Chapter 2
two
JADE
Wow.
Yeah.
Guess werewolves were real after all. Great.
The wolf’s paws and back legs were buried awkwardly in the man’s work boots and pants.
“I can see why stripping before shifting is ideal,” I said.
“Did he say Mate?” Cynthia asked.
“Unfortunately.”
“Fuck,” she said.
Maybe she and I didn’t have to be arch enemies after all.
“Does that mean what I think it means?” I checked.
“Probably.” She stood up. “I’ll help you find Finn’s truck. You’ll want to let him drive you. I’ve never stayed with the Feral Pack, but Wyatt isn’t known for being the easiest or friendliest member.”
“The Feral Pack?”
“Theirs is the only pack in town with a name. They teach people to connect with their wolves. Most of them do, at least. Wyatt’s a mechanic.”
“Okay…”
It seemed safe to assume Wyatt was Jones’s first name.
I liked Jones better.
He seemed like a Jones.
“You’ll need to pick up his clothes. The wolf won’t let me put my scent on them while he’s hunting you.”
“Okay,” I repeated.
Maybe my brain was shutting down just a tad. I was someone who needed to process things alone. In silence. When there wasn’t a wolf in front of me who was apparently hunting me.
“Pick them up.” Cynthia gestured toward his clothes. “They’ll fit in your backpack. You can wash it later, right?”
“Yes?” It was a question, because I didn’t know the answer. The stupid thing had cost more than I’d wanted to spend, but I would think there would be a way to clean it.
Even if there wasn’t, I wasn’t about to carry Wyatt’s underwear in my arms. I didn’t even know the guy.
Cynthia gestured to the clothes again, and I finally grabbed his tank top off the chair next to me.
The wolf picked Wyatt’s pants up in his mouth and carried them over while I put the grease-streaked tank top in my bag.
My backpack would smell like a mechanic’s shop, but I wouldn’t mind.
I shoved the work pants in after the tank, then wrestled with the zipper on my bag while the wolf grabbed the work boots between his teeth by the tied laces.
“Perfect. Follow me.” Cynthia waved me after her.
She’d gotten suspiciously nice, but I wasn’t going to question it.
I followed her to the doors that led out, and the wolf followed me. He kept scanning the room around us, like he was looking for a threat.
I wasn’t sure what kind of threat he’d find on our way out of the hospital, but whatever.
“You’ll want to call Abby back and update her so she can fill you in on the mating process,” Cynthia explained, as she looked around the parking lot.
“Do you know what Finn’s truck looks like?” I checked.
“No. I don’t know what Wyatt’s looks like either,” she admitted.
The wolf nudged my side. I glanced down at him, and he pointed to the left with his nose. The boots he was holding swung lightly with the motion.
“I think it’s that way.” I gestured in that direction.
“Oh, good call. Wyatt’s wolf definitely knows where it is.”
I eyed Cynthia as we walked. “You’re being strangely nice.”
“Keeping concerned friends and family members from learning the truth isn’t my favorite part of my job.”
That was fair.
Still annoying, though.
“Why did you say Wyatt’s wolf? Is he not the same in both forms?” I asked.
The wolf nudged me again, and we turned down a row of vehicles.
“Werewolves are basically two beings sharing one body,” she explained. “When the wolf is in charge, the human is tucked away, and vice versa.”
“How does that work?”
Cynthia shrugged. “I never asked.”
“But you’re a werewolf too?”
“Pretty much everyone in town is.”
“And no one has thought to look into the science behind shifting?”
“I’m the wrong person to ask. I’m just the receptionist.”
I scowled. “Receptionists are necessary. A good one keeps everything running smoothly and customers or patients coming back. A terrible one makes everyone’s life hard. You’re clearly the first, even though you’ve been making my life harder for months.”
She looked surprised. “My mate says the same thing, but I figure he has to.”
“Because he’s your soulmate?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, I’m not your soulmate. I have no reason to lie to you.”
We stopped behind an old, dented truck that looked like it used to be an interesting shade of teal. The wolf nudged me toward the passenger door.
“I think this is theirs,” I told Cynthia. “Thanks for… well, actually, I’m not sure I owe you a thank you.”
Cynthia grinned. “Not really. Good luck, though.”
“Something tells me I’ll need it.” I made my way to the back door of the truck. When I reached toward the handle, the wolf growled at me.
I paused. And looked down.
“What?”
He stepped past me and poked the passenger door with his nose.
“I don’t know your friend. I don’t really want to sit up there next to him,” I said.
He poked it again, more emphatically.
I shook my head and pulled the back door open.
As soon as I did, I understood why he was growling.
The seats in the back had been removed completely. Toolboxes, tool bags, and random mechanical parts in various containers replaced them.
Considering Wyatt was the only mechanic in their pack, and the old teal truck smelled heavenly, I’d say the vehicle belonged to him.
It looked like I was sitting in the front after all.
“Where’s Wyatt?” a male voice growled from the front seat.
I closed the back door and met the wolf’s gaze. “You should tell him. I don’t want to.”
The wolf nodded solemnly.
My eyebrows shot upward.
I knew he understood me, but that was beyond just understanding and nudging me in the right direction.
Pulling open the passenger door, I stepped back to make room for the wolf. He slipped past me and jumped into the truck first.
“What the fuck?” Finn demanded. “No.”
“That’s what I said.” I grabbed the handle just inside the door and used it to pull myself into the truck. It was lifted a little higher than normal. “Any idea how to end the mate hunting thing?”
Finn glared at me when I sat down on the same seat Wyatt’s wolf occupied. The wolf ended up sitting most of the way on top of me. My feet were probably going to go numb, but at least the wolf smelled as good as his human.
“You can’t end it. Rejection would kill Wyatt,” Finn gritted out.
“Damn.”
Wolf Wyatt rubbed his face against my arm. He’d dropped the work boots on the floor, so they were out of the way.
Finn glared at me for a few more seconds before he finally threw the truck in reverse and drove out of the parking lot.
He didn’t seem even somewhat interested in a conversation about mating.
So, I called Abby again.
“Hey. Did the guys find you?” she asked.
“You could say that.” I glanced at the wolf. He was sprawled out over my lap, and my feet were definitely going numb. But he smelled amazing. My fingers were itching to be buried in his fur to see if it felt as soft against my hand as it did against the side of my arm.
I’d always liked animals, even though I’d never had a pet.
“What do you mean?” Abby checked.
“His eyes turned red, and he called me mate.”
A moment of silence followed.
A long moment.
“Wow,” she finally said. “That’s a twist. Maybe one I should’ve seen coming, since me and Stella both ended up mated to feral pack guys. Seems like fate is having some fun with us right now.”
“I don’t think fun is the right word.” My fingers sank into Wyatt’s wolf’s fur. I lost the willpower to stop them.
It felt even softer between my fingers.
“This doesn’t change the plan,” Abby added. “You can head to Graham and Stella’s house to see that she’s fine. Nico and I will get there a little after you guys, so we can show you to Wyatt’s place and help you figure everything out afterward.”
“Great.”
“What questions do you have?”
“What questions do I not have, Abby?”
“That’s valid.”
“Can you just start with a summary of the mating thing?”
“Right. Good call. So after the eyes go red and the guy gets trapped in his wolf form, he’s stuck like that, and will stay with you until his wolf decides that he doesn’t think you’ll reject him. Then he’ll bite you, which turns you into a werewolf.”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
My fingers tightened in the wolf’s fur.
He licked my arm a couple of times. It should’ve been gross, but was kind of comforting.
“Rejection? Finn said I can’t reject Wyatt without killing him.”
The wolf licked my arm again.
Finn growled at me.
Wyatt’s wolf growled back, louder.
I ignored them both.
Wyatt already said Finn had a complicated history with women, which I was pretty sure translated to him not liking us.
“He’s technically right, but you could still reject him.
Your wolf could, at least. She’ll make the final decision as far as mating goes.
Wyatt and a bunch of the other guys in our pack were already rejected once.
It’s really rare for a male werewolf to survive being rejected by even one mate, so if you reject him, his chance of survival is pretty much zero. ”
So Finn was right. Rejecting the werewolf would kill him.
But I didn’t have a say in it anyway, because ultimately my wolf was going to decide.
That was kind of fucked up, but so was everything else in Moon Ridge.
“After you turn into a werewolf, your wolf will be trying to decide whether or not she wants Wyatt. They call that the mate chase. You’ll have to keep him in your line of sight at all times until your wolf decides to bite him.
When she does, you’ll be mated permanently, which starts the climax. That part is self explanatory.”
“Something tells me it involves sex.”
“Loads of it,” Abby confirmed. “After that, the mating process is over, and you live happily ever after.”
“The end,” I said flatly.
“Mmhm. It’s all kind of fun, actually. I think Stella and Graham are in the climax, so that’s exciting.”
“Sounds like so much fun.”
“Okay, okay, I hear that sarcasm. I’m sure it’s overwhelming right now, but it’ll get easier. And better. At least no one is going to accuse you of being on drugs.”
“I wish I was on drugs right now.”