Page 8 of Wild Alpha (Cold-Blooded Alpha #12)

I shred Fisher’s T-shirt to ribbons as I shift.

Stepping in front of Fisher, I growl at the two wolves, one a reddish-brown and the other a blonde-brown, warning them to stay back.

They move closer. One step nearer to Fisher is one step too many.

The larger reddish-brown wolf is the biggest threat.

I go for him first.

He won’t hurt Fisher. I won’t let him.

Lunging, I slam into the larger of the wolves. I take him down, and we wrestle across the ground. He’s stronger than I am, but I have more to protect.

Snarling, I fight with my teeth and claws, trying to land a killing bite, desperate to end this quickly before the other wolf leaps on my back and finishes me off.

“Stop .”

The female voice comes from behind me.

The wolf I’m fighting doesn’t seem interested in fighting or biting me, and just evades my killing bites. He wrestles out from under me, and I swing around to take in the naked blonde woman standing feet away, but I keep the male wolf in my sight, just in case this is an ambush.

One lunge and I could kill her. Shifting in the middle of a fight is a deadly mistake no shifter would ever make, but this one has.

Why?

My wolf is more confused than I am by such a reckless decision. It's easily the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen a shifter do in a fight.

The big wolf growls at her.

“Yeah, I know, Nathan. It wasn’t as if she didn’t shift first,” she says to him, then turns to me. “We’re not here to hurt you. I know you’re just trying to protect Fisher, but we don’t mean you or Fisher harm.”

The bigger, reddish wolf releases a frustrated sigh and shifts into an exasperated auburn-haired man. “I wish you’d think more before you act, Clara.” Then he focuses on me. “We’re not here to hurt you. We were out here looking for Fisher. His dad said he didn’t come home, and he was worried.”

“Averie?”

My name on Fisher’s lips slams into me.

I flinch, then I freeze.

What have you done, Averie? How could you be so stupid as to shift in front of a human?

I don’t want to turn around. But I need to. There’s no use in wishing away what I did or pretending Fisher didn’t see. How could he have missed it when I shifted from human to wolf right in front of him?

Slowly, knowing what I’ll find, I turn.

Fisher stares at me, eyes wide.

This is beyond amazement. This is a man sliding into shock, struggling to accept coming face-to-face with something that belongs in a fairytale or a book on myths and legends.

“You’re a werewolf,” he breathes.

I mentally wince.

I could correct him and explain that we don’t refer to ourselves as werewolves. It's not that werewolves never existed, but the version from hundreds of years ago is not what we are today.

What we are now is a partnership between man and wolf. We’re in control of our primal urges for the most part, and it’s the only reason we’ve kept the secret from humans so well.

But to tell Fisher about shifter history, I would have to return to my human form, and I’m not sure I want to see his face twist in disgust as he watches me turn from an animal into a human right in front of him.

Now he knows the truth I tried to keep from him.

I’m not just a girl wandering around in the forest. I’m something else.

Other .

I look away from Fisher’s frozen expression. Turning, I prepare to run.

“ Wait !” the woman calls out. “Please don’t run off.”

I keep going.

“Dayne knows,” Nathan shouts after me this time. I stop in my tracks. It’s worth hearing what he has to say about one of the country’s most notorious shifters. “If you were hanging around his forest thinking he would hurt you, you’re wrong. He knows you’re here.”

“He has a reputation,” Clara calls out. “Before I came here, I was afraid too, but he’s not what you think. The reputation you heard is a lie.”

I’m pondering what to do when Fisher says, “I should go see my dad.”

I wince at the sound of his voice, wanting to hide and knowing he probably regrets ever meeting me. I’m too dominant to tuck my tail between my legs, but I want to. Boy, do I want to.

“I’ll give you a?—”

“ No! ” Fisher sharply cuts Nathan off. “I don’t need any help.”

I can’t bring myself to look at Fisher.

My heart sinks at the thought of seeing judgment, horror, or disgust when he looks at me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch him quickly stuff everything into his hiking bag. He leaves less than a minute later. The fire is smoking now rather than burning cheerily the way it was a moment before. I didn’t see him fling soil over it to put it out fast, but he must have.

He couldn’t get away fast enough, and after what he saw me do. I’m surprised he didn’t abandon the fire, his bag, and sprint off into the distance while my back was turned.

After waiting until I can no longer hear his footsteps, I shift back to my human form.

“I shifted in front of a human,” I whisper, not looking either of them in the eye.

It’s a death sentence in most, if not all, packs. If I’d done this back home, I would have put my father in a very difficult position. To protect the rest of the pack, he would have to punish me for an act that endangered everyone—either exile me or kill me.

My dad wouldn’t have hurt me, but I would’ve lost something even more precious: my pack, my family, and my home.

“Yeah, we’re going to have to talk about that.” Nathan scratches the back of his neck, then offers me his hand. “Nathan Blackshaw.”

I guessed one of them would be a Blackshaw. “Your alpha sent you to bring me to him?” I ask, not moving to shake his hand. I don’t trust him.

He drops his hand when I leave it hanging. “We were just here for Fisher. He said nothing about you.”

I don’t believe him. His alpha was aware of a strange shifter right on their borders and was fine with me just wandering around?

Bullshit.

“I’m Clara, Nathan’s mate,” the blonde woman says with a small smile. “Should we go?”

I don’t return her smile. “If I run, you’d come after me, wouldn’t you? I exposed the secret. That means your alpha will kill me.”

“He won’t kill you,” Clara reassures me.

“Of course he won’t,” I say bitterly.

“We’ll walk for a bit,” Clara suggests. “It’s too soon for me to shift back yet.”

Since I’m outnumbered, I let them lead the way through the forest and toward their pack’s territory. It’s an hour away if we walk as humans. If we shift and run, it’ll be maybe twenty or thirty minutes. I hope we walk all the way.

“Why did you let him go?” I ask.

“Fisher is a local we know and trust,” Nathan says.

My eyes widen, my mood lifting as I hope I haven’t inadvertently destroyed their lives by acting impulsively. “So, he knew you were shifters?”

He makes a face. “Not exactly. But I wasn’t about to kill him. He’s a good guy. I couldn’t do it.”

Neither could I. Killing him would mean he couldn’t tell anyone else what he saw, but I can’t hurt Fisher.

My mood deflates. “And if he tells someone what he saw?”

Nathan releases a sigh. “That’s a problem we’ll deal with when the time comes. Dayne will figure something out.”

Yep, kill me first, then kill Fisher later.