3. Tristan

Tristan

Chapter 3

As the truck rumbled down Main Street and the streetlights flicked on overhead, I had to force myself not to speed. It felt like my boots were lined with lead, forcing my foot down on the gas pedal—either that or it was just my wolf. With the moon rising and dusk settling in, he was getting harder and harder to contain. It made me wonder if Vesta was wrong about sending me to the city tonight. Things could too easily go sideways.

Brushing off the sliver of doubt that threatened to spread through me, I rolled down the windows and drew in a deep breath. Jude promptly hit the button on his side, rolling his back up.

I threw him some shade. "Dude, what's your problem?"

"It stinks," he growled, sulking, his arms crossed over his chest.

"It's the city, of course it stinks. You'll get used to it," I said, gnawing on a stick of red licorice. After all the healthy meals back at camp, I couldn't get enough candy when I was in the city. Just another part of my indulgence.

"I don't want to get used to it," he snarled back, his lip curling to show the tip of sharpened canine. "It's dirty and polluted… and full of humans. It's gross."

Peeking at him from the corner of my eye, it was hard not to laugh. For such a tough alpha, he really was just a big softie at heart. There was no doubt he cared about the members of our pack, especially Malachi, but he hadn't grown up with the rest of us. His past was a mystery to us all, and Shan had ordered us not to pry. That didn't stop me from being insanely curious, though; it wasn't natural to hate humans so much. He'd obviously had a bad experience before.

Smirking, I rolled down all the windows then put a lock on the controls from his side. He punched the button a few times futilely, then slumped down in his seat. "Asshole," he muttered.

"You love me." Then I leaned my head out the window, wind tugging at my hair, and howled. Jude couldn't contain his smile, no matter how grumpy he was.

We'd already been to the bank. It was always the first stop I made, while I was still sober enough to think straight, to ensure the pack's financials were in order. Shan employed a badger shifter named Griffin, and every time I came into the city, he and I sat down to discuss where to invest. So far, we'd done pretty well. The problem was that we'd had to move after our old pack was brutally attacked, leaving only a handful of us left. And with having to start over somewhere new, the initial cost was eating into our capital. There was the cost of construction, higher demand for store-bought food as we got the garden restarted, and Shan was determined to upgrade eventually. Even if we did most of the work ourselves, it wouldn't be cheap. Griff assured me it could be done, though.

I flicked on the turn signal and slowed down, and Jude's head jerked up, eyes glowing his wolf's green. "Why are you turning?" he asked, tension settling into his shoulders. He hadn't even gotten out of the truck at the bank, choosing instead to sit in the parking lot with the doors locked.

"I'm hungry." I pulled into the burger place, with its glaring neon sign illuminating the truck's interior with gold. "What do you want?" I asked as I got into the drive-in queue. I knew he wouldn't want to eat inside, so I didn't even bother to ask.

Jude's nose wrinkled as he sniffed the air. "It doesn't smell like food."

"Close enough. Don't be so picky, man. Live a little."

"Live? I'm more likely to die eating this garbage." He faced away from me.

Cheeseburgers, my wolf requested. Extra pickles.

Pulling up at the menu board, I leaned my arm on the doorframe and placed my order into the microphone. "Yeah, can I get six cheeseburgers with extra pickles, a dozen nuggets, two large fries, and an extra-large root beer?"

"And a vanilla shake," Jude added, leaning across the console to yell out my window. "Please."

I laughed, shaking my head as we crept forward to the first window to pay. "Hypocrite," I teased. "You know I heard they can't legally call them milkshakes because there's no milk?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Did you happen to notice those nuggets aren't called chicken nuggets?" Touché.

It didn't matter that the windows were down, the inside of the truck still filled with the greasy, salty smell of takeout. My mouth was watering, my stomach twisting itself into knots. Luckily, it was only a short drive to the motel I always stayed in. It was cheap, discreet, always had vacancy, and the best part of all, it was just a short walk down the block to the club I frequented.

Jude snorted as he surveyed the rundown building. "You seriously expect me to sleep here?"

"I don't care what you do, but when I stay here, there usually isn't much sleeping going on." I waggled my eyebrows at him, and he shook his head, sighing, his mouth pinched. He'd never said a single word in judgment for my fast-and-loose lifestyle, but I could sense the disapproval coming off him in waves. Irritation prickled at me. "What?" I prodded as I pulled the truck into a parking spot and cut the engine. "Just say what you're thinking."

He remained silent for a moment, but I was a patient man. Finally, he blurted, "Is this all you do when you come to the city, then? Eat garbage and have sex with random omegas?"

I shrugged, playing casual, like I didn't give a shit what he thought. "Alphas, omegas, betas, or gammas, whatever. Male or female, I'm not picky. As long as they're up for a good time." My wolf huffed out a little snort. Our opinions differed when it came to sex. He was very much a one-mate kind of guy, and until we found our missing half, he was very lukewarm about the whole sexual-release thing.

Jude gave me this look, like he felt sorry for me, before he unbuckled his seatbelt and reached for the door handle. That pity, it stung more than I cared to admit, and it needled at the hollow space inside myself that I was always trying to fill.

"Wait," I said sharply before I could second-guess the urge, and he paused. My chest tightened painfully. "I wasn't always like this, you know. It's just… easier. For now. If I can avoid caring too much about someone, I won't get hurt again."

He nodded, the motel's flashing sign reflecting off his eyes. "Look, I get it. We all have our demons, and if this is your way of coping with yours, then sure, you do what you gotta do. Just don't expect me to follow suit."

"Fair enough," I agreed. We both got out of the truck and made our way toward the office. "Just out of curiosity, what do you do when your demons need taming?" I'd never seen him show even an ounce of interest in any of the eligible omegas in our pack, so I knew it wasn't a physical release. He just disappeared alone into the woods every now and then, but he always came back.

Jude shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and hunkered down, his breathing shallow, his eyes darting around nervously. "I run, I hunt, I meditate."

"And does it work?" I asked skeptically.

"Not yet," he muttered. We stared at each other for a second before we both burst out laughing.

As squirrelly as the motel clerk was, I knew for a fact he was a chipmunk shifter whose nametag read Dale, and while he recognized me well enough, he was far from welcoming. As he tossed me back my credit card and room key, he glared at me. "Keep it down this time, would ya? It's hard to explain the barking when there's a no-pet policy in place."

"And that wasn't even my wolf," I said back, blowing him a kiss. He sneered and waved me away.

There was nothing classy about the Capri Motel, and yet it always stirred up a sense of comfort for me. There was familiarity in the neon-orange carpets and stained yellow wallpaper. I'd signed us up for a double room, so there were two twin beds on the right, a dresser with old tube TV on the left. At least it was clean.

"What is that smell?" Jude coughed once, rubbing at his nose.

"What smell?" I sniffed the air. "Oh, pine-scented cleaner," I said, dropping my bag on the closest bed.

"That… is not what pine smells like," he commented, throwing the door closed behind him.

With his eyes alert, darting left and right, he stalked across the room and disappeared into the bathroom, where I heard him pull back the shower curtain. He came back just seconds later. His body was taut, every muscle tense and ready for action, his eyes all wolf. I half expected him to get down on his hands and knees to make sure no one was hiding under the beds. He crossed over to the window and peeked out before tugging the drapes closed. Was he expecting a siege?

"Jude, chill out. You're safe here. Just sit down and eat, would you?"

"I shouldn't have come." He shook his head and paced back and forth along the length of the small room. He was making me dizzy.

I pulled open the greasy paper bag and plucked out a few fries, waving them in Jude's face. "You're only saying that now because you're surrounded by humans. But what if I told you there was a place where only shifters were allowed…" I waited for that to sink in.

His feet paused in their stride, and he glanced over his shoulder at me. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. But first, we eat." I gestured for him to sit down on the other bed across from me, and I tossed him a burger.

Jude unwrapped it and sneered at it doubtfully. There was no way he'd back down from a challenge, though, so he sniffed it cautiously then slowly brought it to his mouth and took a small bite… then a larger bite, and his eyes widened. He actually sighed! A tiny amount of that tension released from his shoulders.

"Good, right?" I asked, digging into my own burger.

"I still don't think it can be classified as food, but damn, it's amazing. What do they put in this?"

"Don't know, don't care," I mumbled around a full mouth. "Probably best not to ask."

It didn't take us long to inhale all the food, and I tried my best not to act smug about how much Jude had enjoyed that. There was no way he'd grown up in a city if he'd never eaten a damn cheeseburger before. How sheltered was he?

We cleaned up, then I unzipped the bag I'd brought. "Here, get dressed," I said, throwing a shirt at Jude. It was one of mine, since we'd left so fast we hadn't had time to pack him anything.

Jude held the shirt up to his torso, where it barely spanned half his broad chest, and raised a brow at me.

"Whatever. So what if it's a little tight. The omegas'll love it. One look at your buff bod and you'll have them eating out of the palm of your hand—if you decide that's what you want tonight," I tacked on, remembering I'd promised I wouldn't push him into anything.

The moon shone down from between clouds as we headed out down the sidewalk. It was a quick walk to the club, made faster because of the pace Jude set. His legs were longer than mine, and I almost had to jog to keep up. "You swear there are only shifters?" he asked, not for the first time.

"Yeah, man, would I lie to you?" He shot me a look but didn't argue.

At last, we approached the large brick building, its sign declaring it to be Hair of the Dog. "Inside joke," I said, nudging Jude with my elbow. "Get it?" He clenched his jaw. He'd gone silent the last block, and it seemed he wasn't in the mood to say anything now. "They tell the humans it's membership only so they can control the clientele. Come on, your first drink's on me."

The music was loud enough to be heard through the walls, the pulsing beat beckoning. There was a bouncer at the door, some sort of bear shifter, but even with his sculpted frame, he still had to tilt his chin up to look Jude in the eye. "You members?" he asked in a deep baritone.

Jude glanced at me in question, and I flashed my wolf's eyes at the bouncer. Jude followed suit. The bouncer nodded and pulled open the door for us. "You gentlemen have a good time tonight. Keep it tame." He smirked at his own joke.

My wolf rolled his eyes. Not funny, he said.

As we made our way through the first door, down a short hallway, then through a second set of doors, the throbbing of the music settled in my chest, almost like a heartbeat. My pulse changed its rhythm to match, and I could already feel myself descending into the club mentality. The strobing lights cutting through the darkness, the writhing dance floor. I was here to have fun, let go of any responsibilities, any stress and worry. There was nothing but my base instincts here. I gripped the back of Jude's neck and pulled him into my side as we made our way over to the bar. "Welcome to Hair of the Dog," I said. "Pick your poison."

"I…" Jude blinked up at the wall of bottles, stunned by all the choices. "I'll have whatever you're having," he finally settled on.

"You're going to regret saying that," I said with a laugh. I ordered us both two shots of tequila to start with. It normally took a lot for a shifter to get drunk. Our metabolisms burned it off too fast, but there was a local distillery who'd come up with a special brand of liquor infused with a pinch of wolfsbane to increase potency.

"Cheers," I said, tapping my shot glass to his. He watched as I tipped the glass to my lips and downed it. The burn was smooth, warmth spreading out from my belly.

Jude followed suit, throwing back the drink, and for a second, I thought it was going to come right back up. He coughed violently, gasping. "Gods, no! Why?!" I waited a second as the liquor began to spread through his veins. "Oh…" He'd just answered his own question. He didn't hesitate to pick up the second shot. Although he made a face, he managed to keep it down.

"And now we dance," I said, shoving him toward the dance floor. He was shaking his head but wasn't putting up much of a fight. His movements were sluggish, his feet dragging under the effects of the wolfsbane.

I thought he was just going to stand there in the middle of the crowd, not moving, but his eyes drifted shut and he began to sway. "Atta boy," I said, grinning wide. Jude and I couldn't have been more different, but I still considered him one of my closest friends. It meant something to me that I was sharing this part of my life with him and that he seemed to be enjoying it—at least a little bit.

An older woman across the dance floor locked eyes with me, and I beckoned her over with a crooked finger. Deer shifter, and her scent lit up my wolf's predator instinct. It seemed she was in the mood to walk on the wild side tonight, and she began to grind on my thigh. A second set of hands landed on my hips, and I glanced over my shoulder to see a man giving me sultry eyes. I reached back and drew him closer, his stiff cock rubbing against my ass.

I lost all track of time. Sweat beaded on my forehead, head spinning, hands and bodies rubbing. It was glorious!

But then… my wolf alerted me to something new. A scent, crisp and bright, like the lily of the valley that bloomed in the forest undergrowth every spring. And my whole body came alive. I stood up straight, gasping, eyes searching the club. I had only a second to think, Shit. Not now, before my entire world tilted on its axis.

Mate.