35. Tobias
Tobias
What in the actual fuck was I doing? I was supposed to be watching Tank fight. Not chasing after a wolf shifter who’d made it more than clear he wasn’t interested. A skinny male wolf shifter. So not exactly my type.
And yet, here I was.
Nothing about Riley fucking Scott made sense.
I’d tried talking to the little wolf, and he’d rebuffed me at every turn. Worse, after touching him and feeling how soft his skin was, and also how his body felt under my hands, I couldn’t let him go.
Yet another thing that made no sense. He looked like a male, yet he felt like a female. And his wolf was female.
Was it any wonder I was confused?
Now the little wolf hybrid had run off before I could pin the fucker down and…question him. Okay, so I wanted to do a lot more than question him, but the minute he ran, my predator instincts went into overdrive.
There was only one marked trail back to the road, so I hung back and then followed his burned sugar scent, knowing I could head him off before he reached the parking area.
I ran down a narrow track that looped back around to intersect with the main trail. My wolf and I were furious he’d dared to run away from us. We wanted to punish him in the worst way, pin him down while we fucked his sexy ass.
“You should know better than to run from an apex predator, little wolf!” I was on the verge of losing my shit when I finally caught the little hybrid. He froze as I threw him against a thick tree trunk, but instead of screaming obscenities at me, he kissed me.
The minute his soft lips touched mine, I knew. This wolf was my goddess-fated mate. The other half of my soul, destined to be mine for as long as we both lived.
Cinnamon and burned sugar enveloped me. I deepened the kiss, lost in the heady sensation of his mouth on mine. Until an insistent ringtone distracted me.
Tate was calling. He wouldn’t bother unless it was urgent.
It took all I had to break the kiss. I swiped to accept the call while staring down at my mate, who refused to meet my eyes, his lips swollen and pink.
Did he not feel the same pull as me? I had no clue how a mate bond worked if one of us was a hybrid.
Like most shifters, I was told hybrids couldn’t form mate bonds because their shifter half wasn’t strong enough.
“I have to go,” the little dude said, his cheeks flushed and his pupils dilated.
“No,” I growled as Tate yelled in my ear.
“What the fuck, Tobias! Get your ass back here right now! Tank’s lost it!”
Tank’s lost it? Tate’s words obliterated the lust clouding my brain. An out-of-control Tank was bad.
The call ended before I could ask what the fuck had happened to make Tank lose control of his wolf.
“Little dude, I have to go help Tate. Come with me and then we can talk about shit.” Hellfire, we had a lot to talk about, not least how this was going to work. My parents would lose their ever-loving shit when they heard I’d found my fated mate.
Mom would be so happy. Dad, not so much.
The Montes pack was not known for its progressive attitudes toward same-sex relationships. But I didn’t give a fuck about that. Tate would understand, and he was the next alpha. Our current alpha could shove a cactus up his ass and do a hula dance for all I cared.
“I have to go,” my mate whispered, still refusing to look me in the eye. Was he upset? Did he think I wasn’t good enough for him?
I mean, sure, I had a rep, but I hadn’t fucked another shifter since this little dude got under my skin.
My phone buzzed. Probably Tate again.
There wasn’t time to discuss the matter. Riley would have to come with me. I couldn’t protect him if he went his own way, and the forest was dangerous at night.
“It’s not safe,” I barked, trying real hard to be patient. And failing miserably from the mutinous glare the wolf shot me.
“Fuck off, Tobias. One stupid kiss does not mean you fucking own my ass!”
I bristled with anger. “Oh I own your ass, alright, little wolf. So come with me right the fuck now or I’ll spank you so fucking hard you won’t be able to sit down for a month!”
That threat went down badly. My feisty little mate huffed angrily before punching me in the junk—again!
I hunched over in agony, desperately trying not to retch. Meanwhile, my goddess-blessed mate ran off into the night without a backward glance.
“Fuck my life,” I gasped, before grinning like a loon.
At least life as a mated male would never be boring.