Page 5 of Rogue If You Want To (Fur-Ever Mountain Pack #2)

TORIN

I searched for hours, getting more desperate every minute. And just before dusk, I followed a trail of blood over sharp rocks that must have fallen from the cliff face during the last storm.

And I found him.

He was covered in blood, and at the sight of his mangled flesh, I thought he was dead. And I wanted to be gone too if he no longer had a pulse. But I picked up his labored breathing as his chest rose ever so slightly, and I fell to my knees, ignoring the pain from the rocks.

His hair was matted with blood and dirt, his nails were torn, and his skin had peeled back to reveal deep, gaping wounds. No human did that. It was an animal, one with sharp claws, but not a wolf. The angle of the wounds suggested a large animal whose claws or talons sliced downward from a height.

My mate’s only hope for survival was to shift. While taking his animal form wouldn’t heal his wounds instantly, it would save his life and he wouldn’t need medical attention.

The stench of blood and flesh was overwhelming, especially for my shifter senses, but it was my heart that was affected more than by what I was witnessing and smelling. This was my mate, and his life was ebbing away.

“Hey, I need you to shift. Can you do that?”

His eyes fluttered open and fixed on my face, but he wasn’t seeing me. Or he was and he thought I was going to hurt him too. His glazed expression accompanied by the moaning signaled he might lose consciousness and I’d never get him to shift. So I tried a different approach.

“I’m Torin. What’s your name?”

He mumbled, and I placed my ear close to his bruised lips. Despite his injuries, his scent wasn’t diminished, but instead of intoxicating, it was imploring me to save him.

I vowed that I would. “I’m here and I’m not leaving.” I brushed the hair off his brow. My fingers slid through the congealed blood, and anger festered inside me at who would do this and leave my mate to die.

“Otto.” That one word must have taken a huge effort.

“Otto, can you shift? You won’t be in so much pain and I can get you patched up.”

He parted his lips, but the effort of speaking must have been too much and he closed his eyes.

I caught a whiff of something that reminded me of water.

Not that water had a smell, unless it was bacteria in it causing a stink.

No, what I scented was maybe water laden with dead leaves, so a body of fresh water.

Perhaps my mate’s beast was an aquatic animal.

Is he dead? Bang his chest, Torin. You know how to do that .

He’s still breathing. But we can’t stay here . He might die.

Driving back down the mountain would take an hour, but from Saxon’s directions, I was close to the Stoney River place.

They might have a healer that Mr. Garrison said was common in traditional packs.

Or they might be able to convince Otto’s beast to shift.

I had no experience with talking to beasts, but surely they would.

Trying not to injure Otto more than he already was, I bent low and scooped him up. He must have been semi-conscious because he groaned and his body tensed. I whispered that I was taking him to someone who could help. Though if they refused, he was screwed.

And it was dark. I thanked the goddess for my enhanced eyesight.

Though I had shifter strength, carrying Otto back to the car was a marathon.

And he moaned as I jostled him, bending low to avoid tree branches and leaping over rocks.

Carrying him through the stream washed off some of the blood and made his injuries more visible.

They were deep, and I sensed the anger in the claws that made them.

I wanted to stop and rest, worried I’d drop him, but I had to keep going, so I staggered over dusty patches until I arrived at the car.

Laying him in the back seat and covering him with a blanket, I stood for a moment, not wanting to lose sight of him.

But my wolf could watch him while I drove.

The expression “having eyes in the back of your head” had to have come from shifters.

He’s not moving .

Okay .

My wolf’s running commentary increased my anxiety as I careened around corners, leaving dust and churned-up gravel behind me. But when I made yet another sharp turn, there was a sign that read “Stoney River” that had me breathing easier, knowing I was about to meet shifters.

I followed the rough track that was lit up on either side by solar lights, and when I arrived, Stoney River was ablaze with more solar lights.

I ran my gaze over old cabins and new ones, while some were being constructed.

There was a large vegetable garden, an orchard, and what appeared to be a barn and a chicken coop.

A small group were eating at a table about a hundred yards away.

I pulled off the road, and before the car had stopped moving, I was out and shouting for help.

People stopped what they were doing and two men strode toward me, one much older than the other.

Mr. Garrison was the only shifter I’d met and he was a wolf like me.

One of the men was a wolf which put me at ease, but the other I couldn’t fathom his hidden identity.

“My friend… he needs help.”

The older one put a hand in front of the other as if he was in charge, but his expression changed and his posture shrank, almost as if he remembered he wasn’t the boss. Or I supposed, the Alpha.

“There’s no clinic for miles.”

“Shifter. He’s a shifter, and an animal attacked him.”

I knew the moment both men picked up my scent and along with it, human scents. Mr. Garrison had taught me scent had many layers. What I’d said galvanized the men, and they peered inside the car. They spoke in low voices about who had done this.

“I’m Creven, the Alpha.”

“Auden,” the older guy said in a gruff voice.

“He’s my mate, but we just met. He doesn’t know who I am.” I was almost on my knees, pleading with them to help Otto.

“You’ve seen his injuries.” Creven had one hand on the car door.

I nodded, but I didn’t want to talk. Otto needed help. “He can’t shift. Maybe you have… you know… code words to get the message through.”

A man with a small child on his hip appeared in the doorway of the largest cabin, and I caught his wolf scent.

Creven pursed his lips and explained there was no code to help Otto shift. “What can you tell me about his wounds? Did he say anything?”

I shook my head. “Just his name. But he’s lost a lot of blood.”

“This was no accident,” Auden said as he glanced around and stared down the mountain.

“I agree. They were determined to hurt him.” I was flapping my hands around because nothing was happening other than us talking, and that wouldn’t save my mate.

“Not hurt.” Creven paused as if he was considering his next words carefully. “They wanted him dead.”

Of course somewhere deep in my mind I’d considered that, I must have, but it was buried, and I didn’t want to hear that. I covered my ears like a small child about to have a tantrum.

“And when they discover he’s not, or they return to dispose of the body, what then?” Auden wasn’t speaking to me but to Creven.

Shit. They’d search for him, maybe follow his scent, and they’d come here. I’d led my mate’s attacker or attackers right to him. But they would have followed us wherever we went and now I’d involved the Stoney River people.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know where else to go.”

Creven put a hand on my shoulder. “We understand what it’s like to be alone and not have the safety of a pack to back you up.”

Wow. They got all that from my scent. These guys could maybe ferret out the attacker.

Auden asked what I knew of Otto other than his name. But I couldn’t help them.

“Why can’t he shift?” I wanted to know.

Creven frowned. “It’s possible his beast retreated because of the trauma.”

That didn’t sound good. They couldn’t reach his animal to shift and heal, and without that power, he’d stay in his human form and possibly die.

“If you hadn’t scented him as your mate, he would have died, so you saved him,” Creven told me.

That didn’t make me feel much better.

“Otto is special.” Auden heaved Otto out of the car and hoisted him up into his arms as if my mate weighed nothing. Creven nodded, so he must have agreed with him.

I knew that, as Otto was my mate, but how was he special to these shifters?

“He’s not just any shifter.” Creven followed Auden, and I raced along behind. “He’s an otter shifter, and whichever pack or family he belongs to is powerful, and now he’s our problem.”