Forgotten Wolf

36 Clever One

I feel Chris slip away from me and I groan in protest. It feels so early and it's still dark.

"Shhh baby, go back to sleep," Chris says, stroking my hair. I blink, trying to clear my eyes but not succeeding. "I've got early training, just sleep in." 

Not being a morning person, I don't need much encouragement, so I roll over and snuggle into his pillow. A throaty chuckle is the last thing I hear, followed by a kiss on my temple, and he's gone.

After tossing and turning for a bit after Chris left, I sigh and give up. Without him, the bed's just not the same. I sit up, feel a small ache in my body, and groan. 

Guess that's to be expected going from no sex life to a ravenous mate.

After a long hot shower, most of my aches are gone. I can't help but stare at my neck. Again, the deep purple bite mark bruise is prominent against my skin. I've noticed the mating mark on others now and they are a lot less noticeable, so maybe we should just have the talk.

I dress and head down to the quiet kitchen expecting to find Jude but no such luck. A check of his room is empty too. I frown, heading back to the kitchen to ask someone.

"Your shadow is out training with everyone else," Derek says cryptically.

"Oh?" I ask, raising a brow since they've never had him train with them before.

"Jace wanted to see what he had, and being that they are preparing to fight rogues, he's the only one they have to practice on," Derek says with a dark smirk. My heart sinks.

Here I thought they were including him but they just wanted a target dummy.

"Stop frowning," he hands me a breakfast sandwich. "Come on, I have a test for you," he says with a guarded look.

'Cause this doesn't sound ominous at all.' 'Well aware, can it.'

"Where'd you go right there?" Derek asks skeptically. His dark eyes are locked on mine, leaving me uneasy.

"Was just lost in thought," I reply with a shrug, trying to brush it off.

"Happen often?" He asks with a inquisitive expression I don't like.

"What are you? My new shrink?" I grumble pushing past him and heading out back.

"Here I'd thought you'd be in a better mood after getting laid last night," he teases.

My head snaps to him and I freeze in place. 

What the fuck!?

"Glare all you want, but I can smell him on you even after a shower." His tone is strange and sets me on edge. "The love bites don't exactly say chaste eith-"

I cut him off with a hard swing into his gut that he wasn't expecting. "The fuck, Derek! Who says that?!" I'm sure the fire is dancing in my eyes but I don't care.

He chuckles, regaining his composure. "Relax, I'm happy for you guys. Unlike you, my brother came to training with a pretty satisfied grin on his face."

I could die in this moment, I don't know if I've ever been so embarrassed. He's playing at something but I don't know what.

"Let's go, training wraps up soon and we need to get there before they shift back," he says nonchalantly as if the whole previous exchange didn't happen. 

God he's frustrating, another brotherly trait.

The training field is packed with wolves when we get there, all sparing. Chris is easy to spot, he is the largest among them, and I have already met his wild side. He sees us and lazily lopes over with a wolfish grin, complete with his tongue hanging out. When he reaches us, I stumble slightly as he rubs against me. I can feel his happiness and excitement washing over me in waves.