I didn’t mind the blood-bonded pack we were somewhat acquaintances with. We lived in relative peace, although we weren’t friends by any stretch of the imagination. I would, however, take their side over the two other fucking packs of blood-bonded. I could barely stand to be in the same room as those assholes.
My brow dipped as I considered the possibility of them seeing Effie on campus. I would lose my shit if they came within a few feet of her, let alone talk to her.
I was tempted to tell Caedmon about Effie now. I knew it would get him to campus… but I was going to wait. I wanted to see his reaction far too bad to ruin it right now. Plus, I knew I needed to talk to her and explain what was going on before he scared the hell out of her. I didn’t know for sure, but I think my mate was a bit flighty, and we needed to figure out a way to avoid that at all costs. There was no way I was letting her go now that we had found her.
“Fine.” I shook my head. “We will switch this next weekend. Take the house. I have no idea why they want it when they travel all summer.”
We could just rent another one. It wasn’t like any of us ever went home. I didn’t have a home to return to, and none of my brothers particularly wanted to go home to their original packs, so if they wanted to rent our normal place, I was fine with that.
“That simple?” He arched a brow, exhaling on his cigarette. “Or are you just eager to get done with this meeting?”
I think I hurt the bastard’s feelings. Oh well.
“Honestly, I have something I totally forgot about,” I said as he nodded and pulled out his phone to send a quick text. I was way too nice to this guy. Maybe I was partly sentimental for the friendship we used to have. Or maybe I just knew it wasn’t worth rehashing our complicated past, considering he would be our problem again as soon as he recognized Effie’s presence.
“I’ll let them know the plan. I’ll be in touch.”
I didn’t say anything else, sliding out of the car and not bothering to ask him for a ride the rest of the way back to campus. I wasn’t angry at the bastard—I knew he had some serious issues when it came to earning his father’s approval—but I still felt a sense of betrayal at him essentially deciding we weren’t good enough to hang out with.
I nearly smiled, thinking about how all of this shit was about to go down, because I was far more understanding than my other two brothers. They weren’t going to be nearly as accepting when Caedmon came running back with his tail between his goddamn legs because we’d finally found our mate. Let’s just hope that Effie could deal with his shit, because her opinion was really the only one I cared about.
As I made my way up through a forested section, I hit the wards that surrounded campus and jogged the rest of the way up a hill to where campus truly began. Shit. It was absolutely freezing today. I mean, it was Wisconsin in January, and we were right on the lake. The lake that was frozen on the edges, creating peaks and ridges that looked almost solid enough to climb on.
They weren’t.
I frowned, thinking about how cold Effie could be right now. I didn’t like that shit at all. I pulled out my phone and sent her a quick message.
Me: Almost back to campus, let me know where they place you.
Because I would be changing it.
Honestly, I somewhat expected her to tell me to fuck off for being so demanding, or maybe ignore me. I even put my phone away, knowing that nothing good could come from my overzealous behavior. It was odd, though—this was a far fucking stretch from my normal lighthearted temperament. Well, the one not attached to my wolf… he was different.
I couldn’t help this, though. I mean, shit—I was twenty and I’d just found my goddamn mate. You try controlling yourself. I increased my pace, not even bothering to fight the urge to get to her as soon as possible. I would feel far fucking better the minute I could get my arms around her, have her close enough to me that nothing bad could happen.
Was it so much to ask for her to never leave my side again? Okay, it was possible that was an extreme request.
I had to wonder who the hell had thought it was a good idea to send Effie here. I mean, Kirkwall was a rather small and isolated town to begin with, filled mostly with different wolf packs. Unlike many parts of the country, it wasn’t segregated by territory. Did that mean we got along? Hardly. But there was respect there.
Except when it came to mating. That shit was off limits. Good luck trying to come to an agreement over that without it turning into a dominance battle, because each species felt the pull of the mating bond differently. Unless you were in a blood-bonded pack like us. That pull was clear as day, and I was actually surprised Caedmon hadn’t smelled Effie on me, because I had almost instantly been tuned into her the moment I walked into the train car she was curled up in. It had taken a while for me to figure out who I was scenting, but once I did, I hadn’t been able to look away. The moment I’d met her gaze, though, my instincts had been secured, and I knew she was the one.
Still, despite this town’s effort to be a ‘good place’ for shifters, I wasn’t positive why anyone would send a bitten here unless they were with a pack and under protection already. I had come here with a pack of lycan wolves, a lot like Caedmon, but had quickly separated upon forming our bond. She was here alone, and that spelled trouble.
Being a bitten was held in extremely high regard at Silver Falls. As in, everyone would want to be around her and know her, but there was the added element that she was also a woman. I just wasn’t positive that Effie was aware of the effect she had on male wolves, and more so that bitten female wolves were considered the best possible choice of mate out of all. This was followed by bitten male wolves.
So yeah, like I fucking said, catnip. Wolfnip? Sure, whatever.
Fuck, I hated the concept of anyone but our bonded group considering her a potential mating option. I knew until we marked her and covered her in our scent, she wouldn’t be fully safe. Hell, until I was buried inside of her and our bond was one hundred percent solidified, she would be in danger of someone thinking they could take her. Not everyone cared about consent of mating as much as we did, and that was a fucking problem. I swallowed nervously, fighting my instinct to mark her immediately versus not scaring the absolute hell out of her. I knew we weren’t there yet. The group of us would just always need to be around her until we figured out a way to handle this.
Putting aside that I had a hard time believing someone as perfect as Effie was our mate… I couldn’t believe a bitten wolf was our mate. That was a huge fucking deal. Because bitten wolves were comparatively ‘mostly human’ compared to the other three species, it allowed for the other genetic strains of wolf to come across stronger without cross-polluting with humans fully. Essentially, our wolves were usually weaker, so the pups that were born favored the other, more dominant, breed’s traits.
It made me wonder how we had gotten so lucky that she not only ended up here but that someone hadn’t already tried to claim her. I suppose I didn’t know if anyone had tried, something that infuriated me, but it was clear they hadn’t been successful. I mean, shit—I had been in far too many situations before arriving here where I had been nearly forced into a mating bond myself. Luckily, I had been part of a pack that valued decency, but I knew the danger that existed out there.