Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
I hear the shower start up in the hall bathroom. Luke is awake.
I can stop avoiding him. We had it out last night, and we’re over. I’m grateful to him for the support he was when my mom was dying, but that’s all. The rest is for the past.
This afternoon, I will drive him to the airport and say my goodbyes. Goodbye to Luke. Goodbye to my old life.
I pick up my phone and text Abe. Is there such a thing as a bear shifter?
Abe
“Where are you going?” my dad demands when I try to slip by the parents with a breezy “see you later.”
“For a run–a four-legged one. I have some pent-up aggression to burn off.”
Always better to stick close to the truth when you’re hiding something. And the pent-up aggression is no lie.
I blacked out again this afternoon when I read Lauren’s text saying she was driving Luke to the airport.
Can’t Lincoln take him? I almost wrote back, but fortunately, the blackout stopped me from sending it.
Lauren’s not even my girlfriend. I don’t have a claim on her.
Bullshit, my wolf growls every time I think that.
So now I need to see her–to fuck his memory out of her. Not that she’s agreed to this meeting.
I have another reason for defying my alpha and going to her property. She told me her dad saw a bear there. I need to sniff around to see if it was that same old shifter.
“Abe, have you been having any more headaches or visual disturbances this week?”
I hesitate. I don’t want to be subjected to more tests. “No. All good. Just aggression.”
“You should be channeling that aggression into football, son. Coach Jamison told me the ASU recruiter will be up to watch the game this week. You need to be at your peak performance to get that full ride scholarship we’re talking about.”
“Yes, sir. I will be.”
“I don’t see how going for a run at nine at night on a Sunday is compatible prep for the recruiter.”
My vision starts going haywire. My wolf wants to come out and tear a piece of my dad’s flank right now for trying to keep me from Lauren.
Like always, I cover with bluster. I slam my open hand against the wall making a loud but harmless thud. “I’m letting off steam, so I can focus on my game, Dad.”
My mom comes in from the family room. “Paul. He’s an adult now. Let him make his own choices.”
My dad looks troubled. “Fine. But stay away from Moongaze Hill.”
Uh, right. “Yep,” I say. Another direct order I’ll be disobeying.
I jog out of the house and drive my car up toward the cabin then pull over and run the rest of the way to Lauren’s in human form. I stop before the clearing to take in the scents. It would be easier to detect the bear’s trail in wolf form, but I can’t crawl through Lauren’s window as a wolf, and I am definitely planning on crawling through that window.
I catch his scent around the perimeter of the Sterling property. It’s definitely the old shifter again. The pack’s theory that he’s selling out young shifters proved wrong. No one’s saying much, but I understand Rayne was abducted by a human, and she shifted for the first time to protect herself.
Why is the bear trespassing on pack property, though? Has he gone senile?
I catch movement in Lauren’s room, and I leave my musings about the bear. Tomorrow, I’ll tell my dad I caught his scent again on pack land.
Right now, I have a beautiful human to torture.
I stay in the shadows and out of the sight-lines of the windows to approach the mansion then hug the side of the house until I’m standing below Lauren’s window. When I pry the screen off the frame it hits the window, and I freeze, praying Lauren’s dad doesn’t come out with his shotgun.
The window flies open. “Seriously?” Lauren whispers, but a beautiful smile lights her face. It takes my breath away.
She’s so changed from the haughty rich girl who started at Wolf Ridge High in August.
I take advantage of the open window and throw a hand across the frame to hoist myself up with one arm.
“Show off,” she whispers when I swing a leg over and drop onto her hardwood floor. She’s wearing a thin pair of blue pajama shorts and a spaghetti strap top that I can’t wait to tear off.
I cover her mouth, backing her up until her legs hit the bed. Then I pick her up by the waist and toss her into the center of it.
She lets out a breathy, silent laugh. “What are you doing?”
I pull my shirt off over my head, getting dizzy with lust when Lauren’s gaze tracks to my chest and stays there. I kick off my sneakers and climb over her. “What’s your safe word?” I breathe, catching her wrists and pinning them down beside her head.