Page 49 of Someone Else's Wolf

And someday, with someone, I'd find it.

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I dreamed a wolf was looking at me with a mournful expression, his big blue eyes filled with sorrow. I had never seen such a beautiful wolf before. His fur was mostly gray, with black-tipped ears and dark fur surrounding his eyes, like he was wearing heavy eyeliner. With that expression on his face, you almost expected him to start running because he looked about as sad as anything in the world.

I reached out to touch him. "What's the matter?" I was sure he was male, so big and rangy and handsome. Something nagged at me, like I should know him...

His fur was the softest thing I'd ever touched. It felt the way a cloud looks. Immediately, when I touched him, I could hear his voice in my head. It sounded like a man's voice, a familiar man's voice.

Please help me, Shane. I can't do it alone.

I woke with a start, gasping for breath, the words ringing in my ears. They felt like more than a dream. They felt like something I should have known already, but hadn't.

My certainty that I needed to let Peter alone, to choose his own life and relationship, evaporated like a mist.

I stared at the ceiling for a moment, heart pounding hard. I'd let this become about me and about what made sense. Stepping back and disengaging. Saying my goodbyes and secretly hoping he'd follow.

Oh, shit. I'd even said, "I used to love you." I didn't say I still did.

I'd left him alone to go back into that house with someone who didn't love him, whom he didn't feel he could find a way to escape from, and whom he'd been with since he was sixteen.

Sixteen. If his pack couldn't figure out that wasn't a good match and stop it before it started, if the Shifters and Partners people couldn't or wouldn't intervene, if Sue couldn't get him away from the bastard, why would I ever have a chance?

I didn't know much about wolf culture, much less how to circumvent the sacred cow of having a mate. I didn't know what the fuck to do.

But Peter deserved to be happy. My clueless, gentle nerd, my hockey fan and cooking genius, the man I'd fallen for so hopelessly. In the end, I didn't matter, not really.

He didn't have to love me back and give me my happy ending, but he deserved to be free. He shouldn't be shackled to someone who just wanted to use him, in whatever way and for however long he wanted. It made me mad just thinking about it. All the anger I'd been shunting aside for days — probably a lot longer than days — seemed to burst inside me at once. I gritted my teeth and turned sideways, punching the pillow, mutteringfuck, fucking, fucker.

If Peter could be clueless and too loyal these days, what had he been like at sixteen? A child, that's what. He'd been more or less a child. Sixteen was not mature enough to pick his life's mate, especially when it came to sneaky, abusive types and possible grooming.

I didn't want to think about that too much, but I couldn't seem to get away from it. Peter deserved better. No one had helped him in all this time, and then I'd walked away too.

Maybe in an ideal world, he would be able to get free of a bad relationship on his own, but this wasn't an ideal world, and it was unfair and wrong of me to think he should just handle it and I should forget about him if he couldn't. No, I had to help.

I rolled over and picked up my phone. My hands were shaking, and I knew he'd be pissed at me, but I called anyway. The number I was specifically instructed not to call during our downtime unless it was a real emergency.

"What?" snapped Kirk.

I was surprised he'd answered. "Um..."

"It had better be an emergency."

"It is." I squeezed my eyes shut and gripped my phone with a sweaty hand. "I need to get Peter away from his mate. He can't do it alone." Saying it aloud, I felt a bit like a fool.

He sighed loudly, but he didn't hang up.

"So, how do I do it, Kirk? How do I — who can I get on my side as an authority? Do I find a way to contact his pack? They didn't help him before, but they could at least convince him it's legal to leave your mate, right? I mean, if they were—"

"Shane."

I didn't know where to start. There had to be a way to find his pack, but would they put in the effort to help if I could talk to them?

"I want to help. I have to help."How do I help?

"Shane, shut up. He's not going to listen to his pack, if they even give a shit. And why should they? He made a choice. You care, so you have your own authority to fall back on, and only that: you love him." He sighed heavily. "I'll go with you and watch your back in case that guy tries anything. But don't rely on some other authority, because you don't have any but your own. Just that, and maybe it's enough."

I let out my breath, my panic halted. My mind stopped whirling so fast. "Thanks, Kirk." His words steadied me, as did his implicit acknowledgement that, yes, this actually was an emergency. "When should we go?"