Page 238 of His Hungry Wolf

His Rejected Mate

Preface

Nero

I left my dorm room needing to get out. My wolf wasn’t used to being caged like this. Ever since I had arrived at University, if felt like I was spending all of my time in boxes. At the same time, I couldn’t just let my wolf out. The campus was swarming with fragile, unpredictable humans.

It wasn’t like I had never spent time around them. Where I grew up there were a lot of them. Everyone got along real well.

The difference is that they knew about shifters. If someone suddenly turned into a wolf, no one ended up dead. Wolves didn’t spook easily. But if you see one and immediately think ‘kill or be killed,’ it will smell it as soon as you have the thought. There’s no surviving a wolf attack if it thinks its fighting for its life.

So, living where I am, I have to lock away my wolf. The only times I can let him out are the Sundays when my brother Cage comes to campus. That’s when he, his boyfriend, my roommate and I head to the woods, shift and let our wolves run.

The next time we’re doing that is tomorrow and my wolf knows it. The reason I’m out wandering the campus now is because he’s restless thinking about it. When he gets like this, I also get the feeling he’s looking for something. But that’s just a guess. A lot of what I know about being a shifter is a guess.

I didn’t have an alpha to teach me about this stuff when I started shifting. I didn’t even have a mother. But from what I’ve heard, wolves are curious. If you let them, they’ll take you 100 miles in one direction just to see what’s over the next hill. That was probably what was going on now, but I had my doubts.

The first time I visited this campus was for my brother’s graduation. It was then that I saw someone. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t stop staring at him. By the time I could leave my seat to look for him, he was gone.

The weird thing was that he didn’t leave a scent to follow. Everything left scents. It was like he was a ghost. At least to my wolf.

I think my wolf has been looking for him ever since. I can’t blame him. I can’t stop thinking about him either. It wasn’t like he was beautiful in the obvious ways or anything. He was actually a little awkward and boyish looking.

But staring at him as he watched the ceremony from the edge of the trees, I wanted him. After he disappeared, I regretted not going to him the moment I saw him. I needed to know everything about him.

I was hoping he was a student here. It was one of the reasons I was looking forward to attending. But, it’s a large campus with a lot of students and he doesn’t have a scent. So, either he’s not here, or he is and I can’t find him.

Either way, I’ve tried to let him go. Clearly I haven’t because here I am still thinking about him. I’m pretty sure it’s added to my wolf’s restlessness. And lately, even letting him take control on the football field hasn’t helped. I’m running out of things I can do.

So, on nights like tonight when he wants to roam the campus, I let him. I don’t want to think about what would happen if I didn’t. There’s only so long a wolf will remain caged before it forces its way out. When that happens… let’s just say that no one is safe.

Like he often does when he’s in this mood, tonight my wolf has led me to another party. As much as like to avoid people, he craves being around others. It’s fine. I can play along. I’ve had a lot of practice wearing masks.

Tonight’s performance might be easier because the party my wolf has led me to is at one of the sports fraternities. There are two on campus. One is mostly for football players. This one, is a mixture of the three major sports. There are guys from my team in it. Hopefully, that will make tonight less of a pain in my ass.

“Nero! Dude! You came,” Dan said when I entered and saw him.

Dan was an offensive tackle and one of my brother’s friends. I got the impression that Cage asked him to look after me. Dan was cool and all, but he and my brother were friends before Cage shifted for the first time. Dan doesn’t know shifters exist. So, what good is he to me?

“I was just getting some air. I didn’t know they were throwing a party tonight,” I told him slipping on my human mask.

“What are you talking about? I told you about this after practice. I swear, it’s like you don’t listen to a word I say. You think I’ve been hit in the head too many times or something?”

Dan made a face like a zombie and then smiled. “I’m just joking. Come on. Let’s get you a drink.”

Had Dan mentioned the party to me? Was that why we were here? Had my wolf remembered it even though I hadn’t?

I couldn’t understand how my wolf and I could be so different. I was perfectly happy being alone. Hell, I preferred it. But every chance my wolf got, he was out searching for a pack.

With a drink in hand I left Dan and crossed the rooms. Everyone looked like they were having a good time. I wondering if they were or if they were just pretending like I was.

Knowing I had to be there as long as my wolf wanted to be, I compromised and exited into the backyard. Finding a porch, I leaned onto the wooden railing. Scanning the crowd, I froze.

Fuck! I couldn’t believe it. It was him, the boy from graduation. He was standing thirty feet in front of me.

As heat washed across my face, my wolf went wild. I stared at him. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. What was I supposed to do now?

Chapter 1