in our own lives at the time, preparing to leave the pack and go out on our own like all seventeen year old male wolves do, we never really thought too hard about what was going on. But it must have sucked for her. And now she’s stuck in this horrible position where she doesn’t know what’s going to happen to her next.

““We need to go to Echo now and to try and make him see sense,” I decide, refusing to sit back and let something worse happen to Fern or this town. “We have to.”

Jace nods in agreement, but I can sense his hesitation. He is as unsure about this as I am. But, as a team, I’m hopeful that we at least stand a chance.

“Come on.” I rise to my feet before the coffee arrives, and he does the same. “Let’s go. Let’s do this now, while we’re all fired up about it.”

Hell, if I have to be the one to lead us in to victory, then so be it. At this point, I’m more than happy to do anything it takes. Especially now that we need to keep Fern safe. I still don’t know what her relationship is with Jace, but it doesn’t matter. She needs saving, and that’s something I can do.

* * *

Echo isnothappy and I don’t feel good about how this is going to go. Our alpha might as well have a black cloud of doom over his head as he sits in front of us and glowers.

“You have a problem?” he asks through gritted teeth. Sometimes I’m convinced Echo is more wolf than man. In his human form, his animalistic qualities shine through much more than anyone I have ever met before. “Let me hear it.”

“I…I wouldn’t say that it’s a problem, so much as…” Jace begins anxiously.

“We are just worried about the pace of things.” I jump in to save Jace from making this worse than it already is. “We think things need to be going much faster.”

“I have already told you why we are doing things the way we are.” Echo bangs his fists down on the table in between us. “I am working with Sheriff Smart to do things in the right way. I get that you two are more hot-headed than me, and you want to see things happening, but I am your alpha and I would appreciate it if you did what I asked. I don’t need all of these questions and backtalk. I just need the streets patrolled.”

“But Fern Almaz is in real danger,” Jace says. “The daughter of one ofourelders is being threatened by the Nightshade Hunters every day. Us sitting back and not taking action makes it look like we are just letting it slide, as if it’s totally fine.”

Echo says nothing for a beat too long and I don’t know how to take it. I shoot a look at Jace, but he’s staring at Echo. He wants him to see how important this is just as much as I do. I can see the worry when it comes to Fern, which again makes my heart hurt because I like her too. Even knowing that something might be happening with her and Jace doesn’t make that feeling go away.

“You want to watch her?” Echo asks as he leans back in his seat, arms folded across his chest. “Fine. Watch her. I don’t care. Just don’t let it get in the way of your duties, okay? You need to make sure you are still finding out all that you can.”

My stomach clenches with annoyance, but at least we’ve gotten him to see that things are problematic when it comes to Fern. It’s something. Not enough, but I suppose it’ll have to do. If this is a “pick your battles” kind of situation, I guess we have chosen Fern.

“Fine.” I scrape my chair back as I stand up, making sure Jace knows it’s time for us to leave. If we push this any further, who knows what will happen. “Thank you, Echo. We will still keep on our search for information while making sure that nothing happens to Fern.”

He nods, just the once, eyes flashing at our perceived defiance.

I can almost feel Jace tensing up, so before he does something he will later go on to regret, I rest my hand on his shoulder as something of a warning, before pulling him towards me. I have seen that look in Echo’s eyes before, and it never ends well. We need to get the hell out of here.

“Come on, Jace. We have some things that we need to do.”

Thankfully, he picks up the warning in my tone and nods before standing up too. His breaths might be sharp and ragged, but I can sense that he is listening to me and willing to come with me now. Hell, maybe after all of this we can be friends…unless Fern ends up getting in between us, of course. I mean, the way that I feel about her already, and I haven’t even spent a decent amount of time with her yet, is enough to sacrifice any friendship for. How does she have such a hold over me?

Is this what it feels like to find a mate? A true bonded mate? It’s a once in a life time feeling, so I don’t know what it should be like, but it definitely could be this. Only I don’t think I’m supposed to be competing with someone for my mate. It isn’t supposed to be this way. Not from what I’ve heard anyway.

10

---