Chapter Sixteen

Titan

Xerxes was asking around about the female and the two she’d driven off with. He was massively frustrated at not being able to remember their names but felt confident that with enough research, he would learn where to find her.

As for me, how would I tell him that I had gotten a glimpse, a whiff of the female I thought was our mate? In the woods late at night, seen her shadow, watched her from a distance. Her clothes were baggy, concealing her form, but that didn’t stop my wolf from fixating on her. What color was her hair? Her eyes? What did her voice sound like—beyond the soft gasp when she realized I was there? I wanted to know.

My wolf stood there, fixated on her, wanting to approach, but she looked so timid. Ready to flee, and even if I shifted, I’d be nude. She had a scent of wolf, even from here, but it was faint, and I couldn’t tell for sure if she was one of us.

A shifter might be fine with someone approaching nude after shifting. They’d be fine with a wolf because they’d know the difference. Could she be a human and I was picking up the scent of someone else who had passed through?

What would Xerxes say if I told him I thought we had different mates? After vowing to mate one female together so many years ago, being so sure that was Fate’s plan, was I about to break that promise?

To mate a human…or something?

I might have to leave the pack after that.

One did not break a promise to an alpha just like that. Not and avoid being cast out as a rogue. I’d lose my whole family, all my friends, my home…but what was the alternative? If Xerxes and, theoretically, Smoke felt the woman from town was their mate, but I didn’t? I would be doing nobody any good to keep with the arrangement. I’d just make everyone miserable if I did.

My alpha wanted me to try to find his female, the one he’d met but didn’t even have a name for. A lot of that going around. Since I had no idea where to start my search, why not head in the direction where I’d seen my female? It was new territory for me, and perhaps I’d find them both. Or someone who knew them and could provide information.

This time, I rolled up a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt and tucked them into a bag I could wear around my neck in case I had the opportunity to talk to someone who might not like me naked. For whatever reason. With time at a premium, Xerxes, no doubt, pacing holes in the floor while calling, texting, and googling for any hint of the female he had met, the one he thought was all of our mate.

Heart heavy, I thought about driving closer to my destination but then realized it would take me more time to drive the long way around than to run cross-country. So, off I went. It was a few hours and on the other side of a hill that felt more like a small mountain, which could be why we didn’t socialize with whatever pack lay on that side often. And why last time I was there was also the first time. We ran straight out until we neared the area where I’d seen the female that night, and there we slowed, pacing through the brush, steps as quiet as wide furry paws could make them.

I recognized the tree she’d been near, and approached it, muzzle lifted to scent the air. She’d been here, but she was not now. Another, however, was. Maybe someone who could help me on my quest or Xerxes’.

Remaining in the shelter of the tree, I shifted and donned my clothes, ready to step out and greet the female. My fur had kept me toasty and cozy, but I was missing having a coat now.

“I don’t care what anyone says, those dresses we bought are not nice enough for the ball.”

“Sister, Mama is going to have a hissy fit if you ask for another one. She says we’re running through her husband’s funds too fast.”

“Well, isn’t it just too bad? She must realize that once we get married, she won’t have to support us anymore, it will be just her and the maid. So isn’t it a savings for us to buy the perfect outfit for the ball so we can catch us some alpha mates?”

Catch them? Clearly these were not the women I sought, and they sounded so crazy, I did not want them to get any ideas about “catching” me. We might take the assistant roles in the pack, but we were every bit as alpha as the leader. Images of being leapt upon by these females made me shudder. I took a step back and then another, trying to be silent but less graceful in this form. A branch cracked under my heel, sending a sharp piece of wood into my heel and forcing me to clap a hand over my mouth to keep from shrieking out my pain.

But the stick was enough to catch their attention.

“Did you hear that?” the first one asked. “What if it’s a bear?”