“Fuck, he’s fast.”
All sound off at the same time as everyone runs their gazes over me, Sabin who is clearly suffering on the ground, Torrez the wolf, and the woods all around us.
“I’m fine,” I tell Ryker, answering his question first. “A shifter showed up out of nowhere. He surprised the fuck out of me just when Sabin’s transference started,” I tell Enoch, answering his question, and I ignore Knox’s comment, figuring it was more a statement than anything that needs to be addressed.
“Where’s the shifter?” Valen asks, his gaze moving through the trees around us.
Torrez flashes from his wolf into himself, and it’s accompanied by groans and the others shielding their eyes.
“Come on, man, no one wants to see that,” Knox whines as he fixes his eyes on the sky.
“You could have warned us or something,” Bastien grumbles. I try not to laugh or stare too hard at Torrez’s dick or his muscles or at Torrez at all, because Sabin is on the ground suffering from our bond, and the last thing I should be thinking of is where to pin the dick on the Sentinel. Torrez turns to me with a smirk, and I want to punch him in his overly sensitive nose for always knowing what I’m thinking because of how I smell. Traitorous fucking hormones—or whatever it is that makes me smell.
“We’re on the edge of a pack’s territory,” Torrez announces, his heated eyes never leaving mine. “Muriel was patrolling when something about leaves caught his attention. I’m not sure what he meant; he has a pretty heavy accent.”
I snort at the name Muriel, and Torrez looks at me, perplexed. “Muriel,” I tell him, because really that’s explanation enough, but it’s clear he doesn’t get it. “Just seems like a funny name for a big bad wolf shifter,” I add. I look around to the other guys for support, but it seems I’m the only one amused by the revelation.
“Bunch of grumpy fuckers,” I mumble to myself.
“Anyway,” Torrez continues, gesturing to me and Sabin. “He ran into these two, asked them what they were doing, I showed up and explained, and we’re now invited to dinner on Sunday.” Torrez moves past me, his warm arm brushing mine, and it starts a delicious fluttering in my stomach and leaves a trail of goosebumps on my arm.
“Wait, what do you mean we’re invited for dinner?” Kallan asks as Torrez moves further away from the group.
“Well, not you guys, I should say. Just Vinna and I,” Torrez answers casually, like this is no big deal and none of the other guys should take any issue with it.
I count down in my head:three, two, one…
“Yeah, that’s not fucking happening,” Enoch and Bastien say at the exact same time.
“Jinx,” I throw out on a chuckle, but once again, I seem to be the only one amused by what just happened. I sigh when both Enoch and Bastien just glare at each other.
“It’s a formality that has to happen if we don’t want issues with that pack. I’m a shifter who’s staying close to their land with my mate, and it’s polite to introduce yourself to the neighbors so they don’t try to rip your throat out,” Torrez tells them, as if that settles any argument they may have.
“Have you not seen the trouble that finds Vinna whenever she pairs off or tries to do anything alone?” Valen asks him.
My first reaction is to object to Valen’s words, but as irritating as it is, he’s fucking right. Torrez fixes his dark brown eyes on me, and the corner of his mouth twists up in a smirk. “She is a little trouble magnet, but I’m fast and strong and can more than hold my own, and she’s…Vinna. We won’t have any problems.”
“You don’t know anything about this pack. They could very well be working with Adriel, and you two are about to casually walk into a trap,” Knox argues.
“Muriel’s pack does not interact with lamia. I asked him, and he answered truthfully. Lamia know better than to try and breach an unfriendly pack’s territory,” Torrez states.
“Sorik,” is all Bastien says, and Torrez turns to him, confused.
“Bless you,” Torrez tells him after a beat.
Bastien rolls his eyes. “No, that’s the name of the lamia who breached your pack territory to talk to Vinna.”
A deep growl pours out of Torrez. “A certain trouble magnet was not very forthcoming with any information about that incident. She was too busy being stabby,” he accuses.
“I was only stabby because your furry ass was being handsy,” I defend.
“Lamia had just breached the pack boundary, for the first time in history, to get to you. I was making sure you were okay.”
“You were fucking handsy, bro.”
“You were my mate!” he exclaims, his tone exasperated.
“I…didn’t know that at the time!”
