Winter Wolf

Chapter 2

A/N: @jinxie578, thank you for always being there :) always voting first, I will forever appreciate all your comments!

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Tristan stood in the large foyer; everything sounded oddly loud with his wolf so furious and alert.

Despite being in skin, the furred beast within always hovered close to the surface. His wants and his instincts were one.

The sound of each breath he took, the rain pounding on the shingles of the roof, the fierce arguing of the males around him, and the soft whining cries of the mourning females locked in the room somewhere on the other side of the large wood house.

Everything was too damn loud.

Even though he strangely couldn't focus on any of it. It was like background noise...

His wolf was concentrating on the distressed heartbeat, the soft breathing, and sniffles of one female in particular.

Nothing else mattered but her.

Tristan was fighting with himself. Trying to yank himself out of his wolf's primitive mindset. He wanted nothing more than to go claim that little juvenile female. He wanted to put his mark on her so no one would ever think to touch her again.

His wolf was suddenly furious about the mating mark that had once felt like such a comfort after losing his littermate. It had been four years to the day since he mated Emma. Not once had he ever regretted it, despite his mother, aunt and grandmother's protest. He hadn't listened.

Now it felt... wrong.

He felt sick.

Sick and furious and foolish.

The distress in her crystal blue eyes was haunting him.

Tris grit his teeth and forced that image out of his head. He was shaking with the effort to keep his beast contained. Even with the collar, he was struggling. He felt his eyes fully glazed as he tried to bring himself back to the sanity of his skin mind. He knew he wasn't thinking rationally...

His other half didn't care about reason.

He just wanted that little female. He wanted her badly.

"Tristan!" His father snarled. Tris's eyes snapped to his with a snarl of his own.

He never challenged his father in anything. He knew he wasn't ready to lead. He was the muscle of their pack, and he highly enjoyed the battlefield. He had no intention of leaving it any time soon...

But his wolf was willing to take him down. He knew he could.

Because his father nearly killed his mate...

The rage of that thought was nearly blinding. Tristan felt himself lose the battle with his wolf for the briefest of moments.

His mind blurred with animalistic fury.

It took immense effort to pull himself back, and when he did he was being held down by Noah, Reed, and Hugh; all three betas present, and two Delta enforcers.

His wolf was a beast of a male. Immense, ruthless, and monstrous. He knew even at the age of twenty-six, nearly twenty-seven, he could take down any of the Alphas present despite the fact they had years on him. And it would be easy at that.

By the look of alarm on their faces, they knew it too.

His furious wolfish eyes were fully focused on his father. He felt his frightening beast nearly breaking through.

The image of her being stripped in front of all those males suddenly flashed through his wolf's mind and threatened to drive him back into that void with a furious snarl. It didn't matter that being bare was nothing to them.