His Wild Mate

Chapter 2

The five-hour journey turned out to be only four hours. I didn't have a sport's car, but the engine was powerful, and I knew how to drive it. I had cut the pit-stops short, just to reach my destination faster.

Lately, finding rumors about new wild packs we hadn't discovered before was getting harder and harder. I knew their numbers were rising up, faster than the rational werewolves due to their mating every season, but why were they disappearing? The old packs we'd found had started dispersing, just like that, in the middle of the night. One snap of the fingers and they were gone. Was their developing consciousness making them hide deeper in the mountains and put a stronger barrier between themselves, the humans, and us—the species they had been stolen from?

I pulled over to the side of the road and examined the trees around me. Numbers of colors mixed into one, creating something like a cozy rainbow of autumn. I both loved and hated this season. It had always held a special place in my heart ever since I was a child, but it was also the period my pack was conquered and destroyed by the humans. It was the season I lost my brother and everything as I knew it.

My palms felt itchy and sweaty, and I slid them on my jeans, taking a deep breath. Autumn was also the season I started dating Evangeline when she confessed her feelings for me. It wasn't all bad. But a part of me kept whispering this year I was going to face a life-changing event. It kept screaming something was about to change.

I shot that thought off, and a small smile lightened my expression as I turned off the car, ready for action.

If I were to follow the instructions of my Alpha, I had to shift and run ten miles to the east into the forest. There, maybe, I was going to find the first marks of the packs I had come to study. I grabbed my backpack from the backseat and opened it. Taking my phone out, I smiled at the message of encouragement from Eve. I sent her an "I love you" text and turned the device off.

When I tied the backpack around my shoulders, now completely naked, I shifted to my werewolf body and shook my brown fur. I had tightened the straps of the backpack a bit too much, but I wasn't going to shift back and fix it. I could deal with it. They were elastic enough.

My amber eyes, honestly the only resemblance I had with Blake, roamed around the area and took in every small detail—the still green grass, the scent of wild rodents and birds. I took in the dark blue sky and followed it down to the crowns of the colorful trees. There were a few squirrels watching me carefully, their small limbs squeezing the bark under them. My ear twitched, and a few of them did the same. I let out a huff, slightly amused by them. Of course, they would watch me. I was the scariest predator around. But if there were so many animals around, the wild pack was not here. Even the hares were still roaming in the vicinity, too brave to hide. But maybe they had no reason to hide. Winter hadn't come yet. And some packs of the turned had learned not to eat them in the middle of summer. I had no idea why—was it because they had watched some of the human hunters who refused to eat them, afraid of parasites, or was there another cause behind it?

Whatever it was, there was only one certain thing – the turned were changing. I ground my teeth and took the first steps on the soft grass. The sensation of it under my paws was soothing. Exhilarating. I had never thought I'd love my wolf body so much. But ever since my first shift... I appreciated the power it brought me. The flex of the muscles, the immeasurable strength and keen senses. The opportunity to protect the ones I loved.

The next step I took was faster, keener. There was something roaring in me, something telling me this day was more different than the others. Was I going to find Kev's mother? Or maybe this pack had already evolved and was ready to negotiate and, eventually, help us keep the peace. They could be the connection between the werewolves and the turned.