Page 131 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

I swallowed hard. Not the time. Definitely not the place.

I eyed Hazel warily from the corner of my eye and found her smirking at me.

Likely scenting my pheromones and daydreaming about all the grandbabies.

“Such a good idea,” she said, jostling to her feet to pat Clay on his thick shoulder, leaving a smear of dirt over the tanned muscle. “You two go on then. Take your time.”

Clay raised a brow at me, and I tucked some loose strands of hair back from my face, hustling past him. “I’ll grab a couple duffels to carry the groceries back. We’ll buy some bags of ice to keep it cool if you want to take the bikes out, but—”

“We won’t be long, Allie,” he interrupted, fixing me with a knowing stare. I never left pack camp for more than a few hours at a time. Being away for too long made me restless. Made my wolf itch to check on the others. To make sure they were safe.

“Such a worrier, that one,” I heard Hazel murmur to Clay as I swerved through the cabins and back into the heart of camp. “She’ll worry herself to death one day. Mark my words.”

I lifted another stack of overpriced beef into the cart, grimacing as some of the juices leaked onto my palm. The quality was shit and it was twice the price of buying in bulk from Sal’s, but it would have to do for now.

“Want to go grab the whiskey for Hazel?” I asked Clay, starting to pick through the whole chickens for the largest of them.

We had a lot of mouths to feed, but I couldn’t take all of them.

There were only two small grocery stores in this town, and if we depleted them of all their meat, people would ask questions.

As it was, the cart just looked like we were going to have a real big barbeque. Which was exactly what I would say if asked. I even added a couple bags of corn on the cob for good measure.

Clay stalked off down the aisle in search of the whiskey Grams liked, and I smirked at his backside, feeling a lick of heat roll across the back of my neck.

I so rarely saw him fully clothed anymore. In shoes and a shirt. The way the black tee clung to his muscled frame made me bite my lip. He looked so out of place among the packaged meats and pyramids of packaged foods. Like a giant in a dollhouse.

Or a bull in a china shop.

It was at that instant he accidentally knocked the edge of a display, unable to squeeze between it and the endcap on the next aisle. Several boxes scattered to the floor and an employee rushed to scoop them up, apologizing to Clay as if they were the one who’d done something wrong.

He had that effect on people.

“One of your two mates, I presume?”

His strange scent tickled my nose before I locked eyes on him, my hackles raising and an anvil dropping in my gut.

“Thought I told you to stay out of my territory, witch?”

Gregory cocked his head at me from where he leaned near the door leading to the stock area of the grocery. “You did. But my superior doesn’t like taking no for an answer, so here I am, back in the wolves’ den for round two.”

Clay came crashing back through the store with a bottle of whiskey in his fist, eyes burning a fiery blue as they locked on to Gregory.

Customers scattered like roaches from his warpath, and I had to hand it to Gregory, he hardly flinched as Clay reached my side, his upper lip curling in distaste at the sight of the witch.

“Clayton, I presume?” Gregory inquired with a raised brow as he sized up my mate.

“Who the fuck is this clown?” Clay demanded, glancing between us. My unease likely wreaking havoc on his own nerves as well.

“An emissary of sorts,” Gregory responded before I could. “Alison here was just about to turn me down for the second time.”

“What is he talking about?”

“I—”

“She didn’t tell you?” Gregory asked, seeming to be thrilled at this new discovery. His eyes gleamed as he launched into an explanation even though my wolf was looking at him like she might rip his throat out right here in the meat section of the Forest Grove grocery.

“I work for a delegate of the Arcane Council, and they would like an audience with your darling mate. Just a few questions, you know. Perhaps they’ll want to take some blood to run tests.

Perform an origin spell on her. That sort of thing.

Standard stuff, really. But your mate here didn’t even allow me to explain the last time. Told me to leave and not to return.”

Clay slammed the bottle of whiskey into the cart and stepped toward Gregory, his massive frame hulking over the shorter witch. “And you should’ve listened,” he growled, his eyes flaring to a vivid blue glow.

A little girl down the way gasped, tugging on her mother’s sundress to get her attention. Her little finger pointing at Clay. Shit.

“Clay,” I hissed between gritted teeth. “Not here.”

He trembled with the urges of his wolf, and my own wolf responded, battering against the cage of my human form.

“Get out of here,” I spat at Gregory. “Tell your superior that I have no interest in meeting with them and if you come back here again, you won’t ever leave. Got it?”

Clay’s gaze never left the witch as he tipped his head in a sarcastic farewell, a smirk playing over his lips before he turned and lazily wandered back toward the exit of the store.

Like he didn’t have a worry in the world.

Like the largest shifter in my pack wasn’t staring after him like he might be lunch.

Clay’s balled fists ached for a release as he whirled on me, his face a red mask of fury. A vein jumped in his temple, and I took a cursory glance around, checking to make sure no one could hear.

“I was going to tell you—”

“When? When were you going to tell me, Allie?

When did this happen?”

I swallowed hard, cold dread frosting over my chest. “About a week ago. He confronted me at Jackie’s shop.”

Clay’s eyes widened. “He knew you’d be there, then?” He edged the words in a question, but I could tell he was already formulating the answer himself. His rigid hand dove through his dark hair as he fumed, his eyes still flickering with the light of his wolf.

“Fuck, Allie,” he roared, and from the corner of my eye, I could see a tall, slender man with a manager badge on his button-down approaching cautiously, trying to look more in control than I could sense he felt.

“Everything all right here, miss?” he asked me, his kind eyes slipping to Clay before returning back to me. “Is this man bothering you?”

“Mind your fucking business,” Clay growled, and when the store manager’s eyes locked on his again, getting a glimpse of what lay dormant within, the man buckled in the knees, stumbling back three steps with horror in his eyes.

Fuck this.

Abandoning the cart, I took off, rushing out of the store with my heart in my throat and my wolf snapping at my heels.

“Miss!” the manager called.

“Allie,” Clay hissed, chasing me out like I knew he would.

I didn’t stop when I hit the pavement outside, though. I broke into a run, making for the trees at the edge of the lot, flip flops flying off before I could even make it past the tree line.

“Allie, stop.”

My wolf took hold, crashing into my mind and taking over my body in the span of a single breath. Flaying my clothes to ribbons.

Allie, stop or so help me...Clay’s seething voice slunk into my thoughts as he shifted, too.

Or what? I taunted, unable to help myself before taking off at a sprint that I knew he wouldn’t be able to outrun. I hardly knew where I was headed until the old cabin came into view through the trees and my wolf began to slow.

A whine sounded in my throat, making my heaving chest tighten as I bounded up the steps and onto the front porch. Clay burst through the brush not more than a few heartbeats later, his dark wolf lumbering over to me with quick, sure steps.

Allie, what—

I let my wolf fall away and shifted back before he could finish the thought in my mind, furless skin bristling in the chill breeze sweeping over the clearing.

Clay shifted back, too, and I pushed my way into the cabin, going straight for the kitchen to get a glass of water.

“How could you not tell me there was a witch tailing you?” he demanded in his I’m-trying-to-be- calm voice. It only ever managed to make him sound menacing instead of angry, but I appreciated the effort.

I guzzled the water, taking a long breath before replying, setting my glass into the sink. “Because it wasn’t a big deal,” I replied. “I told him to get fucked. Not to come back.”

“Oh yeah?” he asked, his shoulders going rigid. “How’d that work out for you?”

“Don’t be a dick. I didn’t want to worry anyone, and I thought I’d dealt with it myself.”

“Clearly, you didn’t. And if you think that fuckwad won’t be back, you’re an idiot.”

I cleared the gap between us in two strides, our combined frustration and fury getting the better of me. Where Jared was a balm to my nerves, Clay was the match that often set me ablaze. Jared and I flowed. Clay and I burned.

He staggered back as I shoved at his sweat-slicked chest. “You’re the idiot who almost got us caught in the fucking grocery store!”

His cheekbones and nostrils flared as he clenched his jaw.

“You might as well have held up a big ass sign that said hey, look at me, look how not human I am.”

“Don’t try to spin this on me. If you’d just told us about the witch then—”

I threw my hands up, growling. “Fine. I’m sorry, okay? I should’ve told you. Happy now?”

Clay jerked forward, wrapping a hand firmly around my biceps to pull me close. “No,” he hissed, breath fanning over my cheek. “My mate kept something from me. Something that could put her and all of us in danger. No, Allie, I’m not fucking happy.”

His eyes darkened, and my breath caught at the pain showing through those cut-glass eyes. It made a ball form in my throat. I didn’t want to feel guilty, though. I shouldn’t have to. I was just doing what I thought was right.

But was it…?