Kiko's Mate (Werewolf Romance)

Chapter 3

Ranger

I usually checked in with Nolan soon after I landed in my cabin, but that didn't have to mean the minute I stepped in.

But the suspicion that had wormed it's way into my heart coupled with the need to get away from the sight and smell of Kiko in what I considered the home of my heart had me practically running out of there.

I took a deep breath of the forest air, feeling myself relax a little just from having nature surrounding me.

Deciding running to Nolan on four legs would kill two birds with one stone, I stripped and left my clothes in the small chest I kept near the back door for just that reason.

Changing was a painful ecstasy that I hadn't felt for too long,cooped up as I was in that apartment to watch Kiko.

Shaking myself to settle my fur, I stretched my body out into a loping run to warm up.

Nolan's place was roughly in the center of our land so it wouldn't be too far from any one pack member who lived in the vicinity. As Alpha, he needed to be available at all times.

I doubted I could ever live like that.

One of the reasons why he was Alpha and I wasn't.

At first meet, people might read Nolan as reserved because he tended to listen more than talk. But that was just because he only spoke when he felt it was needed. Which meant that when he did speak,people listened more carefully than they would have if he was a talker.

He was great with both the hotheads and the children and I was happy to leave the headache of leading to him.

I ran into a trio of pups playing in the heart of the forest. They saw me and decided it was a good idea to try to wrestle me to the ground.

I pretended to struggle under their fluffy weight, their baby growls making me grin on the inside.

Just when they thought they had me, I shook them off gently and rolled to my feet. They whined as I began to go on my way again, but I let out a yip to let them know I'd play with them later.

By the time I made it to Nolan's sprawling cabin, I felt much more centered and at peace.

That feeling lasted all the way up until I changed on the porch,dressed in one of the spare pair of sweatpants left in a weatherproof chest outside for that reason, and opened the door.

Nolan and Vishnu looked over at me from the couch.

"Hey Ranger."

Nolan stood up and pulled me into a hug, slapping my back.

"It's good to see you."

"You too," I said with a smile, hugging him back.

Vishnu got up too and gave me a hug.

I silently took in a deep breath, trying to smell any hint of anything unusual on him.

But I didn't smell anything beyond the scent masker he'd begun using years ago. When we'd called him on it, he'd just shrugged and said he needed all the edge he could get around us knuckle heads.

He wasn't the only one who used it, since it was really the only way to keep your emotions private around wolves, but now I wondered if there had been another reason he'd begun using the stuff.

If that turned out to be true, I was thinking we might have to institute a ban on it, at least in pack territory. If it prevented us from finding the sick in our own pack, it wasn't something I wanted around.