Running Wild

been to toy with them.
Here Ri couldn’t run. But here no one planned to chase him, unless these three were playing a very deep game.
    Out of the blue Seamus, who had moved to stand beside him, clasped his hand, fingers intertwining with his, and Ri seemed to jump a foot. He was trembling. It was probably obvious to everyone present. Great. His face heated with something like shame. He wanted to present well to these other shifters, wanted to show his strength and his ability to protect Seamus. He had killed wolves before. But here and now, he appeared weak.
    Jonah, the cat—the idea fascinated Ri despite himself—spoke first. He looked Ri in the eye, but it wasn’t that dominance thing wolves played. “I’m the only lynx shifter I know of. While I’m mildly disappointed that you’re not a second one—I keep thinking they must exist somewhere—I am pleased to meet another lone shifter like me.”
    Jonah didn’t seem alone, the way Trey was leaning back against his legs. Then again, someone was holding Ri’s hand.
“Ri,” said Seamus. He tugged. “Come sit down.”
“I’d rather stand.” Yet he kept a firm grip on Seamus.
“All right.”
“All right,” Trey echoed. “I think we need to push through this and leave.
    My intention is not to make another shifter uncomfortable in his own home.” Ri glanced at Seamus, waiting for him to correct them since they were in his
apartment, but he said nothing.
Trey stared at Ri, but he was gazing up. It was hard to find a dominance
game in that, even if his blue eyes were a little mesmerizing. “Pete claims you’re
a horse shifter. That there’ve been rumors of you for years if not decades.” He didn’t want to admit who he was.
Trey continued. “He claims that Seamus, unknowingly, told him about you
years ago.”
At that Seamus glowered at Pete. “You asshole. You laughed at me.” Pete had the grace to look abashed. “I didn’t want you talking about it to
someone else. Giving Ri away to anyone by accident. I’m sorry if I hurt your
feelings.”
“Pete’s old alpha allowed, encouraged , his wolves to hunt,” Trey continued.
“That night, when Ri rescued you”—here Trey turned to Seamus—“that was
Pete’s pack hunting you.”
Ri found his voice, and he found anger. “Those weren’t the only wolves, or
the only pack.”
“Same pack, different members,” corrected Pete. “The worst ones are dead,
including my alpha. You kicked his head in.”
Ri blinked. He heard approval, respect, in that statement.
“You probably saved my life,” explained Pete, “so I want to thank you for
that. Now I am alpha. What I want to tell you is that my pack, though small, is
not violent. There’s been a generation change on that, I can assure you. No one is
going to be harming you. Or Seamus,” he added with a gesture. “Especially
Seamus.”
“I don’t understand something.” Seamus stared at Pete like he was an alien.
“How the hell did we meet? I thought we happened to take the same class.” Pete grimaced and looked away. “There were two scents left that night, apart
from the wolves. Yours and Ri’s. Wolves have a very strong sense of smell. It
took a good year and some luck to locate your scent.”
“ Very good luck,” Trey murmured.
Seamus’s mouth dropped open. “You made it sound like you…you fell for
me.”
“I did,” Pete protested. “You were cute.”
Seamus set his jaw, but he appeared somewhat mollified.
On the other hand, Trey looked fed up. “Wolves, honest to God. You should
have left him alone. This was before shifters were known to the public.” Seamus let go of Ri’s hand, and all Ri could think was he sure as hell wasn’t
a wolf. It wasn’t as if he and Seamus were going to fall into bed together like Pete
and Seamus had.
Not the time to be thinking that, but something about Pete and his interest in
Seamus drove Ri crazy. Arranging to take a class with Seamus…the idea was too
manipulative to his mind. Pretending he hadn’t known Ri was a horse shifter
when they first met—that had been some kind of game too. God he mistrusted
wolves.
Jonah leaned forward, resting his hands on Trey’s shoulders. “I think we
should go.” He shot Ri a look. “I’m going to leave you my phone number,
because I’m not a wolf, but I am a shifter.”
“Have you seen my brother?” Ri blurted out. In other circumstances, he
might have been giving his brother away. But since he knew nothing at all about
Zach, he