Page 8 of Blue Blood Wolf (Big Wolf on Campus #6)

BASH

I was moving before I even fully understood what was going on. All I knew was that Stacia, my mate, was terrified, and I wasn’t there beside her, and that was enough to have my wolf throwing itself against the cage of my body.

Stone had burst into a run when I did, keeping pace. “What is it? What’s going on?”

I didn’t know. I didn’t know where she was, but I had to go , I had to find her. I tried to tell him that, but all that came out was a guttural snarl.

Stone’s head cocked to the side as we ran. “Hear that?” he asked, grim. “Motorcycles on campus.”

Most students didn’t ride on the campus, which meant that there was a good chance it was the one-bloods kicking up trouble again. It was a chance for me to finally catch at least one of them, who could hopefully lead me back to whoever was behind their group.

But Stacia was in trouble. I’d burn the bloody world for her. It wasn’t even a choice.

Of course, there was a chance that they were the trouble she was in. Not knowing was going to drive me mad.

As we raced past the gym, a crowd of our fellow Dire Wolves came pelting out, with Eli in the lead and Ty close on his heels. Nik was with them, and Kirill, and a few others whose names I couldn’t remember past the driving beat of Stacia’s fear.

“What’s going on?” Stone called to the others.

“One-bloods, at the library,” Eli said, shortly. “Charlie’s there, and I’m not letting one of those pricks lay a finger on her.”

“Is Stacia with her?” I almost didn’t recognize my own voice. The question came out as more of a growl than words.

Eli nodded, his face grim. “Yeah. Hunter too. And a bunch of humans.”

That was all I needed to hear. My Stacia, my gorgeous American girl, was in the same vicinity as a bunch of one-bloods.

I leapt forward and let the wolf out.

Clothing tore, and wasn’t that going to be a bugger later. But I didn’t care. Just like I didn’t care about the voices calling behind me. There was nothing but the grass moving beneath me as I raced to close the distance.

I heard the soft thudding of feet coming up beside me and risked glancing back just enough to see an enormous white wolf keeping pace. Stone.

A wolf’s body isn’t really meant for nodding or anything human like that, but I flicked my ears toward him, glad for the backup.

The wolf was far faster than the man, and just a few seconds later, we tore across the green to the library’s secluded courtyard. There was a whole pack of one-bloods there, and one of them had even started to shift, his skin splitting and his bones cracking, before we’d gotten there. He was a big hulking brute, snarling at the small woman standing on the front steps, her eyes wide and her skin soft, pale, and glowing in the moonlight.

Glowing for me.

Stacia.

Something in me soared at the sight of her but crashed back to earth a second later to realize that my mate was alone, undefended except for… strangely a dragon, masquerading as a professor standing beside her as she faced down an enormous werewolf, her book bag clutched in her hands like a sword.

The one-blood lunged forward, and I put on another burst of speed, knowing I wasn’t going to get there in time.

A book came sailing out the door of the library to slam into the one-blood’s head and knock it to the side with a furious snarl. From inside the library came a woman’s happy little, “Yes!” and then a hail of books came raining down on the one-bloods assembled there.

I didn’t care. They could have dropped a house on the grass. All that mattered was that it distracted the shifted one-blood long enough for me to catch up.

It was time to show those disgusting upstarts just how we did things in Bashkiria.

I slammed into his side with a furious snarl, laying in with teeth and claws. Like all cowards when faced with a serious opponent, the one-blood tried to bolt. I let him go after giving him a good bite across the shoulder to remember me by. I had bigger things to worry about.

Then, finally, Stacia was there, staring at me with wide eyes.

Because I was a wolf.

I froze. Would she scream? Would she run? Did she see me as an animal? A monster? It felt like someone had scooped out my guts and replaced them with concrete.

But she just swallowed hard and licked that perfect, plump bottom lip of hers.

“Bash?”

My heart leapt. She knew me. She saw me. My mate wasn’t afraid, not of me. I wanted to throw my head back and give thanks to the Goddess.

“Bash, look out!”

I felt the rush at my back and twisted to the side, sinking my fangs into the one-blood who’d tried to ambush me.

The rest of the Dire Wolves burst onto the scene, and the rest of the one-bloods all either decided to ditch their human forms or make a run for it. Stone laid into the leader, snarls ripping through the air as fur flew. Ty and Eli made for the library, until two faces appeared in the window and the girls started waving.

That explained the rain of books then.

The pair of them didn’t waste any more time, bursting free in a wave of fur and fangs and throwing themselves into the fight.

I gave Stacia a quick once-over, checking for injuries, but I didn’t scent any blood. Just the faintest hint of ripe peaches that I’d been afraid I might never smell again.

I turned back to the one-blood under my claws.

My mate was there, and she wasn’t afraid of me. What was a fight with a bunch of pathetic excuses for werewolves compared to that? I could do bloody anything, so long as Stacia was with me.