Since then, Boone had been exposed to several happy matings. He had seen how it was supposed to be between mates, the love and acceptance, the understanding, the caring. He wanted that. He had thought he was going to get that when he eventually found his mate.
Now, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.
Caught up in his thoughts, Boone didn’t realize how far he had walked until a vehicle pulled up beside him. When he glanced over and saw his truck, he pulled the door open and climbed in. He didn’t bother putting his seat belt on. It was unlikely he would die in a car crash, and if he did, he would welcome it at the moment.
“Boone?”
“Just drive.” Boone wasn’t ready to give voice to his heartache. He leaned his arm on the windowsill and watched out the window. He couldn’t exactly see anything. It was still dark out. But he wasn’t looking anyway. Jackie’s face as he shouted at him still dominated Boone’s thoughts. He doubted he would ever forget it.
No matter how much he wished otherwise, Jackie’s words played over and over again in his head. He didn’t think he would ever get over his mate looking at him as though he were some sort of horrible monster.
As Jackie’s words played out, another thought entered his head, one that made his blood go cold. “Jackie knows about us.” He glanced across the cab of the truck to his brother. “Jackie knows about shifters.”
Neumus’s frown was deep. “How?”
“I don’t know, but he hates us.”
And then some.
“He also mentioned the council.” Boone wasn’t about to say why he mentioned it. “Has Hugh said anything about it?”
“About Jackie?” Neumus asked.
Boone nodded.
“No.”
Crap. That couldn’t be good.
“I didn’t smell it, but is it possible that Jackie is a shifter?” Neumus asked. “It would explain how he knew about us and the council.”
Boone shook his head. “I would have smelled it except I got my nose broke breaking up a fight last night.”
Neumus shot him a look. “Dude, your nose is broken and you haven’t shifted yet? What the fuck?”
“I was too tired when I got home. I didn’t want to expend the energy to shift and heal. I was dead on my feet.”
It was a lame excuse and Boone knew it. He should have shifted, but he hadn’t. He figured he would in the morning once he got a good night’s sleep. Now, he could kick himself.
“You can’t smell shit until you shift, Boone.”
“I still would have known,” Boone insisted. He didn’t want to tell his brother how he would have known. Blood didn’t lie. Jackie was no more a shifter than he was human.
“We’ll need to keep an eye on him.”
“I’ll have Hugh call Elder Hamilton and ask him what he wants us to do,” Neumus said. “We can’t have a human walking around with knowledge of us if there’s the slightest chance he might tell someone else.”
Boone bristled at the thinly veiled threat in Neumus’s words. “You won’t touch him,” he said with a snarl as his claws slid out.
Neumus slammed on the brakes and turned to stare at him. “What the fuck is your problem?”
Boone winced as reason came back to him. Not only had he basically just threatened his brother-in-law, but the alpha mate of his pride.
He was so fucked.
Boone groaned as he dropped his head back on the seat. “Jackie is my mate.”
“Oh.”
