His lips twisted briefly in self-mockery, as if he’d embarrassed himself by talking about emotions, and then he was abruptly serious. “Maybe he is a complete asshole, but don’t risk missing out on something amazing if he’s just a guy who made some wrong choices along the way. Listen to your gut.”
Jason stared after him, his heart pounding unevenly. Something was writhing unpleasantly inside him, and he couldn’t tell what he felt, other thanwrong.
As the sun reached its zenith, and he watched pack members come and go from the house that had become his home, Karl’s words kept circling around him. Jason had always judged himself against what he wasn’t.But ifKarl,the perfect shifter, the archetypal wolf, thought there was something to like…
Maybe he was worth wanting. There was something important here—some truth he’d never let himself believe.
Now, maybe it was time he did.
RILEY
After a dinner of chips, bread, and cheese, which had gone soft in the heat of the day, Riley went back to the public restrooms to have a quick wash and brush his teeth. He put on a clean t-shirt and wondered if there was a laundromat in town for when he ran outof clothes. He might be broke and out of options, but he refused to be broke, out of options, anddirty.
Once it was finally dark, he drove to the motel. He knew there wouldn’t exactly be a huge demand for parking spaces there, and hopefully it would count as legal enough for Sheriff Urban, who might not feel the same way if he slept in his car in the street. He pulled into the farthest corner, where the brick wall at the end of the lot had crumbled onto the asphalt and made it an unattractive place to park. That way, he hoped the manager wouldn’t run him off if she spotted him.
Almost as soon as he curled on the back seat with his head on a rolled-up t-shirt, Riley was cursing his choice. A streetlamp seemed to be shining directly into his eyes no matter which way he faced. It felt like it was trained on him deliberately, punishing him for still being here, still hoping.
If he were less tired, he would do something about moving the car. But he was tired, the sort of weariness that came from heartsickness as much as from lack of sleep, so he pulled a shirt from his bag and put it over his face, hoping it would blot out the light.
JASON
Once the rest of the pack had settled for the evening, Jason slipped quietly around the side of the house to his car. Letting them know he was leaving would only mean a crowd waiting when he got back, full of questions he wasn’t ready to answer.
Doing nothing wasn’t an option. If he didn’t at least try, he’d always wonder if he’d given up on Riley too soon. He’d always regret not knowing for sure.
In town, he parked at the diner out of habit. He’d called in sick that morning. He should feel bad for letting Sam down, but allhe could feel was the mixture of wild hope and terror that Karl’s words had caused.
He’d thought about simply driving around town looking for Riley’s car but realized he had a better way to find him than relying on luck. His wolf’s senses would be able to track down Riley’s scent in a fraction of the time it would take him in human form. And if it were somehow true that Riley did want to be with him, he needed to find out if Riley could ever fully accept him as a shifter. As a wolf. So he left his clothes in a tidy pile in a dark corner of the park and shifted.
Scenting the air, he trotted out of the park and went hunting.
Chapter Twenty-nine
RILEY
Riley jolted awake as the car rocked, and something scraped the paintwork. Heart pounding, he thrust himself away from the noise. As his eyes cleared from sleep, he saw it—a dark wolf’s face looking in through the window by his feet.
Panicking, he pushed back hard against the door behind him, drawing his knees up in a futile attempt to protect himself as his gut clenched in terror. He’d thought Urban was okay with him staying, but he’d been wrong. Urban had sent the pack after him.
The wolf whined slightly and dropped down, only to rear up again, its paws set against the window. Riley froze. Something about the eyes, the tilt of the head... He didn’t know how, but heknew.
“Oh, God.” He flung himself across the seat, desperate to open the door, to get to Jason.
In his eagerness, he scrabbled uselessly at the handle. When he finally got the door open, a sound split the night air so loudly hisears rang with it, almost drowning out the high-pitched yelp that followed.
A yelp of pain. Jason was hurt. Some part of his brain, some deep survival instinct, put it all together way before his conscious mind, still half-asleep, had a hope of doing so.
“Stop!” he yelled, pushing open the door and practically falling out onto the asphalt. “For the love of God, don’t shoot!”
He looked around, heart beating rabbit-fast as he shook with panic. Jason was crouched in the shadow of the crumbling brick wall, making it impossible to see if he was hurt. But that cry had definitely been one of pain.
Movement caught his eye, and Riley looked back to see a man’s figure moving toward him. He was silhouetted by the bright streetlamp behind him, but there was no mistaking the measured threat in his tread. Nor the dull glint of the gun in his hand.
“Out of the way, boy,” a deep, gravelly voice said. The gun shifted, the barrel catching the light as he stepped forward. “That wolf was trying to break into your car. It’ll attack you if you get any closer.”
Riley’s heart beat even faster, his pulse sounding in his head. Not just at the gun but thegleein the man’s voice.
“He’s not a wolf—he’s a shifter. Aperson!” Riley yelled, furious and terrified.
