When he’d devoured his kill he raised his head, Jacy standing in human form watching him closely.
“Alpha!” Jacy held up his hands in front of him. “We need to talk.”
Rafe shook his head, black fur rippling over his beast but his Beta wasn’t giving up.
“Alpha, change so we can talk.”
Reluctantly Rafe transformed, scowling at his friend. “What?”
Jacy stepped closer, his eyes full of concern as Rafe paced back and forth. “Do you know how many that is? Or how long we’ve been out here, away from the Pack?”
Rafe stopped, shaking his head. “No.”
“That,”—Jacy nodded to the bloody remains on the forest floor—“is your tenth kill in the past two days.”
“Can’t be,” Rafe denied.
“It is,” Jacy confirmed. “We’ve been away from camp for more than forty-eight hours, Rafe. This has to stop and you need to do what your mother told you. It’s either that or you’ll no longer be Alpha. A Pack needs their Alpha there, present, dealing with stuff, not running around like a wild animal for days on end.”
Jacy stepped back, his body tensing as if he expected Rafe to attack.
Rafe admitted he felt like punching his friend, his hands clenching into fists at his side. It was at that precise moment everything his Beta had said made it through the fog in his mind.
“Shit,” Rafe spat out. “You’re right. I’ve no idea what’s going on.”
“Yes, you do.” Jacy stepped forward again, his friend’s voice full of worry. “Your mom is certain about what’s happening to you and after watching you these past two days, I agree with her. So, I guess you need to take heed, my friend. Either that or lose your Pack.”
Rafe stopped, facing his best friend and Beta, emotions rolling through him that he’d never experienced before. His Wolf howled in his head, so loud his hands flew to his ears. “Shut up!” he scolded it. “I need to think.”
“I’ll stay quiet so long as you agree to think about this,” Jacy said quietly.
“Not you,” Rafe tried to explain. “My beast is acting nuts.”
“Ya don’t think?” Jacy said, sarcasm dripping from every word.
Rafe started pacing again. His Pack meant everything to him, nothing could stand in the way of his being a good Alpha, but he had to admit he’d been anything but for the past week. He could count on his fingers the hours he’d spent in camp and that wasn’t how an Alpha should act. He knew that, deep down, but this damn hunger had taken over and now he had to regain control.
“How do I do it?” he asked his friend slowly.
“Not sure about that part. But I’d start with accepting what your mom said and get your beast on board.”
“I’m not ready for a mate,” Rafe admitted his innermost fear. “I wouldn’t know how to treat one and what if she doesn’t want me?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Jacy replied curtly. “A soul-mate is the one person made for us, the only person we can be happy with. If you find her then she’ll want you as much as you want her. Simple.”
Rafe glared at his friend, huffing out. “There’s nothing simple about any of this.”
“Stop being a misery guts,” Jacy went over, slowly, gauging Rafe’s reaction. The past couple of days he’d had to stay clear or his friend would snarl and snap at him. When Rafe gave him a small smile, Jacy thumped his back. “We’ll do it together. Now, have a talk with that Wolf of yours and let’s see if we can get started.”
Rafe gave a curt nod then inhaled slowly before blowing the air out. “Hey, do you know anything about our mate?”
His Wolf howled again, stomping around in his head. “Yes! Go, now!”
Rafe sighed with relief. “Apparently my beast is on board.”
Jacy grinned wildly. “Thank the gods for that.”
A vision of a grey Wolf with a black bushy tail appeared in Rafe’s head, his own beast circling around it. “You know what she looks like? You could’ve let me in on this sooner.”
“Stubborn,” his beast grumbled.
Rafe couldn’t disagree, instead he apologized to his friend. “Sorry for being an ass.”
Jacy’s eyes widened in surprise. Rafe rarely, if ever, uttered those words. “I’d say that’s okay, but really, it isn’t. You’ve been so wrapped up this past while that you’ve been neglecting the Pack. You should know better, Rafe.”
Pack was everything to Rafe and he couldn’t believe he’d acted so out of character so he let his Beta’s comments slide. “Noted.”
“Can we get on our way?” Jacy asked pointedly.
“Sure,” Rafe said a moment before he transformed.
His massive beast waited for his Beta, Jacy’s brown Wolf joining his moments later. Relief flooded Rafe as he realized the urge to hunt was subsiding. In its place was a deep need to find the grey beast he’d seen in his mind. That was the only thing he could think of as he raised his nose then took off through the woods.
Tasha paused at a stream cutting through the trees to quench her thirst. She’d been on the move for hours and was tiring. “No time,” she told herself as she picked up her backpack and leaped nimbly over the small rivulet of water.
As soon as her feet touched the ground on the other side of the stream she gasped, all oxygen leaving her in a loud exhale as emotions flooded her system. Not only that, but a vision of an ebony Wolf with grey tipped ears appeared in her head.
“What the hell?” Tasha shook her head to clear it. She couldn’t slow down, those damn rogues seemed to be catching up to her and she had to move or be caught.
“Ours,” her beast repeated over and over in her mind, confusing her about as much as it annoyed her.
“Not now!” she tried to shut it up. Tasha had to focus and her Wolf misbehaving right now was definitely not a good thing.
Her heart beat faster as she plowed on, visions
