Page 68

Taking a deep breath, I tried to do as the Nate voice in my head told me. Relax. Release. Trust. With an effort, I reached out to my wolf and opened my mind to her.

“Just like that.”

That encouragement was exactly what I needed.

After a moment of vertigo, I found myself curled up on the floor in my wolf form, warm, dry fur covering me. The warmth was almost more than I’d hoped for. Relief washed through me, and I curled even tighter into myself, enjoying the comfort of being dry and cozy.

“Good job,” the Nate voice murmured in my mind.

Responding to that imaginary voice, my wolf let out a whine of desire.

She wanted him as much as I did. Now that basic survival had been taken care of, I could descend into my misery at losing him.

Would I ever see him again? I didn’t know, and that uncertainty ate at me.

All I wanted was to have him here, to apologize for how things ended.

Even a few minutes to tell him I was sorry would be better than this.

“Why didn’t you say all that this morning?” the Nate-voice said in my head.

I had no answer to that.

I tried to figure out what more I could have done to de-escalate the fight and let us both get our points across without the anger and hurt, but a smell caught my attention. It was familiar and getting stronger.

Raising my head, I sniffed the air hesitantly.

Was that really what I thought it was? Slowly, I uncoiled my body and stood on my four paws, sucking in great gulps of air as the scent wound its way into my brain.

Motor oil, gasoline, and a manly musk I would recognize anywhere.

Throwing my head back, I released a deep, booming howl.

The sound echoed out into the valley and the mountains surrounding me. I waited, scanning the trees hopefully as the sound of the howl faded. My excitement and hope slowly vanished as the echoes died. Maybe I was wrong. I’d hallucinated the scent like I had hallucinated seeing Lesley and Nate.

Hanging my head in disappointment, I went to lay back down when an answering howl broke through the quiet. My fur stood on end, not in fear or anger but in surprise and happiness. I recognized that howl. It wasn’t a hallucination.

I unleashed an answering call of my own, and another howl answered, closer this time.

Nate?

I sprinted out onto the sodden grass, rushing toward the sound of his wolf, my paws digging in the wet mud as I ran. Another howl, this one close enough that I could practically feel the sound reverberating in my bones.

He’d found me!

A familiar, lithe, and powerful wolf erupted from the forest, sprinting toward me.

Had I been in my human form, I probably would have burst into tears.

Unlike my amorphous daydreams and hallucinations, Nate stood out in stark contrast to the world around him.

Solid and alive. He was real. He was here. This was no fantasy.

Nate galloped forward, moving with a speed I could barely believe was possible. The sight and smell of him urged me forward. His scent was now strong enough to envelop me. It reminded me of safety, of strength, of home .

His wolf bounded into me, nuzzling against me, running his muzzle across mine.

I wound my body against his, nearly bouncing in my excitement to see him.

Then, with an effort, I shifted back to my human form, the transition getting easier each time.

Within seconds, Nate had me in his human arms, pulling me tight against his chest. My knees buckled, and I sagged into his hold.

Pressing my face into his chest, I took a deep breath, letting his smell wash across me.

Desire coursed through me. Our fight forgotten, a bone-deep need filled me as his arms wrapped around me.

Exhaustion dug its claws into my mind. Safe in Nate’s arms, the adrenaline that had kept me going the last few hours was rapidly depleting, vanishing, leaving me a husk of my former self.

“Are you okay?” Nate asked, cupping my cheeks and staring into my eyes. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. A little cold, a lot dirty, and really fucking tired.”

Another wolf bolted from the woods, and I flinched.

Rick? Had he tracked me all this way? Dear God, no…

Instead of attacking, the wolf slowed to a trot, then shifted into a man roughly my age with a heavy beard. He didn’t look angry or threatening. Instead, he had a satisfied smile on his face.

“Looks like you were right about those tracks we saw, my friend,” he said, grinning at Nate. The man caught my eye and held his hands up in surrender when he saw my apprehension. “My name is Joseph Christopher Watts. JC. We spoke on the phone earlier?”

Relief slashed through the fear when I recognized his voice. “Oh, yeah,” I muttered.

Before I could say more, the edges of my vision went gray and fuzzy. Fear, panic, and exhaustion, coupled with the fading adrenaline and mild hypothermia, took hold like the fingers of some vengeful god and dragged me down.

“Cam? Cameron?” Nate said.

But his voice had a distant quality, like he was calling to me from down a long corridor.

I woke up in a warm bed with sheets pulled up to my chest. When my eyes fluttered open, I found myself in a darkened room. The only light came from a small lamp on the nightstand. A low beeping and whirring sound came from somewhere beside me.

“ Mija ?”

Flinching, I turned my head. My mother sat beside the bed. That was when I saw the monitors and other telltale signs that told me I was in a hospital room.

What?

“Mama?” I said, surprised at how rough my voice was. “Where am I?”

Mom glanced around with a little frown of confusion on her face. She tucked a strand of dark black hair behind her ear. The face that looked down at me was so young and beautiful, it could have belonged to my older sister instead of my mother.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “It’s a clinic of some sort. Very strange place. I’ve never seen anything like it. Your friend Nate called me with the address and told me what happened.” She leaned forward and brushed hair from my forehead. “Are you all right, my girl?”

How the hell did I answer that? How was she even here? Nate and Ollie had told me it was against every rule in the shifter world to tell humans.

“Where’s Nate?” I asked, my mind latching onto that desire and need. My inner wolf thrashed unhappily. She wanted him here. I wanted him here.

“He’s been waiting for you to wake up. He went to go check on his friend, another man who’s here. His name is Ollie, I think.”

Ollie. Oh, shit. I’d almost forgotten about him.

“Ollie’s okay?” I asked, sitting up in bed. “I never saw him come out of the woods. Did Rick kill him?”

The thought alone made me want to vomit. The world tilted and spun, and I slumped against the pillow as nausea and light-headedness threatened to toss me back into an unconscious stupor.

“Lie down,” Mom chided. “The doctor said you were extremely dehydrated. Ollie seems to be fine. Concussion and broken ribs, but he looks remarkably good. I can barely tell he was hurt. Nate says they’re keeping him an extra day to be safe.”

“Oh, thank God.” I put a hand to my head, trying to massage away the headache that was forming right behind my eyes.

“If what Nate tells me is true, then I owe him and those two other boys all the arepas they can eat,” Mom said.

“I’ll take that deal,” JC said from the doorway.

Snapping my head up, I caught sight of the man as he stepped into my room.

He was smiling, and his eyes betrayed nothing but warmth and good humor.

JC was not what I’d expected. From the way Nate had explained things to me, a pack alpha was the top guy.

The general or king, so to speak. I’d anticipated a grizzled, grumpy old man.

This guy looked like he was my age, though he did have an air of power and confidence about him.

Not only that, but there was some kind of aura around him. Not visible, more like a subtle energy my wolf could sense. It poured off him in waves, and I knew instinctively this man was a true leader.

“Oh, hello there,” Mom said. “You’re JC, right? Nate pointed you out earlier.”

“In the flesh,” he said with a bow of his head.

“Well, the offer stands.” Mom glanced up and down at his broad shoulders and muscular legs. “Though, I may have to make several batches if you eat as much as you look like you can.”

JC threw his head back and laughed in a pleasant baritone. I already liked this man, and I didn’t even know him. A good sign, I hoped.

“Ms. Torres, would you mind if I spoke to your daughter for a few minutes?” JC asked when he stopped laughing. “One on one. I have a few questions I need answered.”

Mom glanced at me, a worried look in her eyes.

I had no idea exactly what they’d told her.

Secrecy was paramount to shifters, according to Nate.

I doubted they’d told her the full truth.

Some kind of intricate tale had been woven, I was sure.

My mother didn’t look distrustful of JC, but she was eyeing me in that way only a mother could, asking me whether I was okay with it.

Whatever answer I gave, she’d go with it.

Patting her hand, I said, “It’s fine, Mom. Seriously.”

“If you say so.” She stood and walked to the door. Before she stepped out, she put a hand on JC’s shoulder. “If you upset her, the deal’s off, and you’ll have to answer to me.”

JC grinned, but when he saw the intense look on my mother’s face, the smile slid away. He nodded hesitantly. “Uh, sure, yeah. Got it.”

Mom grunted in approval, then winked at me before heading out. JC watched her go, then closed the door until the door closed.

“She’s intense,” JC said, pointing a thumb at the door.

“Yes, she is.” A little thrill of pride surged through me.

For all the mistakes Mom had made over the years, the one thing I could count on was her fierce protectiveness when it came to her children.

She’d walk through fire for me or my little brother Gael.

“Sophia Torres doesn’t take shit from anybody when it comes to her kids.

I wish she was the same way when it came to her own heart,” I added sadly.

JC sat down in the chair beside my bed. “What you did today was really impressive. Going toe to toe with a shifter after only having turned as recently as you did? Not only that, but an armed shifter? Not many could have done what you did and come out alive. How are you feeling?”

“Fine, I guess.” I touched my hair. It wasn’t caked with mud anymore. “I guess you guys gave me a bath?”

“One of the nurses,” JC clarified. “You were… well, there’s no way to put this nicely. You were fucking gross when we found you.”

I let out a snort. Now that I was warm, dry, and safe, it was easier to laugh at the situation. Nate was down the hall, and having his presence near me was a comfort. Recalling it now, my flight through the woods was more like a bad dream than reality.

“Thanks,” I said. “The mud covered my scent. It’s how I got away from Rick.”

JC stared at me for several seconds, then shook his head slowly.

“I’ll be damned. I never would have thought of that.

Good to know,” he added with a grin. “You’re obviously a very capable woman, Cameron.

I’m sure that will translate into you being a formidable wolf, once you’ve gotten your bearings. ”

The praise brought a warm glow to my cheeks. It reminded me of a teacher or my boss giving me approval for a job well done. JC, though young, gave off some sort of benevolent uncle or mentor vibes. Hopefully, this would continue, and I could integrate into his pack with his help.

I wished Nate was in the room with us. He’d always spoken about packs in a hesitant and aloof sort of way, but maybe if this man treated Nate the same way he was treating me, Nate would change his mind.

JC leaned forward and gave me a pained smile. “I’m very sorry your first days as a shifter have been like this. You have to understand, humans being turned is not something we typically deal with. It’s fairly rare.”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “Nate and Ollie both said that.”

“Speaking of that,” he went on. “Can you give me your side of the story? I’ve heard from Ollie, and I’ve spoken to Nate, but I’d really like to hear what you have to say about all this.”

I took a deep, steadying breath, then started from the beginning with the attack in the garage.

Certain parts of the story sounded insane as the words tumbled from my mouth.

JC never mocked or questioned the story, though.

Even the crazy parts like Rick nearly blowing Nate’s brains out, or the feral attacking us at the campground.

All he did was nod along, listening intently and never once interrupting.

At one point, he even cracked a joke to relieve some of the tension when I was describing my flight through the woods.

“Who knows,” he’d said when I talked about covering myself in mud. “Maybe some hiker got a photo of you, and they’ll tell their kids they saw Bigfoot or a swamp monster or something.”

Was the entire pack so warm and welcoming?

If so, I wanted to be a part of it. My whole life, I’d craved the structure and support of something .

I’d hoped marrying an established person like Rick would provide that feeling, that I’d have someone to lean on and give me what I was lacking.

Looking back, I realized that had been a childish thought, and I couldn’t believe I’d actually thought that would make me whole.

Would the entire pack be so familial with me? Maybe they could even help get Mom and Gael out of that shitty apartment. Though, that was probably too much to hope for. What I could hope for was perhaps changing Nate’s mind. If I couldn’t get him to choose pack life, maybe JC could.

I’d do whatever I needed to do to get Nate to stay. The loss of him this morning had shown me something I doubted I’d ever realized before. I needed him in a way I couldn’t explain, not even to myself.