Page 19 of X-Clan The Origin

I’d been so focused on our direction and surroundings that I hadn’t noticed her exhausted state.

When was the last time you ate?I wondered, observing her frail form and pained eyes.And why didn’t you say something?

Stubborn female.

She appeared ready to pass out.

Blaming her wasn’t entirely fair, though. I should have been paying better attention to her.

Right.I sniffed the air, searching for signs of life anywhere around us. Or food. Maybe even water.

But instead, I caught a sweet fragrance on the wind.

Riley.

Odd.Her scent had always appealed to me. However, something was different about it now.

I inhaled again, trying to discern the distinctive note, but Riley shuddered, distracting me. We needed to find shelter and food.

With a reassuring purr, I angled my body toward the scent of freshly cut wood. That indicated human tampering, which meant it would lead us to something. Maybe a campsite or a cabin.

It turned out to be the latter.

Although, there wasn’t just one cabin. There were several.

I paused near the trees and shifted back into human form so I could use my voice. My body shook from the sudden change, my neck cracking as my limbs straightened.

Riley stared up at me with glittering eyes, her wolf openly appraising me again.

“I’m going to go have a look around. Stay in animal form in case you need to run, okay?” I tried underlining my words with a little purr, hoping it would make her cooperate again.

Her wolf responded by sitting down on her rump.

Beautiful, I thought, fighting the urge to smile. “I’ll howl if I find anything disturbing,” I said instead, not wanting to risk her reverting back to her usual bratty state.

Then I took off on my bare feet toward the cabins, while fully engaging my shifter abilities along the way.

Time to hunt.

CHAPTERFOUR

RILEY

Somewhere in North Carolina

Stand up,I demanded.

My wolf lay down instead.

Look, I get it. You’re mad that I didn’t let you shift for, well, a while. But you have got to get it together.

My wolf huffed in reply and put her head on the ground, obedient to a fault. The Alpha had told her to “stay.” So she was staying.

He’s not our mate,I told her.

She snorted at that.

He’s not ours,I repeated, the words ones I’d been chanting for hours. But she was utterly hypnotized by Jonas’s purr.