Page 61 of Wolf Unseen

“Little dude, I have to go help Tate. Come with me and then we can talk about shit.” Hellfire, we had a lot to talk about, not least how this was going to work. My parents would lose their ever-loving shit when they heard I’d found my fated mate.

Mom would be so happy. Dad, not so much.

The Montes pack was not known for its progressive attitudes toward same-sex relationships. But I didn’t give a fuck about that. Tate would understand, and he was the next alpha. Our current alpha could shove a cactus up his ass and do a hula dance for all I cared.

“I have to go,” my mate whispered, still refusing to look me in the eye. Was he upset? Did he think I wasn’t good enough for him?

I mean, sure, I had a rep, but I hadn’t fucked another shifter since this little dude got under my skin.

My phone buzzed. Probably Tate again.

There wasn’t time to discuss the matter. Riley would have to come with me. I couldn’t protect him if he went his own way, and the forest was dangerous at night.

“It’s not safe,” I barked, trying real hard to be patient. And failing miserably from the mutinous glare the wolf shot me.

“Fuck off, Tobias. One stupid kiss does not mean you fucking own my ass!”

I bristled with anger. “Oh I own your ass, alright, little wolf. So come with me right the fuck now or I’ll spank you so fucking hard you won’t be able to sit down for a month!”

That threat went down badly. My feisty little mate huffed angrily before punching me in the junk—again!

I hunched over in agony, desperately trying not to retch. Meanwhile, my goddess-blessed mate ran off into the night without a backward glance.

“Fuck my life,” I gasped, before grinning like a loon.

At least life as a mated male would never be boring.

36

Tate

It took four of us to carry Tank out to my truck, which I’d left down a side track. Honestly, the bastard needed to go on a fucking diet, or better still, not lose his shit so badly Markus had to use a mage stun gun on him.

As much as I disliked the croc shifters, Markus had his uses, and the cold-blooded bastard didn’t think twice about knocking Tank out when he shifted into his monstrous wolf.

Tank’s wolf was fucking feral half the time, and none of us needed the hassle of cleaning up after a massacre.

I hoped Tank was ready for the fallout because Marcel Frosthaven would not take kindly to hearing his son had lost control of his wolf. Control was everything to a pack alpha. Lose control of your animal and you lose control of your pack. Worse still, the Supernatural Council had a habit of arresting shifters they viewed as problematic.

Such shifters disappeared, never to be seen again.

Tobias turned to me as I clambered into the driver’s seat. “What set him off?”

Markus and his sidekick had already left. No doubt he’d be straight on the phone to both our fathers, spilling his guts.

Tobias’s leg jiggled nervously as I gunned the engine and headed back toward campus.

“No idea,” I replied with a tired shrug. He’d been fine until just before the fight with the bear shifter. Although now that I thought about it, he’d been acting strange for a few days.

“He needs to get laid,” Tobias muttered. Of course he’d think that. Sex was his answer to everything.

I ignored the unhelpful suggestion. Tank had never exhibited interest in females or males, so I doubted a lack of sex was the problem. It wasn’t until we turned into the tree-lined driveway that led to the academy’s gates that Tobias voiced what I’d been thinking.

“Could it be the early signs of feral shifter disease?”

Nobody knew what caused feral shifter disease. The first cases of feral shifter disease emerged several years ago, but in the last twelve months, there’d been whispers of ever greater numbers of affected shifters. Mostly wolves and bears.

The Shifter Council had reassured us all that cases were rare and not to worry. The problem was, nobody knew what caused perfectly healthy shifters to regress into feral, aggressive creatures that eventually became so dangerous that the only option was to put them down.