Page 80 of Ruthless Alpha Beast

As someone who’s had practice in suppressing how I feel, I know that as soon as I’m in wolf form, there’s no running from anything anymore.

My wolf knows what it wants.Whoit wants.

I growl, thinking back to the way I felt inside her. She was so soft, so sweet, and unbelievably beautiful.

I’ve never fucked like that before; it was like making love.

And what happened?

She ran away.

I get it, sort of. But it’s driving me crazy thinking that I’ll never be able to touch her like that again.

As I run, I hone in on her scent. I can still smell it like we were making love only yesterday.

She’s all I can actually smell whenever I’m in our cabin. I don’t know whether it’s my memory or her lingering scent.

All I know is that she’s flooded my senses to a point I can no longer ignore.

I have to find her, to see her at least.

It’s only seconds before I catch onto her present scent, sweet and honey-like but infused with the smell of anxiety.

I feel in my wolf’s gut that something’s wrong.

Once I shift (being in my wolf around her is too reckless), I see that she’s standing by the border talking to pack members I hoped she’d never meet.

Those who are less tolerant than some of the others. They don’t see me yet. I tune into their conversation.

“If humans ever came across us, they’d likely smile in our faces before throwing spears into our backs. They’d use our fur for carpets, our teeth for jewelry, and who knows what else. We’ve read your books, learned your history, that’s just the way you all are. Duplicitous. You cover your savagery with fake civility, but really, you’re no better than us wolves.”

I’m about to butt in, but I’m shaken when I hear Tara’s voice raised.

“And how about your history? How about the way you treat the witches?”

“How about the way the witches have treated us?”

“But don’t you see,” Tara cries. “This very attitude is the attitude of the humans you hate. The ones who reject other races, the ones who promote war. Don’t you see that you’re doing the same thing? By hating what’s unfamiliar, you pave the path for violence and war.”

She’s right.

I haven’t been able to articulate the way I’ve been feeling as of late about human shifter relations, but Tara sums it up perfectly.

By hating what’s unfamiliar, you pave the path for violence and war.

I also realize that Tara most likely didn’t just decide to have this chat with them unprovoked.

She usually avoids conflict.

No, they must have been making unsavory comments.

In seconds, I’m by her side, and I watch my pack mates' expressions quickly turn sour.

I clench my fists to cool myself down.

“Tara’s completely right.”

“Alpha—"one of them begins.