5
Sage
By the timewe reached the grove, Xander’s breath was coming out in heavy puffs. His muscles trembled with effort, like he was attempting to stand on his own instead of leaning his weight on me which was he wassupposedto be doing. Stubborn ass cat.
“You can lean on me, y’know,” I told him.
He grunted. “Don’t need to.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, tough guy. It’s not a failure on your half to admit that you’re hurt.”
“I told you, I’m fine,” he hissed through gritted teeth. “I don’t need help from a wolf.”
“Okay, then I’ll just drop you.”
“I wish you would.”
Annoyed, I let go of him. Xander stumbled immediately. Unfortunately, my little bleeding heart couldn’t take it. I ran forward to grab him before he fell face first in the dirt.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
A sound halfway between a grunt and a whimper came out of him, which only made me feel worse. I shouldn’t have dropped him in the first place, even though he was being a jerk-ass. I nuzzled closer to his side so that he could use my body as leverage. Xander stiffened but didn’t complain anymore.
Before we entered the ring of trees, the welcoming party was already alert. Except it wasn’t quiteso welcoming because the two people who’d stayed behind to watch the kids were the snarkiest in all the pack.
They approached together—one black wolf, and a red fox.
As soon as he saw Xander, Remington’s hackles went up. “What ishedoing here?” he demanded, baring his teeth.
Red followed suit, taking a hint from Remington to be on guard. His tail fluffed up and he remained standing in front of the kids, who peeked out curiously from the grass to see what all the fuss was about.
“Uh, do you know this guy?” Red asked, trying to decide if he should feel threatened or not.
“I do,” Remington growled. “Which is why I don’t know Sage hauled him back here.”
“Whoa, relax, Remmy,” I said as I felt Xander tense against my body. I knew Xander didn’t want to cause trouble, but Remington wasn’t one to forgive a grudge so easily. He’d taken Xander’s ‘attack’ on me harder than I did. He wasn’t going to let him forget it.
Remington’s hackles shot up. “Relax? Sage, heattackedyou!”
I sighed. Yup, I was right.
Thankfully the rest of the pack were there to play peacekeeper. Hugo came between us and asked, “Hang on, Remington. What’s going on?”
Though it was considered rude to remain in a different form than the person you were speaking to, Remington refused to shift. He obviously wanted to stay in wolf form in case Xander tried anything funny, in his eyes.
“Xander attacked Sage just the other night,” Remington said bitterly. “And now you’re bringing him in here?”
Hugo faced Xander. “Is this true?”
All eyes were on Xander now. I felt bad for him. Since he was used to slinking in the shadows and being solitary, he must have hated being the center of attention.
“I didn’t hurt him,” Xander said quietly. “My only intention was to scare him off.”
“You turned on him!” Remington snapped. “How can we trust you?”
Xander’s voice filled with a big cat’s growl. “He was in heat! I needed him to get away from me!”
At the sudden silence that fell, Xander went on in a serious voice, “I don’t need you to trust me. I’m only here because the pack insisted on it while I heal. Sorry for intruding on your space.”
