One of Drew’s hands lands on my shoulder and a full-fledged snarl rips out of me at the touch. Drew jumps backward, his eyes going wide. “What the fuck?”
My vision flickers, sharpening and dulling in turns—my eyes are changing—and claws extend from my fingertips.
Shit shit shit.
I’m going to shift. I can’t stop it.
What the hell is going on?
Another stab of pain hits the back of my neck, this one even sharper than the first, a fiery knife that makes its way down my spine as every muscle in my body tenses.
And then it’s gone…
My muscles relax, my teeth and claws retreat. My vision stabilizes. I straighten, flexing my hands a few times to work out the last of the kinks.
Drew stares at me for a beat without saying a word, then walks to the safe in the corner, never once taking his eyes off me. He presses in a code before swinging the door open, grabbing a stack of cash, and shoving the pile of bills at me.
“Take it. I don’t know what the fuck you are, but I want you out of here,” he says, the waver in his voice lessening the impact of the words. “I don’t need that kind of mess here. I have a business to run.”
My gaze darts from his face to the cash. Is he for real? Slowly, I reach forward, expecting Drew to snatch the money away at any moment.
There’s no way it’s this easy…
My fingers make contact with the bills, grip them, then pull them back. I glance down at the money in my hand, a stack of hundred-dollar bills wrapped in a band printed with$10,000.
Well then. I flash a grin at Drew. “Thanks, man.”
He doesn’t respond, but who cares? This isn’t exactly how I planned to get it, but now I have more than enough money to get the hell out of here and never look back.
And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
I shove the cash into the waistband at the front of my pants and pull my shirt down over it. Not the most ingenious hiding place, but I have to work with what I have and I’m not dumb enough to prance out of here with the money in full view.
I’m halfway to the front door when a voice calls out from behind me. “Keir!”
The single syllable sends a shiver down my back and I actually shudder as that tight feeling from earlier returns to my muscles. On some instinctual level, I know that voice. I don’t even need to turn around to be sure. But I do anyway, my wolf immediately beginning to whine his name.
Julien.
Eleven
Keir
Everynerveendinginmy body lights up and there’s a war brewing between my brain, which is telling me to run, and my wolf, which wants nothing more than to go to Julien, to be near him, to feel his hands on me…
My wolf is winning.
I take a step forward. Julien’s eyes flash with heat, and his nostrils flare. He’s holding himself still, his muscles thrumming with tension and his gaze locked on mine. Want, desire, andneedtangle in my chest and draw me forward another step. My lips part and the spot on the back of my neck that was so painful earlier tingles with…anticipation?
There’s a crashing noise. The door banging open? Boxes falling? Whatever the noise, it breaks me out of the weird trance-like state that was pulling me to Julien. I tear my gaze from his and turn my face away. My forward motion stops and the fog in my brain clears.
What the hell?
I dart a glance at Julien, quick enough to hopefully avoid being trapped in whatever mindfuck that was again. What is he doing to me? Is this an Alpha thing?
A faded memory niggles at the back of my mind, something mentioned a few times in my old pack, a kind of fairy tale told to pups: If you were really good, the fates might grant you someone special, someone made just for you.
A fated mate, my wolf supplies.
