Page 2 of Mates for the Rejected Wolf

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“Fern, are you okay?”Brian asks me for what feels like the hundredth time. “Because you’re still looking very pale. Do you need anything? I can get you another glass of water or something. Whatever you need…”

I can’t really give him a definitive answer, because I don’t really know. My head is all over the place. That was my worst nightmare. I keep flickering between images of that giant being in the sky and the body in the water. The contrast between the two feelings is overwhelming.

“It’s Todd Smith,” Brian says, explaining things I don’t know if I’m ready to hear. “You know, the boy who lives down by the Bakers? Such a young boy. It seems like only yesterday his mother was bringing him for a tour. Now he’s a teenager into terrible things. I don’t want to victim blame, but—”

“What do you mean?” I ask angrily. He definitely doesn’t want to start victim blaming in front of me or he will be in trouble.

“Well, he was found full of drugs.” Brian shrugs. “It’s a shame. Seems like he’s gotten in with a bad crowd. It’s happening to more and more kids these days. The cops are guessing that it was just an accident, but I think they still need to investigate, don’t you? Chances are he wasn’t doing the drugs on his own. I believe someone knows what happened to him, whether he fell or whatever, but they are too scared to come forward because then we will all know they are doing drugs as well.” He shakes his head as if it’s all silly nonsense, but that sends anger careering through my veins.

If anyone knows anything about this, it’s Harley Sintaz, alpha of the Nightshade Hunters Wolf Pack. They are more than a pack these days, having basically turned themselves into the mafia, funneling drugs through Iron Mountain and into the rest of the state and country beyond.

“So, they are just ruling it as an accident?” I throw my hands in the air in frustration. The police need to do better. It drives me crazy that they aren’t doing more. “That’s it? That can’t be right. We need to say something, Brian. We need to make sure the cops are on this.”

“Well, they said they would be. When I spoke them earlier, they said they are already working on it and will have some answers soon.”

“I know they said that, but have you seen them do anything? Because they have let the Nightshade Hunters do what they want for what feels like forever.”

Brian recoils, showing how the whole town feels about this pack. Everyone is afraid of them. And that’s exactly what Harley wants, which is why I get so freaking irritated. Someone is going to have to take them down somehow. We can’t just leave things as they are or Iron Mountain will die off. Tourists will stop coming if the crime rate rises, and then everyone will be forced out of business and will have to move away, including me. This is my home. If I ever leave, I want it to be my decision, not the freaking Nightshade Hunters. I hate them, and I’ll hate them even more if they ruin my life by making me leave it all behind.

If the police aren’t going to take care of them, then someone will have to. Maybe even my father. Not that he’ll be happy to hear from me, especially not with such a big request. When I’m standing right in front of him, it’s very difficult for him to pretend that I don’t exist. But if I have to face him to keep my home town safe, then I will, because I donotwant to come across another body in the lake like that. I don’t want to any more kids to die because ofthem.

2

RODDRUR

“What did youdo?” Griffin demands as he paces up and down in my cave with his eyebrows knotted together in concern. It would be funny to see him all worked up like this if it was under different circumstances. “I can’t believe you flew out there in day lightknowingthat your scales glitter green in the sun. Everyone will know you are here now. You are going to be in so much trouble.”

What do I tell him? That I couldn’t help myself because I’m stupidly attracted to the Iron Mountain boat tour guide? That I’ve fallen for her soft features and her stark black hair? That her curvy body drives me wild? Yeah, I don’t think that will go down well.

“I heard some commotion out on the lake and decided to take a look,” I say, trying my hardest to defend myself. “And it’s a good thing I did, because I saw that poor boy being pulled from the lake. It’s pretty obvious that something bad happened to him.”

Griffin snorts with derision. “You can’t put us all in danger because you think you might have seen something. If the wolves find out you are here, particularly the Nightshade Hunters, they will sell you out to the dragons who want to take out the remaining members of the Andredes royal bloodline so that anarchy can ensue. You know as well as I do there are dragons out there who not only want to ruleus,” he presses his hands to his chest to highlight his point, “but the humans and the other shifters as well. They will start a war if that’s what it takes. You have to stay where you are and hidden so they don’t find you. We don’t want anyone to get an indication of where you are.”

I know exactly what he’s trying to tell me, and it isn’t like I don’t understand completely, I don’t want to be killed for my blood line either, but doesn’t he know how boring it is to be stuck in one place? Unable to go anywhere just because I happened to be born intothisparticular dragon body.

I have been here for a long time and hiding out is getting old. Really old. I want more from my life. Not all that danger stuff he’s talking about, but a chance to do things, like speak to that beautiful woman on the boat. I have a lot of time on my hands, so I think about her a lot. I imagine what it would be like to get to know her, to kiss her soft lips…

“Therearegoing to be photos of you,” Griffin continues, not sensing the inner turmoil I’m struggling with. “We will have to find a way to counteract that. I’m sure I can make sure it’s all passed off as a hoax. After all, your legend is what draws a lot of the tourists to Iron Mountain, so why wouldn’t the people working here try to milk that? It makes perfect sense to me. We can easily spin your presence that way.”

I have faith in Griffin. He’s taken care of things for me for a long time now. No one has ever found me, despite the rumors and the legends surrounding me. I’m lucky to have him, I know that, I just wish he understood me more. I wish he could see how frustrated I am.

I go back to daydreaming about the beautiful girl on the boat because it beats getting lost in the depression threatening to swallow me whole. I imagine her living in my cave with me, brightening up every single day.

“…I know the cops are worried about the lady from the tour boat, Fern…”

I snap to attention when he mentions the one person I’m actually thinking of. Her name is Fern? In all the time I’ve been watching her, I never learned her name. But Griffin knows it. And I’m happy for it, because I am greedy for any information on her.

“Fern what?” I demand, maybe a little too eagerly, because Griffin shoots me a strange look.

“Fern might cause the police some problems. She doesn’t want to sit around and let the Nightshade Hunters get away with what they have been doing. Apparently, she has been very vocal to the police about it, but they are hesitant to act on her worries.”

“Scared?” I scoff. “Or they are being bought off? Because I don’t doubt either.”

Griffin shrugs. “I don’t know, but there must be some reason they don’t want to stop the drug trafficking, and why they don’t want Fern looking in to it. She seems like a stubborn person, though, so I don’t think she will listen to them.”

I cock my head to one side and look at him curiously. “What are you thinking, Griffin? You have that look of a man with a plan. I’m intrigued to know more.”

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