Tavish opened his mouth, fully intending to blurt it all out, but then he stopped.Where did he start?Even now he could feel his wolf urging him to go back and find Mairi.Instead, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and mentally told his wolf to calm down.Once he had a modicum of control, he blinked and focused on Jericho.
“I’ve never heard my wolf until I met Mairi,” he blurted, running a hand through his hair.
“Come again?”
“She’s my fated mate, and I never thought that was real until I walked into the diner and smelled this overwhelming scent that made my mouth water.Jaysus, my whole world exploded.My wolf roared the wordmatein my head and I just about passed out because he’d always been silent.”
Jericho held up a hand.“Wait.Youneverheard your wolf?How is that possible?”
Tavish thought back to his childhood and the anticipation of the moment he’d get his wolf.The hope he’d finally have a friend so he wouldn’t be lonely.He had envisioned they would go on grand adventures and explore the world together.“Once a month, when the change was upon me, he took over and I disappeared.There wasn’t any communication between us.He wasn’t my better half.In fact, I’ve never remembered any of the time I was in my wolf form.”
“That’s so bizarre,” Jericho said as he sat back.“Didn’t anyone in your pack guide you?Help you connect with him?”
“There aren’t any packs in Scotland.”
Jericho blinked.“What?”
“There are no longer wolves in the UK, so that means no packs.At least in Scotland there aren’t.Every shifter I ever met, and there weren’t that many, was a lone wolf.”
“No wolf packs ...but how does that translate into not shifting?I mean, you can have packs that are under the radar.”
“It was decided long ago, when the last wolf was killed by Sir Ewen Cameron, that if we ran in packs, it’d be easier to track and kill us.It’s an island, after all.No snakes in Ireland, no wolves in the UK.So, packs were disbanded and wolves became solitary.”
“But ...but ...who taught youhowto be a wolf?”
“No one,” Tavish replied.“My da told me what would happen, what shifter life was about, and my first transition went exactly as he said it would.And up until the moment I walked into that diner, I thought everything I’d heard about shifting was bollocks.”
“Tell me what happened when you saw Mairi.”
“I didn’t know who she was when I first spotted her, obviously, but the moment I inhaled this amazing scent, my wolf howled in my head for his mate.I was ...gobsmacked.”It still amazed him.“He’d always been a parasite, taking over my body once a month.Not a single word or tickle.Now, however, he’s pacing back and forth, growling his displeasure we’re not with her.It’s like I have two minds.”
“Well, technically, you do,” Jericho stated.“In time, it’ll feel natural, but I still remember the first time I shifted, and you’re right.It does feel odd to hear this other entity pacing in your mind with a completely different thought pattern.But you get used to it and eventually it’s simply a part of who you are.”
Tavish leaned back and tilted his head to look at the ceiling.“I ran last night.It’s the first time I shifted when it wasn’t a full moon.And I remember everything.The blessing of the moonlight.The scent of juniper and oak.Dew-heavy leaves decaying on the ground.The call of night owls.Chirping crickets and katydids.Even the fluttering of batwings as they hunted for their nightly feast.It was magical.”
He didn’t know how else to describe it.He’d missed out on so much for so long.
“It has to be because there weren’t any packs around,” Jericho deduced.“I was forced into solitary because I had been poisoned with wolfsbane.Took me years to fully recover and for a time my wolf was silent as he healed.I hated every moment without my pack, so I can’t even imagine what you’re going through.”
“He mentioned something similar.”
“He did?There you go.”
“I can’t help but wonder if there are other young shifters in the UK without someone to help them.My university roommate was a shifter, and he’d tell me stories of his runs, but most of the time I didn’t believe him.”
“Until now.”
“Until now,” he agreed, then sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair.“I feel so deceived.”
Jericho cocked his head.“In what way?”
“Was I not enough for my wolf?It’s been almost fifteen years from my first transition and he hid all this time.”Even now, his wolf snarled at his words, very displeased by Tavish’s criticism.“He’s angry at me for even telling you this.I’m so confused.And hurt.And I don’t know what to think about him.”He rested his elbows on his thighs and hung his head.
“It sounds like he’s a little stubborn,” Jericho observed.“If you’d like, I can help you with your wolf.”
Tavish lifted his gaze.“How?”
“By tempering him,” he explained.“I sense your wolf is powerful, and I would even go so far as to say you’re an alpha.If that’s the case, an alpha without a pack is not a good thing.We are social creatures.We need a pack and a mate, and a purpose.Shifter alpha wolves do not make good sigma wolves, and I suspect this is why your wolf chose to bury itself.You had no one to coax it out, until you met your mate, that is.”
