Page 31 of The Sacred Wolf

“Got it, boss.” He bowed, pinning his ears back in deference.

It was more gratifying instructing Evan than I usually let myself admit. Something about bringing one of my former human friends into my world and teaching them something for once was like a restoration of balance. I’d always been the weird, uninitiated one, at everything. Now, I was in my element, and he was the one who was acclimating.

“Okay. Let’s try the wrestling move again. I’ll let you get me by the neck but will roll out of it unless you can figure out how to keep me pinned…without drawing blood, get it?”

He stood, blinking his stormy blue eyes in understanding, and I readied myself. This was honestly good practice for me. Opening myself up to attack and then working to reverse the odds could only help me close the gap with other well-trained Alphas. If I didn’t end up mating with Sebastian, I’d have to challenge Kiana.

A future I didn’t relish. Maybe even less so after attending yesterday’s meeting. Did I really want to spend the rest of my life making trade agreements and debating whether or not we should issue a public statement over the number of bared male butts on a silly shifter streaming series?

Evan slammed into me from the side and locked his jaws on my neck.

Bastard!

Gasping, I fumbled in my effort to break free.

Did I really just tell myself this practice was welcome?

I took all four paws and shoved upward as hard as possible, but Evan smashed his full weight down onto me. Air whooshed from my lungs, and his jaws locked on my neck. I struggled to flip, but his fangs held me down, stopping just short of tearing.

I snarled and snapped at his shoulder, but he turned, spinning me onto my other side, still without losing his grip. If this had been an actual fight, he would have torn my neck wide open by now.

“Give,” I whined.

“Yeeeeesssss!” He let go and leaped upward, twisting in the air with joy, so much like an actual pup in that moment that I chuffed a wolf-style actual LOL. He’d done well, even if I had been distracted.

“You’re getting better at this.” I shifted in stride and walked over to him, crouching so my nose touched his wolf’s nose. I grabbed his mane with both hands and scratched deeply, ruffling his fur.

He stretched upward like a cat in contentment and let out a soft, happy bark before shifting in my hands. I mussed his human hair and plopped down on the hard floor. Evan settled in beside me, long legs stretched in front of us, straining his shiftskin with muscles from years of dance training for his failed acting career. I thought about my mother, giving up her dreams for a life that she must have known would lead only to motherhood. The same fate that would await me if I chose Sebastian over the Bronx…

“That was good, yeah?” Evan swept both hands through his sweaty hair.

“It was, my friend. You keep at this, and soon no one will ever know you weren’t born a shifter.” I mock shoved him with my shoulder, still panting from the exertion.

I didn’t tell him I’d been lost in my thoughts. For one thing, I didn’t want him picking my brain about those thoughts, since I had no idea exactly what they meant yet. For a month now, I’d resisted the idea that Sebastian was my fated, but now that I’d come up with this other theory… Well, it would be a lot easier if fate would just make this decision for me. If it was real for him, where was it for me?

I chewed on my lower lip. Had Mateo been trying to tell me that Damien might be the reason that I didn’t feel the fate bond with Sebastian? We all knew Damien was obsessed with Sebastian mating with Kiana, but why? I’d originally assumed it was just because he hated me personally, but once he revealed he didn’t want Kiana to mate with anyone at all if not with Sebastian…

It didn’t make sense yet, but Mateo was a Beta too, just like Damien, so if he thought it was within a Beta’s powers—especially one who was off-the-charts powerful like Damien—to affect a fate bond, then I had to consider the possibility…

That Sebastian might actually be our fated?

And I don’t feel it because of Damien’s influence?

Yes.

But how can he influence me when he’s not here?

There’s more than one way to influence someone.

Huh?!

“You still with me, boss?” Evan nudged my shoulder. “You’re about to chew that lip off, and I don’t think Little Pack Daddy—”

“Sorry. Yes, I’m here. Just a little tired.” I rubbed my temples for effect. “I would say that yesterday was a day, but I feel like all the days are like that now. I mean, it’s been what? A whole month since my world went nuclear?”

“Good thing the Plaza has a bunker,” he joked, drawing a long-overdue smile from me. But it washed away under a wave of guilt. To think that my world had gone nuclear when he had somehow taken becoming a wolf in stride. Like my mother, he’d had to leave everything he loved behind to become part of a pack that would never value the fullness of his former life.

“You know what would cheer you up and get all this shifter business off your mind?” Evan stood and offered me his hand.

---