Page 4

Four

J eremy parked his truck in the gravel driveway beside Patrick’s, already aware of several things. One, his guardian was awake. Two, he wasn’t awake by coincidence, watching a film or reading in his chair. No, he was pacing the kitchen floor with a heavy tread. Like every wolf, Patrick’s usual tread was unnaturally light.

So Jeremy was in for it.

He shut off his truck and hopped out. Halfway up the porch steps, he said, “Sorry, but I’ve got to talk to you about—”

Patrick’s growl cut him off. He was still growling, low and reproving, as he let himself out the front door. From their bedrooms, the quiet breathing and peaceful scents of Nicole and fourteen-year-old Nathan indicated deep sleep. Once outside, Patrick’s growl rose in volume. He gripped Jeremy’s shoulder and propelled him back down the steps to stand in the yard, a safe distance from the house. Now he could yell if he felt like it. Great.

“Patrick, please, I’ve got to talk to you.”

“It’s three in the morning, Jeremy.”

Jeremy tried not to clench his jaw. “I know, but I—”

“I was about to drive to campus and track your scent.”

He rolled his eyes.

A snarl rose in Patrick’s throat. “No, you don’t. I know at your age you want to test a few boundaries, but you can’t just not come home. You can’t ignore my texts for six hours.”

“Texts?” Oh, crap.

“Stay out late if you want to, but not without a word. That’s not acceptable.”

Patrick shoved his hands through his hair, bright ginger with a few glints of silver. He drew a shaky breath, and the smoky odor of his anger gave way to a sharp tang. Fear.

“You thought I was in trouble.” Jeremy shook his head. Would he ever convince Patrick he was no longer a pup? “I’m an apex. I’m strong and fast and my senses are freaking awesome. How am I going to get in trouble on a college campus?”

“No tempting vices there anymore? Times really have changed.”

Jeremy shook his head as his throat began to burn with the howl he couldn’t voice in Lucy’s company. His body knew he was home, was safe, and with that knowledge his wolf voice rose in him, nearly forced its way out to wake Nicole and Nathan, because if he released it, he’d howl straight up at the stars. Fifty acres away, his buddy Aaron and Aaron’s guardian George would hear him. Instead he shook his head, swallowed hard, choked on the voice that fought not to be silenced.

“Jeremy?”

Right. Focus. What everyone was always telling him. One thing at a time , another admonition he’d heard too often. “We can’t get intoxicated. We can’t get high. You’re worked up for no reason, and it’s not fair, and anyway I’ve got to—”

“You can be in the company of humans under the influence when the police show up. You can be handcuffed as the most threatening person there, simply based on your height and build. That’s what I’m worked up about, Jeremy.”

“Okay, I know, I know all that already, and I’m sorry, but please, I’ve got to talk to you .”

Patrick’s glare cooled. Jeremy must be smelling desperate by now. “What is it, pup?”

He pressed a hand to his chest where his wolf’s heart pounded, overflowed with an intensity of feeling that almost scared him. “I found her tonight. I found my mate.”

Patrick took a step toward him. Reached out and set both hands on his shoulders, studied him. Then he grabbed Jeremy in a powerful hug.

“It’s true. You have found her. That’s the change in your scent, isn’t it?”

A growling chuckle escaped his chest. “I don’t know, is it? Is that how it works?”

“You bet. You were with her tonight? Is that why you’re late?”

“We went for coffee, and then the coffee shop closed, and we talked in the parking lot for like…uh…” Whoa, had it really been that long? Their first date, a total of more than six hours?

“What’s her name?”

“Lucy Campbell. She’s into interior decorating. She’s got purple-dyed hair. She’s really smart, Patrick. And beautiful. We sort of bumped into each other—I mean, her hair sort of bumped into me—and I knew her. Like this loudspeaker blaring in my head that Lucy’s mine, my mate.”

Patrick was nodding. “Exactly how it happens.”

“There was a blaring loudspeaker in your head when you met Nicole?”

“Sure enough.”

“What do I do about it? I can’t just tell her. How did you tell Nicole she was yours, and you were a wolf?”

“Well, first of all…” Patrick set both hands on his shoulders again, studied him hard. “How far did things go tonight?”

He shuffled his feet, ducked his head. “We kissed.”

“And?”

Jeremy’s head came up. “And nothing. I just met her.”

Relief filled Patrick’s voice, his scent. “Good. That was wise of you.”

Not a word people often applied to him. He smiled, squared his shoulders, let himself settle inside. “It feels important for her to know soon, what I am. Otherwise I think it would be like lying to her.”

Patrick nodded. “I told Nicole before things got too serious between us. I had to know she was okay with dating a wolf.”

If he had chosen honesty, then Jeremy would too. He sighed, and his shoulders caved a little.

“I know it’s hard,” Patrick said. “A wolf knows so quickly she’s the one.”

Understatement was one of Patrick’s hobbies. So quick, the brush of Lucy’s hair, the knowledge that he’d found her though he hadn’t been looking. But fate didn’t need a wolf to look. Fate brought her at the right time, made sure he couldn’t miss her.

“When can I tell her?”

Patrick clapped him on the shoulder, drew him in for a final embrace. “You’ll know when the time’s right. I’m proud of you, Jeremy.”

Words his guardian said sometimes when Jeremy stuck with a task and accomplished it, or sometimes when he wasn’t sure at all what he’d done to make Patrick proud. Every time his chest swelled with the warmth Patrick put into the words.

A smirk found his mouth. “Proud even though I ignored your texts for six hours?”

Patrick rumbled a low growl that held little correction now. “Don’t do that again.”

“Okay.”

In a mutual decision they headed for the porch steps, softly re-entered the house. The door shut with a little click. Wolves didn’t bother with locks.

Before he headed for his room, he wanted to put one last thing into words. He said, “It feels like a line drawn in my head. Yesterday I didn’t know if fate had a mate for me or not, or when I would meet her.”

“And today you know.” Patrick smiled.

“Yeah. Today I know.”