Ell gathered the human in his arms and stood, a large, naked werewolf carrying an unconscious not-hiker.If this hadn’t been my damnmate, I would’ve made some joke.
Something else registered.“I don’t mind this.You touching him.But he’s hurt, so I should mind, right?He’s still bleeding too.”
Ell nodded.“Yeah.We need to take him home.”
“What the hell?”Linc asked even as Ell started walking.
“He’s my mate,” Ell said.“He’s yours and Dom’s too.Guys, at what point did we enter the twilight zone?”
I tookourmate’s bag from Linc, who seemed too stunned to speak, and slung it over my own shoulder before going through it, that magnificent, perfect scent all around me.
“He has a laptop in here.Who the fuck carries a laptop into the woods?What was he thinking?”
“He’s your mate, and he’s Dom’s mate too.”Linc followed at a dazed trot.“Well.Well.”
“He’s human, Linc.Maybe focus on that if you want to drive yourself crazy over something.”Ell spoke in that damn reasonable tone I was sure he used on bawling toddlers to calm them the fuck down.
I growled.“You’re right.He’s one human, and we’re three alphas.Isn’t it usually one mate per alpha?Also, as our human mate, shouldn’t he be more, you know…female?”
Linc’s nostrils flared, and Ell clutched our mate close as he weaved around trees with low-hanging branches.
Ell cleared his throat.“He might have omega potential.”
Linc shook his head.“They don’t exist anymore.And everything I know about them says it’s one alpha for each omega, typically the strongest in a pack.This is real though.It doesn’t bother me that you’re touching him, Ell.”
“Yeah, and it doesn’t bother me that you suggest it should bother you.”
In an extra compartment of the bag, I found our mate’s phone.“Jackpot.”I turned it on.Or tried to.“I think this ran out of juice.How does he have no power bank in here?”I rummaged on.“Wait, this works.I can use his laptop for charging.”
“Instead of charging his phone in the middle of the woods, can we focus on getting ourhuman mateback to the house where I can properly treat him?”Ell’s patience was fraying.
“Right.Ell, can you carry him home?Or I can take him for a while,” I offered.
“Give him to me.”
Linc’s voice was pleading.Damn.I’d never heard Linc plead or beg before, and I had tried getting him there in the sack more than once.No such luck.
“I…I have him right now, and it’s fine.Dom, run ahead and find me the fastest way on two legs.Linc, maybe you can make sure the hu—our mate’s laptop gets to the house in one piece while Dom scouts?”
I liked that idea, if only because it would give Linc something to do other than obsess and worry.
I raised the bag.“Shift, I’ll get the strap around you.”
Ahead of us, Ell started jogging as the brambles receded and offered a route that was more open.
Linc gave a quick nod then shifted into his night-black wolf.He was a damn sight to behold, that was for sure.In my wolf form, I still had the whole ginger deal going in most of my coat, although the area around my muzzle was a darker brown, almost black.I knew I looked kind of odd, like a washed-out orange cat or something, but Linc?Linc was exactly the wolf you wanted as your mate.
I tried not to drift too deep into self-consciousness about my looks as I made sure the strap was secure around Linc’s neck.He still took the bag in his mouth so he could keep it steady and ensure nothing of our mate’s got broken.
I shifted as well and got ready to sprint ahead of Ell, but before I did, I spotted one of the real wolves peeking out at me from behind a few saplings to our left.It was strange that she was getting so close.When our eyes met, she sort of yipped at me.
I stopped and glanced over at her.She lowered her head and eyes in a gesture of submission before turning on the spot and looking over her shoulder.She wanted me to follow her.Odd.
Ell and Linc weren’t too far ahead, so I decided to check out what the wolf wanted in case it had anything to do with our mate.Maybe there was something else of his there.It would be difficult to tell over the scent of his blood, which still permeated my awareness.
I followed, and when the wolf saw, she jumped ahead of me.It wasn’t far, just a few leaps down a rock outcropping.
I gasped.The rocky character of the woods could make scents difficult to follow, especially if you added wind into the mix.That was the only reasonable explanation I had for missing this—the scent of more blood…and also death.
