Page 6 of Blue Blood Wolf (Big Wolf on Campus #6)

BASH

I n three days, I’d crossed an ocean, come to a foreign country, met the woman destined by fate to be mine, discovered the glory of her body and what we could have together, and lost her. It was an impressive cock up, even in my family. It was like I’d watched the example of my scandal-loving cousins, and then decided to do a more impressive job on a speed run.

Bollocks.

I couldn’t find Stacia, I had no way to contact her.

She wasn’t answering me across the bond that had formed when I’d claimed her, which, of course, I’d never gotten the chance to explain to her at all.

I could still feel her if I closed my eyes and held my breath. Just a flutter of awareness, enough to know that she was still in the area and safe, though upset. And who could bloody blame her for that?

It would have been one thing to have a whirlwind romance with a gorgeous American bird. Sow my oats, as they say, leave her with a smile and some fond memories. But the idea of never seeing Stacia again, it had my wolf threatening to burst out of my skin to track her down the old-fashioned way.

And wouldn’t that just be the cherry on top, ambushing her as an enormous wolf. Because I hadn’t quite done enough screwing things up yet.

I had a choice to make, search for Stacia directly, with very few clues, or perhaps seek out my new friends on the Dire Wolves football team. While they knew me by reputation, a few short days might be too soon to truly call them friends. I wasn’t sure I’d trust them so quickly if the situation were reversed.

Because of course, I also hadn’t made any progress on tracking down the one-bloods. They were making their presence felt around the campus, but they didn’t exactly hang about. I knew I was on the right track, just like I’d told Mother, but actually being able to catch up to them wasn’t working out as well as I’d hoped.

So, all in all, my trip so far was a royal cock up.

No, I wouldn’t say that. If I hadn’t come to Bay State University, I’d have never met Stacia, and I would have gone on being a miserable sod, never knowing what I was missing out on.

It was just hard to keep that in mind when I couldn’t bloody find her. Some tracker I was.

I’d ended up just wandering the campus, trying to catch a whiff of delectable ripe peaches or to stumble across some one-blood plot in the act, and that was going about as well as the rest of my day had, baring a few far too short hours with my gorgeous mate., giving her all the orgasms she wanted, and then more.

“Hey, Bash.”

Few enough people knew that name that I actually dragged myself up out of the impressive bout of brooding I had going on in time to see Stone Silver making his way across the quad toward me.

We’d hit it off rather well in my time at Bay State, however brief it had been. He was a bit of a fish out of water too. Recruited from somewhere out in Colorado to be a Dire Wolf and as an extra set of fangs to handle the one-bloods. Apparently the Silver pack out there grew them big, because Stone was bloody huge.

It had been nice though. The other Dire Wolf players had mostly all known each other for years now. Having another new bloke around, we’d kind of ended up gravitating toward each other, and I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed having a pack around me until I’d showed up for football practice.

Not all the players were werewolves, but enough of them were. It had helped keep me steady. We tend to form groups by nature, and true lone wolves can go a bit odd if they’re alone for too long. They can get mean without the bonds to help. Of course, a bad bunch can go mean too, depending on who their alpha is. Just look at the one-bloods.

Stone hitched his bag a bit higher up on his shoulder, tree trunk legs eating up the distance between us, and I waited for him to catch up.

He gave me a look, his brow furrowed. “You good?”

And wasn’t that the bloody question? I prodded at the mate bond in my head again, trying to glean some hint of where Stacia might be or with who. But other than the vague echo that she was alright, or at least not in immediate danger, there was nothing.

No. I wasn’t good. Not by a long shot.

“I don’t know how to answer that,” I admitted, and it was probably the most honest thing I’d said since I set foot in this country.

Stone didn’t make a joke or push me to talk. I got the feeling it wasn’t really his way, and that was probably why we’d gotten on so well. He just fell into step beside me, following the aimless path I’d been walking. He’d told me that he was one of five brothers and that someone was always talking, so he’d just kind of fallen into place as the quiet one out of self-defense for his ears.

“Do you believe in fated mates?” I blurted out, and then sincerely thought about kicking myself in the arse.

Stone gave me a look like I was crazy, which I probably deserved.

“Yeah. Of course.”

That hadn’t been the response I’d been expecting. In Bashkiria, the idea of having one perfect fated mate was a fairy tale, something children might believe in. We mated for alliances and political gain. I’d assumed that was what I’d be going home to when my assignment was done. Some done-up aristocrat that my parents had picked out.

But that was before I’d known Stacia was mine . I’d bitten her. I’d claimed her. I’d held her in my arms as she writhed and gave that little hitching cry and came around my cock. The idea of letting her go, just going home and marrying some other wolftress, it made my stomach clench like I was going to be sick.

No. It wasn’t going to happen. I owed my people a good queen, and Stacia would be exactly what we needed. I’d make whatever reforms were necessary, I’d fight the entire bloody parliament if I had to. Mother had already agreed, and with her backing, I could do anything.

Anything except find my mate, tell her how I felt, and oh yes, let her know that I was a bloody werewolf.

What if she didn’t take it well? What if she was frightened, ran from me? It wasn’t as though I’d done anything to inspire her trust. I hadn’t even been honest about who I bloody was.

But, even as royal mad as she was, she hadn’t looked at me and seen Prince Ruslan. She’d just seen Bash, and she’d decided that was who she wanted.

There weren’t many women in the world that wanted me just for me. I was one lucky fool that fate had pushed her into my path.

It would be nice if it could give us another little nudge now.

Stone was still quiet, just walking beside me, content to let me stew. His easy presence was what let me finally spit out the fears tearing me up like a claw from the inside out.

“I fucked up. I fucked up so hard, I don’t even know if I can fix it.”

Stone stayed quiet, but it was obvious he was still listening.

“I found my mate. I didn’t think she existed, but I found her. And I claimed her.”

A smile broke out over Stone’s face, and he thumped me on the back hard enough that a human probably would have ended up eating dirt.

“That’s great. Happy for you, man.”

And for that second, I was happy too. Remembering Stacia’s laugh, how soft her skin was, all her bloody gorgeous curves.

And then it all crashed back to earth.

“Yeah. Thanks. Except she’s human, I lied to her about who I was, and she still doesn’t know I’m a wolf.”

Stone winced.

“And because, of course, if I’m going to bollock up my entire life, I’m going to do a right proper job of it, I claimed her and then got dragged away, literally, and left her there.”

Stone sighed. “Dude.”

“And now I can’t find her. I don’t have her number, I don’t know where she lives, so I’m just wandering around like a useless tit and hoping I’ll get the chance to see her again before I end up leaving the bloody country.”

No. I wouldn’t be leaving. Not until I’d seen her. Unless Stacia told me to my face to leave her, it wasn’t going to happen.

“We could go hunt something.”

It was such an odd thing to say that I tripped. “What?”

Stone shrugged. “Just head to the woods, change, hunt something down. My mother always took apologies better with food.”

“She’s human. Human women don’t usually like gifts of dead animals.”

Stone frowned. “Yeah. That does make it harder.”

“Besides,” my fingers curled into fists, claws pressing at the tips from the inside, “there’s only one thing I want to hunt right now.”

That made Stone crack a smile, one that had a few too many sharp teeth in it. “A gift of a mangled one-blood probably wouldn’t go over well with a human woman either.”

I almost laughed. But then a wave of icy terror slammed into me across the bond, and it nearly sent me to my bloody knees.

Stacia.

She was in danger.

“I’m coming, my heart. I will find you.”