Avery frowned, her eyebrows scrunching. “What’s going on with you?”
I shook my head. “Nothing, let’s find the boys.”
It took a few minutes of searching, but we found Jax leaning against a zombie pinball machine talking to Gavin and his girlfriend. Great. We had to go through this crap again. Mason had his arm around a human girl. He was such a sucker for humans, loved that damsel in distress thing.
Jax sensed me through our twin bond and turned. “Hey, sis.” He called me over.
I scanned Gavin’s girlfriend up and down. Girl was hot. She had it going on. Long blonde hair, perfect skin, light make-up and good style. A light growl ripped from my throat, but I disguised it with a cough. Avery and Jax looked at me with concern. This was not like me; I didn’t get jealous, I was confident, until now.
Gavin eyed my shoes again and smiled. Yeah, our shoes matched, but it didn’t make us mates. My wolf needed to calm the hell down. I was seriously worried she was going to hump his leg if I didn’t get some fresh air.
I was about to suggest to my group that we go home, when an ear-splitting shattering noise thundered throughout the bar. I instinctively stepped to the side to be closer to Gavin and threw him to the ground, lying over him as glass rained down on top of us. The humans were screaming as the bar filled with smoke canisters. My eyes met Jaxon’s as the realization washed over us. We were being attacked! Oh, hell no. I couldn’t stay human if I tried. Not with danger present and a guy that my wolf thought was her mate. The music skidded to a stop and the dense smoke had completely filled the bar, leaving everyone coughing. I jumped up, throwing off my clothes. “Shift! Protect the humans!” I shouted to my pack over the screaming and coughing. My dad was Alpha, my mother was his second. In a time like this, everyone took orders from me. Whoever was messing with us was about to die. I heard cracking bones and growls as the pack shifted around me. Then, a girl screamed and … was that a gun shot? What the hell was going on?
The smoke dissipated as I stood on all fours. Looking behind me, I saw Gavin, wide-eyed, staring right at me. I expected to see fear but instead his eyes were full of wonder and lust.
Jaxon’s wolf form moved next to me and I saw that the entire front glass wall of the bar that faced the street was completely blown out. Humans in black military gear, with guns and Tasers, grabbed Brady who was mid-shift, trying to fight them off.
I gave a low growl and prepared to pounce when one of the humans pointed a gun right at me. Screw you. I was part witch, silver didn’t do shit to me like it did my shifter family. But as I prepared to leap and fight for Brady, my wolf froze. Gavin was right behind me, a stray bullet could kill him.Mate.I stood there on all fours, frozen, trying to decide whether to rip this military guy’s throat out and help Brady or protect Gavin. My wolf decided for us as I backed up and positioned myself in front of Gavin, head low, a growl rumbling in my chest.
Luckily Jax wasn’t having a problem deciding what to do. He leaped high up into the air and came down hard on the guy who was pointing his gun at me. They tumbled on the floor and the humans took that distraction to shove Brady into a van and drive off with screeching tires. Two of the human hunters stayed back, keeping us hostage with their high-powered guns. They shared a look and then sprayed some bullets into a few wolves nearest them before jumping onto motorcycles and taking off. Shit!
‘Avery! Help the wounded.’Avery was right next to me, even in my peripheral vision I noticed her reddish fur with white spots. She was studying to be the next pack doctor, now was her chance to put her knowledge into real-life practice. She shifted, tossed on clothes, and ran to the wounded, barking orders to others around her.
‘Dad, we’ve got some trouble downtown at Pixels. Humans kidnapped one of our wolves,’I told him.
I was about to turn around when I felt a warm, strong hand caress my fur. It was intimate and caught me off guard. It was him.Mate.
Turning, I saw Gavin, hand frozen in the air, chest heaving.
“What are you doing?” his girlfriend screeched next to him, looking at his hand in horror.
Did his eyes just flash yellow? What the? No, it was a trick of the light. They were green.
This blonde bitch was turning my wolf into a jealous twelve year old and I was trying to keep my wolf from attacking her. I had never been at odds with my wolf, we were one. Never her and I, just me. But I wanted to rip her face off for the way she held onto my mate. The way she was touching his hard biceps made my wolf furious. Oh my God, what was happening to me? He wasn’t my mate, right?
Jax’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
“Shift. We’ve got some injured humans,” Jax told me. Mate or not, I was the Alpha’s daughter and I would be expected to lead by example in a situation like this.
Clothes landed at my feet and my wolf gave a smile to Gavin’s girlfriend. Oh no. She wouldn’t. No. I gasped. She did. My wolf forced me to shift myself back to human and suddenly I stood there, stark naked before Gavin and his girlfriend. This was my wolf wanting to mark her territory. Nakedness was nothing within my pack; we were always seeing each other naked, but to humans it was another issue. There was no smoke hiding my bare form now. I can’t believe my wolf shifted me before I could get privacy! How was that possible? She was controlling me? I blushed as Gavin’s gaze flicked quickly down my body before he turned away red faced.
Stop it!I screamed at my wolf and threw my clothes on as fast as I could. I felt like I was going crazy; being at odds with your wolf was akin to having a multiple personality. It was terrifying and I had never heard of something like this happening.
“Take me home, Gavin!” His girlfriend stood and glared at him.
Fully clothed, I turned around intending to apologize.
She blasted past me in a rush, bumping my shoulder as she passed, and the apology flew out the window, instead I let loose a low threatening growl.
‘Easy there, cowgirl,’Jax scolded me, coming to stand behind me.
Shit. I couldn’t control my wolf. This NEVER happened. I was always in control. What did this mean? Panic had me in its grip.
Gavin walked past me, leaning into my neck, and I heard him inhale deeply, smelling me. “Thank you,” he whispered, his breath tickling my ear and making my stomach heat up. I was pretty sure if we were alone in the room I would have jumped him. I needed my wolf to chill the hell out before I did something ridiculous. Was he thanking me for protecting him from the gunman or for giving him a nude show?
He held my gaze for a few more seconds and then walked away. I felt my heart literally ache at the sight of him leaving. My wolf tried to make me run after him, howling inside my head, and I bit my tongue to keep myself from screaming after him. Asking him to stop. I actually walked half a step forward and stopped myself. What the hell was going on?! My wolf and I were one, we never had to think or feel separately. It didn’t happen. Until now. I was inbigtrouble.
‘Stop it!’I screamed at my wolf.
