The Woodland Packs

I slammed a hand over my mouth. I couldn’t believe I’d actually said it!

Such a comment would have normally gotten me whipped.

Nevaeh winced. “I wish I’d gotten him, too. Bastard.” Then her gaze zeroed in on me.

“So, why are you here, Celeste? You obviously know about the shifting world. And you’re running from the bears. How can Claire and I help you? And how did you know to come here for her, anyway?”

I licked my dry lips and Nevaeh handed me a bottle of water.

I smiled with gratitude.

She was being so nice to me. I needed to be honest with her. “I heard about Claire from Tayte, a guy I met in a bar a couple of months ago. He told me about his town, and how Claire was the first mate they’d found in years.”

Nevaeh’s eyes opened even wider.

“Tayte told you about the pack? About Claire?”

She looked surprised, and a bit upset.

I jumped in to defend him. They probably weren’t allowed to tell humans about their world. “Yeah. He could smell the bears on me, so he knew I lived with them. And he was pretty drunk... so was I. I’m not sure he meant to tell me so much, but don’t worry, I never said anything to any of the bears about her. They knew anyway, somehow. That the wolves had found their first mate. That’s why they tried to keep you away. Wait a minute.”

All the pieces suddenly clicked into place. “You’re a wolf mate too!”

Her lips stretched up into a huge smile. “Yes, I am. But do you mean too, as in like Claire… or do you mean too… as in like you?”

She raised her eyebrows and my hands flew to my still flat stomach.

I didn’t want to answer that, and if I were honest, I didn’t really know. I was going on the word of bears. What would they know about wolf Fated Mates?

“Is Tayte the father?” Nevaeh asked quietly.

I waited a heartbeat, then told the truth.

I nodded. “Yes, that’s why I came here. To find Claire. To ask for her help in getting to the pack. I know I come with a whole lot of trouble at my back, but I need to find Tayte and see if he can protect me and the baby.”

Nevaeh began pressing buttons on her cell phone.

“Who are you calling? It’s probably three in the morning.”

Nevaeh put the phone to her ear and gestured for me not to stress with a flutter of her hands. “Trust me, Grayson’s gonna wanna hear this.”

Chapter 2.

Tayte.

I woke from a sound sleep like someone had physically thrown me out of my warm bed. “What the…?”

Someone was banging on my front door.

My eyes sprung open and I jumped out of bed.

“Tayte. What’s going on?” my Beta, Sam yelled from the back of the house as I jogged down the stairs.

“No idea,” I called back up.

We never had this sort of drama in the middle of the night.

It was still dark out. Like, pitch black.