Page 8 of Remy & the Wildcat

She tried not to think about the situation with her family, tried not to worry about the month that loomed ahead, knowing if she couldn’t find her truemate, that she’d be facing her brother in a battle that she would surely not survive.

Something within her urged her back north, so she changed direction once more.

Her mind was a jumbled mess, her nerves entirely shot.

How could Leif do that to her? Did he hate her that much or did he want to be alpha that bad?

She’d grown up expecting to become alpha. She’d trained for it, been taught to fight and lead. But so had Leif. And she might be able to kick ass, but he was ruthless and violent in a way she wasn’t, and he knew it.

Pausing near the edge of a road, she looked both directions, her heart panging as her ears twitched. Was that a howl she just heard?

She stared across the road at a thick forest that seemed to stretch on for miles. There were no road markers to let her know where she was, no homes or buildings on the road that she could see.

She listened intently but didn’t hear anything else, and she wondered if she’d imagined the howl.

Padding across the road, she leaped over a small ditch and scented her way into the trees, trying to catch the scent of anything—prey, predators, or humans.

Her heart panged again and she stopped, wondering what the hell was going on.

Was it just nerves? Was she so strung out with worry over her half-brother that she was imagining wolves and heart palpitations?

Holy crap she needed to chill out.

Huffing and shaking herself out, she growled at nothing in particular.

She needed to get her head on straight. The one thing she could do right now was figure out if these woods had any game in them so her people could move territories and hunt.

She’d worry about Leif once she figured out the hunting situation.

Because at this moment, her people were hunting in woods that had no game in them, and for sure the elders were breaking up fights as the males grew restless and took out their frustrations on each other.

Then she’d deal with Leif.

Even if it meant taking a male for a mate who wasn’t her truemate, and giving up on the hope of finding her forever guy.

Something rustled nearby and her instincts kicked in.

Game!

She leaped forward and a few bunnies scurried away, their little furry butts disappearing. But not for long, because Thyme was a great hunter, and this had to be a good sign.

Bounding after the bunnies, Thyme pushed aside everything else going on in her life and focused on the chase. She’d get the damn bunnies, find out if there was other game around, and then she’d figure out where in the hell she was.

Hopefully somewhere good where her people could settle and start over.

As she caught sight of the bunnies again, she smiled to herself and let out a few little happy purrs.

The chase was on!

Remy loved being back in the woods with his family. He’d missed them, but he hadn’t realized just how damn much until he was in his shift and keeping pace with his dad and brother as they scouted for prey. He didn’t even care if they were successful, he was just happy he’d come back to town, even if it was only for the night.

It must be super weird for his parents, to know that soon enough their whole house would be empty. Once Kendall turned twenty-one and her Angel Mate nature kicked in, she and her sisters would head out to find their mates, and it wouldn’t be long before Lennox’s alpha nature demanded he find a pack of his own, too.

At least Alpha Jason was gracious enough to let them come back as guests. He wasn’t threatened by Remy or Lennox being alpha-powerful, because he was secure in his position and it wasn’t like Remy was looking to take over anyway. He just wanted his own pack and to get settled.

A scent caught him off guard and he skidded to a halt. Lifting his muzzle, he inhaled and sorted through the scents of earth and woods and animals.

Nothing.