55. Tank
Tank
Why was I here? Social events were not for me. The music hurt my sensitive ears, and I hated the endless fearful looks if I caught a shifter’s eye.
The only time I enjoyed being among other shifters was in the fight ring. At least there I could let my aggression out. Here, not so much.
I approached the makeshift bar, grateful for once that the crowd parted before me, everyone eager to avoid attracting my attention. Drinking fae wine was a bad idea, but it helped numb my overstimulated senses.
I shouldn’t have listened to Tate. He was adamant that I come to the dumb ball. Show your face, he said. Prove to our fathers you’re in control, not your wolf.
Damn stupid ball. My shirt felt too tight across my shoulders and wearing dress pants offended me.
Because it was Halloween, we were supposed to wear costumes, but I drew the line there.
Tate had donned a frilly white shirt covered in fake blood and tight leather pants, while Tobias wore a dark shirt and some devil horns.
They both looked stupid, but from all the longing stares we’d received since arriving, the females didn’t agree.
I grunted at the guy serving behind the bar. He pulled a dusty bottle of cloudy fae wine from a crate and poured me a generous measure. Tate’s father had supplied the liquor for tonight, receiving a generous sum in return.
The fae wine burned like fire as it slid down my gullet, helping to ease some of the tension in my frame. I glanced at my watch. Fuck my life, I’d be stuck here for at least another hour.
Tate had driven us here, but I planned to catch the first bus back to campus. Tobias loved to party, and Tate needed to maintain a high profile at events like this. As the future pack alpha, he represented his father, and many of the shifters here were Montes pack members.
Everyone continued to give me a wide berth as I drank my fae wine. Tobias disappeared some time ago while Tate stood across the room with Camilla. The she-wolf wore the sluttiest dress I’d ever seen. I had no clue what she thought she looked like, but desperate sprang to mind.
He caught my eye and grimaced as Camilla leaned in, yammering away like usual.
Why did he put up with the stupid she-wolf?
No matter what she told herself in that pea brain of hers, Tate would never claim her as his luna.
Sure, her family was powerful, and her father had connections, but Camilla as pack luna? No.
The she-wolf was pretty enough, but she lacked the intelligence and empathy to be luna to a powerful alpha.
I turned away from them and scanned the crowd, searching for the little hybrid but not seeing him. Then a flash of red hair caught my eye.
Only it was a female, not the little hybrid. I almost looked away, but my wolf perked up and tracked the female as she pushed through the crowd. The angel wings strapped to her back fluttered as she moved, while a small halo bobbed in her red hair.
Her shiny white dress was as tight as Camilla’s, but on the little redhead, it looked sexy rather than slutty. Whereas Camilla pouted and preened, courting male attention, this little shifter seemed oblivious to the males drooling over her.
My wolf pushed against the bars of his cage, unhappy at how many males tried touching the red-haired female. One, a pathetic weasel shifter, groped her ass. She rammed her elbow back into his ribs with a growl.
I dropped my glass and stormed forward, ready to tear the weasel’s head from his shoulders.
As I got closer, the female’s burned sugar scent burst over me, sending my wolf feral with need, and when a second male weasel reached for the female, yanking her against his side with a lecherous leer, I saw red.
My wolf burst from my skin and leaped forward. Students screamed in panic and fled, falling over each other in their efforts to escape.
The weasel with his arm around the female pissed himself and fell to the floor with a desperate squeal. My wolf roared his displeasure and then sat down, tail thumping on the floor. The pretty redhead stepped away from the weasel in disgust.
I fully expected her to scream when she saw my wolf panting at her, but to my surprise, she just rolled her eyes.
“Bad, wolfie,” she scolded. “I don’t need protecting, but thank you anyway.” Tate came running over, having abandoned Camilla.
“Shift back, you dumb fuck,” he growled, ignoring the little female. She pursed her lips and glared at the alpha.
“That’s no way to talk to your friend, asshole.”
Tate’s eyes flashed gold as he scanned her from head to toe and then shook his head dismissively.
“I don’t know who you are…but kindly fuck off.”
My wolf growled threateningly at Tate, unhappy about how he talked to our mate.
Mate? She can’t be our mate! Riley is our mate! Goddess, what the fuck was happening to me? Had my wolf truly lost his marbles?
I flinched as Tate tried forcing me to shift back with an alpha command, but my wolf was having none of it. He sniffed and harrumphed before we turned away from our friend. The alpha dominance radiating from Tate tainted the air, pushing anyone still in the room to the floor.
All except the little female. She tapped her toe and huffed loudly.
“All this dick swinging is giving me a headache,” she muttered. “I need another fucking drink.” My wolf whined pitifully as she stomped off toward the exit, and before I could stop him, he’d bounded after her.
I heard Tate yelling something, but my wolf didn’t give two fucks.
All he cared about was this little female with the burned sugar scent and red hair.
I didn’t understand how she and Riley were connected, but my wolf wasn’t interested in the details.
He said she was his, and until he let me shift back, I couldn’t do a damn thing but follow our angel.