Chapter Five

MAX

Are you freakin serious?

Now, what the fuck was I supposed to do?

I ditched the so-called happening party an hour ago. Not my crowd or scene, but me and the guys had a special invite by Suri, who promised lots of beer, food, and girls.

Again, not exactly what I was looking for. But my boys wanted to go, so I caved in. They were all hitting up with a few townie girls, ones that were shallow and pedantic, not of our kind, but I didn’t want any part of it.

How could I?

I wasn’t the average eighteen-year-old waiting to graduate high school, go to college, have fun before real life kicked in. Nope, I was next in line to follow after my father, the alpha shifter, who reigned over the whole Appalachian Trail.

But now, I had an issue. A fuckin big one.

I was running across the road, in wolf form, and a car came upon me.

What the fuck was a car doing out here, in the middle of fuckin nowhere, late at night? Shouldn’t everyone still be at that lame-ass party?

Anyways, the car swerved around me but ended up going off the side of the road and smacking into a tree.

Should I leave and let fate happen?

Or play good Samaritan and be a knight in shining armor, without the white horse, of course.

I turned to walk away, but my wolf willed me back to the scene. Ah, c’mon, can’t I ever get a break. This would mean I would have to shift back and approach the vehicle naked, kinda creepy if you ask me. I could only imagine what the occupant of the car was going to think if they looked out and saw a guy standing outside their window without any clothes on.

I shifted and slowly made my way to the scene of the accident. There wasn’t any movement from what I could see from the distance. The front end of the car was smashed in, and smoke was oozing out, most likely from the radiator. I saw a body, a girl, in the driver’s seat slumped against the steering wheel, and no one else was in the car, which made this situation a whole heck of a lot easier.

I yanked open the door to see who the victim was.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Why her?

The driver was none other than Ms. Perfect herself, Renko Watson. She, along with her friend, Ashlyn, thought they were just a little bit better than everyone else. You know the type, beautiful, sexy, and always hanging with the sports guys. She probably had no clue who I was, or that I even existed. Me and my pack stayed low at school, never on the radar. We got in, did what we had to do, then left. Except for the parties we were invited to, we didn’t do all that rah-rah school spirit shit, no games, dances, and whatever else those people did to make themselves seem more significant than they actually were.

I think Renko was still with that Vance dude, but he was a total douche. I’d seen him at too many parties, and when Renko wasn’t looking, believe me, that guy was far from being faithful. Like tonight, for instance, I saw him with some tenth-grade girl, then a fight with Renko on the back deck, then he was with some cheer slut, and finally, I saw Ms. Greene led him up the stairs, and we all know what goes on in the bedrooms behind closed doors.

Anyway, for the most part, Renko looked okay, A little blood from the cut on her lip, but other than that, she didn’t seem too injured. Guess seatbelts do save lives. Her breathing appeared unlabored, and I could hear her heartbeat and it sounded normal.  

Guess my job here was done. I would go get my cell phone from the clothes I left hidden, then call the emergency number to report a car accident.

I turned to walk away, but the wolf inside of me willed me to stop. “We’re done here,” I spoke out loud to my inner self.

‘No. Go back.’

I contemplated but knew I really didn’t have a choice in the matter. My wolf was always in charge. He was the only one I could ever trust and never led me wrong.

I turned around and walked back to Renko’s car. She was still passed out but looked so peaceful. Her hair glistened in the moonlight, and I wanted to run my fingers through it to feel its softness. My hand hovered close to her, my wolf was egging me on to touch her.

Why?

I had no clue.

Maybe I could at least lean her back away from the steering wheel and call it a night. My fingertips skimmed across Renko’s cheek. I felt a spark, like a bolt of lightning just passed through me.

Was there some electrical damage done to the car when she crashed? I knew there weren’t any powerlines around this area.

I stepped back from the car and surveyed the damage. The only thing I could tell from this vantage point was the radiator was blown from the hit, but that’s about all except for the structural damage.

I went back to Renko and touched her cheek once more, another internal spark.

I never felt my wolf have this much excitement, longing, this much…happiness.

No!

No!

No!

I jerked my hand back.

This couldn’t be happening.

Not her.

My wolf was insinuating she, Renko, was our mate.

Fuck, no.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll help her this time, and this time only. There is no freakin way she is our mate.”

My wolf settled back down as I undid the seatbelt and carefully lifted Renko out of the car. As much as my wolf wanted me to caress her, make her feel safe, there was no way I would ever let anything between us happen. I would rather deal with the consequences of not having a mate, which can be done, but usually, the wolf side goes rogue and can never lead a pack, than to be bonded with Renko Watson.

I began the ten-mile trek, carrying Renko, back to my house and hoped I wouldn’t encounter anyone along the way.