Page 54 of Half Wolf Mate
“I assume he’s a hunter and was just spying on me.”
He blinked his surprise and pulled back. “Why would a hunter be watching you? You’re not much threat as a half—”
“Don’t even say it! I’m so sick of hearing people call me half-breed in that disgusted tone.”
Amusement danced across Adam’s face as he held both palms. I relax a little more. He didn’t seem a danger to me at all. Even my wolf was calm, as if she felt secure in the shifter’s presence. In fact, he felt somewhat familiar to her. It was strange.
“Calm down. I mean no offense. I thought hunters would be more interested in getting their hands on full shifters who are more of a threat to them than someone who is mostly human. I mean, I barely detected your wolf when I first met you.”
I sighed. “It’s a long story.”
He quirked an eyebrow and glanced at my bandaged leg. My jeans had been rolled up so my wound could be cared for. Already, the white bandages around my calf were soaked with blood. “You’ve got time,” he noted. “You’re not going anywhere until that starts to heal.”
“I can’t stay that long. Cole will be looking for me. He’s going to be so pissed when he gets home, and I’m gone.”
“Who are you more afraid of? Cole or me? Because I’m the one who has you prisoner in my lair.”
“Funny, I don’t feel like a prisoner, and this is hardly a lair,” I quipped. “If you were all that evil as Cole seems to think you are, I’d be dead by now.”
Adam grunted in that way I gathered was typical when he was irritated or amused. “Yes, you would be. Good thing for you. I’m not the terrifying monster your boyfriend has told you I am.”
“Yeah, good thing,” I grumbled. “Why did you save me?”
“It wasn’t intentional. I was at Cole’s apartment to get the information I needed about Benjamin. I orchestrated a whole scheme to get them all away from you for nothing. I got my pack to stir up trouble in town, knowing Mr. Hero—”
“I’m guessing that’s Cole?” I asked.
Adam laughed. “Your boyfriend might as well run around in a cape. He’s always trying to save humans and shifters as if he’s going for the fucking Nobel Peace Prize.”
“That’s commendable. Maybe as a fellow Alpha, you should try to be more like him.”
Adam’s derisive snort almost made me laugh. Was being good really that detestable to him?
“I’m no hero.”
“You’re no villain either.”
He sighed. “Sydney, didn’t you hear me before? I didn’t intentionally save your life. I showed up at Cole’s place to kidnap you for information. It just happened that you were being attacked, and I killed those shifters because I wanted you alive to question you about Benjamin. Saving your life was purely selfish.”
I rolled my eyes. “Right.” Something told me Adam was a nice guy under his gruff exterior.
“I wasted my time getting involved in your drama, though. You have absolutely nothing for me.”
“I gave you Benjamin’s location,” I argued.
“Which I’m sure he’s abandoned by now. Benjamin disappeared the same time you stopped showing up to work.”
“Shit, then he really is a hunter.”
Adam watched me through a narrowed gaze—probably still trying to gauge if I was lying.
“Why are you so hell-bent on finding him?” I asked. “It almost seems like an obsession.”
Adam exhaled and walked over to a window. Staring out, he said, “Benjamin killed my mother.”
“Oh…” Sympathy flooded me. Adam and I had plenty in common, then. “Assuming he is a hunter, which looks like that’s the case, I hope you find him.”
Adam glanced at me with a frown.