Mating Games

by Nikki Jefford

  Fine, no sharing.

  Raider growled back before turning around. The sound of crunching bone and slurping filled his ears as Wolfrik devoured his kill.

  The sight of a smaller wolf watching them from the foliage several feet away took him by surprise. He hadn’t seen or heard Sydney creep up behind him. After flashing Wolfrik a quick, assessing glance, she followed behind Raider as he returned to the trail.

  No wonder he was off his game, with her lurking around him incessantly. It had been that way ever since her partner went missing and Jager had instructed a small group of them to accompany Sydney to retrace her steps.

  According to Sydney, she and David had been patrolling near the bordering foothills when they heard voices coming from the woods. The pair should have returned to the glade to report what they heard at once. The council had a clear rule on avoiding interaction with outsiders. If humans were unfortunate enough to wander into Wolf Hollow territory, the pack would deal with them in full force. Together.

  But David had decided to check it out first. There’d been no sign of him since.

  “I told him not to go,” Sydney had cried to the council when she returned late from patrol duties that night. “He said we didn’t know if it was humans or other shifters wandering through, and he wanted to be sure before reporting back to you.”

  “Stupid boy,” Ford had muttered, shaking his head.

  “He told me to stay hidden while he investigated. He told me to wait for him,” Sydney continued, looking into the faces of the council members with wide, beseeching eyes. “I waited, but he never came back.”

  Heidi had hurried over to comfort the trembling girl while Palmer scratched his chin and stood slack-jawed and as useless as ever.

  They’d set off early that morning to investigate with a small party that included Raider, Wolfrik, Aden, and Sydney. Heidi had been tasked with recruiting temporary patrol replacements from the den to cover Raider’s and Aden’s territories. Wolfrik didn’t have an official area. He’d taken to lurking around the hollow’s borders at night. With the latest trouble in the hollow, Raider hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Wolfrik about his ban from the den, nor had Garrick gone to Glenn Meadows to propose a match between the two purebloods.

  “Until he simmers down, there’s no point in wasting my time,” Garrick had said with a derisive sniff.

  Raider didn’t see any signs of Wolfrik cooling his jets anytime soon. The shifter had always been hot-tempered. Now, he looked utterly untamed. Some she-wolf would have her work cut out for her. Sasha would have been capable of handling Wolfrik, but that option was out, and he couldn’t help feeling glad for it. Sasha had been through enough and deserved a kind and devoted mate like Tabor.

  The smell of blood filled Raider’s nostrils again. He followed the aroma to the trail where Aden stood on four legs, his teeth clamped over a mouse that hung limply in his mouth. With deliberate steps, the werewolf walked up to Sydney and dropped the mouse in front of her. She blinked twice before lowering her head to sniff at the mouse and snatch the rodent between her teeth.

  While Sydney ate, Aden craned his head, a gesture for Raider to follow. Together, they hunted down a couple more mice and ate before continuing the journey to the hollow’s southeast corner. He and Aden kept Sydney in their sights, sticking close as a group while Wolfrik disappeared into the woods, sometimes emerging in front of them, sometimes circling around and coming up from behind. It was pissing Raider off.

  They didn’t shift until they reached the Manama River. Wolfrik was waiting for them on top of a mossy boulder, his legs spread apart and his hands on his hips. Once the rest of the group got to their feet, Wolfrik jumped down and took long, swift steps to join them, the muscles cording in his neck and shoulders.

  “Show us exactly where you were when you heard the humans.” He sneered at the last word.

  Raider lifted his chest. “We don’t know that it was humans.”

  Wolfrik’s eyes flashed, and he snarled, “Don’t be a fool.”

  Grinding his teeth, Raider snarled back. “And don’t assume that hearing voices means they were human. It could have been shifters from another pack talking the same way we are now.”

  “If they’d been shifters, David wouldn’t be missing,” Wolfrik snapped. He narrowed his eyes at Sydney. “Show me,” he demanded, lifting his upper lip over his clenched teeth.

  For her part, Sydney leveled a steady stare at Wolfrik, showing no visible signs of intimidation.

  “We were in the forest,” she said, nodding to the trees at her right. She took stoic steps into the foliage.

  They followed her, picking their way down a steep incline. Ferns clung to the soil in the dense underbrush, whipping against Raider’s ankles. Where the ground leveled out, they all took up spots a few feet apart and stared at Sydney, who looked back at them as though waiting for their explanation. She had an unnerving calm about her, never even fiddling with her hair the way her sisters did, and never looking away until the other person did.

  “This is the last place I saw David,” Sydney finally said, staring at Aden.

  Raider took a closer look at Aden, taking her stare to mean it was the last place David had stood before vanishing from the hollow.

  “We crouched here, listening,” Sydney continued, “but we couldn’t make out their words. Then, David told me to wait while he got a closer look.” Sydney nodded up the hill they’d just descended.

  Wolfrik charged back up the hill, this time leading the way. After reaching the top, he shifted and began sniffing around the rocks and brush. Aden did the same, taking the other side of the glen. Raider crouched on the ground, craning his head from side to side, searching for any signs of tracks.

  Sydney kept quiet, watching the three males as they searched.

  Wolfrik sprinted down the hill, disappearing briefly into the underbrush where Sydney had hidden to wait for David the day before. Leaping back over the edge, he skidded in a patch of loose pebbles and shifted.

  Aden padded toward them and did the same. A twig broke under his foot as he straightened.

  “I don’t smell anything out of the ordinary,” he said.

  Raider swiped his hands together and stood up. “I can’t find any footprints,” he said.

  Wolfrik narrowed his eyes at Sydney. “What happened after David went up?” he demanded. “What did you hear? Did he yell? Cry out?” Wolfrik’s face darkened. He started toward Sydney as though he meant to shake her. Raider took a step toward him in warning.

  Sydney’s eyes widened. “I didn’t hear anything,” she said. “The voices began to fade. I never could make out what they were saying. I thought David must be following them. I thought once he got a closer look he’d come back, and we could return to the glade together.” Her voice caught, a rare show of emotion in her typically stoic demeanor. “As time passed, I thought he must have decided to keep following them. I waited. I didn’t want to leave without him, and I didn’t follow him because I was afraid to make any noise that would give us away.” Tears glistened in her eyes. She paused to blink them back, with her chest shaking. It was the first time she looked away. “I didn’t know what to do, so I shifted and tried to find out where he’d gone, but I lost him at the river. I was hoping that he returned to the glade from a different direction, that he thought I meant to meet him back at the gathering. So I ran all the way back to the glade”—Sydney’s lower lip trembled—“but he wasn’t there.”

  Raider frowned and nodded at the Manama. “They probably traveled down the river.”

  “Then we better find out where they emerged.” Wolfrik’s eyes glittered. “I’ll head west. The rest of you, try east.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Raider said. “It makes more sense that they’d travel with the river’s current.”

  Wolfrik sniffed. “I’m faster than you.”

  “
Then you’re lucky to have a second set of eyes in case you miss something,” Raider challenged.

  Wolfrik merely shifted in reply. He took off west, leaving Raider to confirm their plan with Aden. Sydney glanced uncertainly between the two shifters. She would be safe with the werewolf. Aden had more kills to his credit than most shifters combined, and he’d never failed a partner.

  Raider’s chest rose and fell with a shaky breath.

  Aden nodded. “I’ll stick by Sydney.”

  “Howl if there’s trouble,” Aden said, turning away.

  Despite Wolfrik’s boast of superior speed, Raider caught up to him easily. It wasn’t a race. A pack member was missing. It raised Raider’s hackles and set his teeth on edge.

  They trotted along the Manama’s edge, lowering their noses often to sniff at the bordering rocks. As soon as the river thinned out, Wolfrik ran across the streaming flow in a spray of water that scattered in droplets and caught the sun in shimmers before he dived back into the river. They worked their way steadily east, each matching the other’s speed, traveling in tandem, as swiftly as a current.

  It wasn’t until late afternoon that Wolfrik shifted and waded waist-deep across the river, stopping midway, his teeth gleaming as he cupped the cool, clear water in his palms and splashed it over his face.

  Raider shifted and folded his arms across his chest, watching Wolfrik with wary eyes.

  Wolfrik splashed water over himself several more times. Water streamed down his chest in rivulets that cut across deep scars. “Little liar,” Wolfrik said as he stepped onto shore.

  “What’s that?” Raider asked, eyes narrowed.

  The rocks beneath Wolfrik’s feet darkened as water dripped off his wet skin. “No humans or shifters have been this way in a long time,” Wolfrik said, jutting his chin in the direction they’d come.

  “Then they probably headed east,” Raider said.

  Wolfrik never liked being wrong and always acted as though his pure blood made him infallible. He rubbed his chin, his jaw set and his expression turning glassy as he stared west down the river. “She’s not telling us something.”

  Raider frowned. “There’s a lot she hasn’t told us because she can’t. She doesn’t know what happened after David left her. Obviously, she feels terrible about it.”

  “She feels nothing.” Wolfrik’s fingers slid down his neck to his side, a malignant grin twisting his face. The figure he cast brought to mind an image of what a mad wolf might look like if it were able to shift into human form.

  “You’ve been gone a long time and need to learn how to trust your packmates again,” Raider said. “You can’t see beyond your own mistrust.”

  Wolfrik smirked. “I see plenty, unlike you. Did you know that your packmates are taking bets on which one of Palmer’s daughters you plan to claim?”

  Raider’s spine stiffened, and his fingers twitched over his thigh as though he had an itch. “I don’t plan to claim any of them.”

  “Perhaps not, but you will. It’s a lot easier to have decisions made for you, isn’t it?” One corner of Wolfrik’s lips tightened and lifted slightly. It was as if he wanted to provoke Raider into fighting.

  Raider shrugged. “The pack can amuse themselves however they wish. And while we’re on the subject of the pack, the council has decided it’s best if you stay out of the den until you’ve proven you’re trustworthy.”

  Wolfrik made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat. “And you say I’m the one with trust issues.”

  “It’s nothing personal,” Raider said. “I’m sure you can understand the concern.”

  Wolfrik folded his arms over his chest. “Did Sasha agree to this?”

  Raider studied Wolfrik a moment before answering. “No, she didn’t.”

  Wolfrik’s shoulders relaxed.

  Normally, Raider would not have shared the way a council member voted, but he didn’t want to give Wolfrik any reason to harass Sasha. The wild wolf had already caused her and Tabor enough grief.

  “Did you?” Wolfrik raised one brow.

  “I did.” Raider met Wolfrik’s eye and folded his arms, mirroring the other man’s wide-legged stance. They stood silent, eyes locked and bodies rigid until Wolfrik chuckled and unfolded his arms.

  “You’re right, I should get more involved in pack matters,” he said, grinning deviously. “Here’s a bet. I bet you will claim one of Palmer’s daughters—not either of the younger two, they’re too irritating—but you’ll still go for convenience, let’s say your new patrol partner.”

  Raider snarled, but it only made Wolfrik laugh. “Don’t worry about Hudson and Chase. You can crush them. At least you have brute strength going for you.”

  Raider stuck out his chest. “Yes, maybe you should keep that in mind.”

  Wolfrik snorted. “I’m shaking like a rabbit.” He looked Raider up and down and grinned. “Nah, I don’t think you’d fight another packmate. Too bad, it could be fun.” Wolfrik strode to the forest. As soon as the ground turned from rock to earth, he dropped onto all fours and began his shift. Once his entire body was covered in fur, he took off following the river westward. At least he hadn’t given up on the search for David.

  Raider shifted and ran eastward until he met up with Aden and Sydney. They hadn’t found any hint of David, humans, or other shifters, either.

  When the sun began its descent, they turned away from the Manama River and headed back to the glade with their hearts in the pits of their stomachs.

  Shifters were dishing up dinner in silence when they returned. Palmer was pacing, and Jager sat hunched on a log, waiting as Raider, Aden, and Sydney entered the clearing after getting dressed. A deafening hush fell over the glade. Palmer stopped pacing, and Jager’s head jerked up.

  “No trace of David,” Raider said solemnly.

  Bowls were discarded, and chatter erupted immediately.

  “What if we sent out a larger search party?” Hudson asked.

  “It wouldn’t matter,” Aden said. “We searched up and down the Manama River, but there’s no scent to go on.”

  “That doesn’t mean we should stop looking,” Hudson said.

  “Of course not.” Jager got off his log and limped over to their group.

  Palmer did the same, holding out his arms to Sydney then squeezed and patted her on the head.

  “We will continue to search for David. Garrick already volunteered to look for the boy if today’s search was unsuccessful.”

  Raider looked around until he located his father, seated on a stump beneath a tree, his legs opened and stretched wide and his eyes watchful. It was smart of Garrick to offer, but it would take a lot more than that to regain the pack’s trust.

  “It is even more important that we keep watch within the hollow.” Jager’s voice rose. “With humans or hostile shifters at our borders it is critical that we protect our home. In fact, I’m going to ask all patrol partners to remain together day and night until David is found. You are not to leave your patrol areas except for meals. I want you sleeping in your designated territories with your ears open. Meals will be served in shifts. We can’t afford to have all our packmates congregated in the glade and den at one time. I will assign meal shifts. Those on the first meal shift will come to the glade to eat when they hear the gong beat once. Those on second meal shift will come when they hear the gong beat twice. For the time being, you will stick with your patrol partners as though you were mates.”

  Heat sizzled along Raider’s spine. Somehow, without searching, he picked Jordan out of the crowd, where she stood beside Emerson. Jordan didn’t notice him staring. Her eyes were rounded on Jager, her mouth gaping open.

  Despite the shock of a missing pack member and the change in protocol, there were still whispers nearby.

  “Overnight together—is it too late to change my bet?”

  “Don’
t panic. Even if he mates with her, it doesn’t mean he’ll claim her.”

  “Or her him. Good point.”

  A snarl curled Raider’s upper lip. He whipped around, ready to let go of his usual restraint and punch Justin in the face. It might not be a bad idea to remind the pack of his “brute strength,” as Wolfrik had put it—a little demonstration could inspire the respect they so sorely lacked.

  But when he turned, Sasha stepped over, frowning, her attention on their disabled elder. “I see Jager’s making decisions on his own again,” she said.

  Raider sighed. “Should we intervene?”

  Sasha shook her head. “No. All things considered, I think it’s a necessary precaution.”

  Unease prickled down Raider’s spine like thorns dragging against bare skin. “If humans are encroaching on our home, we might have to move.” It gutted Raider to say it, but they lived in uncertain times. Their pack had moved to the hollow from a valley location when Raider was still a young pup. His mother, a no-nonsense shifter, had told him never to get too attached to one place. Despite her warning, Raider had come to love the hollow. They all did. It’s why they’d remained there longer than any place in the past and put down roots with the shelters in the den and the garden.

  Sasha’s eyebrows drew together, wrinkling the bridge of her nose. “We are not leaving our home,” she snarled. “Any humans who step foot in the hollow are dead. I’ll kill them myself.”

  “I’ll help you,” Aden said.

  Raider had forgotten he still stood beside him.

  Sasha smiled and nodded at the werewolf shifter.

  Jager swept his arm toward the cauldron. “While we’re all here, you can go ahead and eat together, but after dinner, I want you to pair off and sleep in your patrol areas until you’re called for breakfast. Keep your eyes open and howl if you catch so much as a whiff of intruders.”