Page 10 of Shifter's Dream

6 – Even MORE Fighting

Troy sat back in the backseat of Mac’s stupid little speedster car and watched Mac make a fool of himself. Troy had gotten his way. Mac and Rogue were his ride, plus Beckett and Cerise and Crew and Dahlia were coming along for the party. Troy would be sure to give them all a show. He had a feeling it was going to be a fun night, and it was all starting with Mac’s idiot ideas of courtship. Rogue liked it, but everyone knew there was something wrong with that female. She kept putting her hand on his hand on the gear shift and when Mac looked at her, she would lick her lips or give him a fuck-me smile, and he would snarl and growl like he was a fucking cartoon wolf, and she would laugh at him for real. But she liked it, that was obvious by her scent and the looks she kept giving him to make him do it again. And again. And again. Troy studied them, mostly fascinated. When he’d accepted he would never shift, he’d also accepted he would never mate, and it had hurt, so he’d tried not to think about it much, tried not to pay attention to what love like that could do for a person.

Rogue twisted in her seat and eyed Troy in the back, boldly, baldly. She grinned at him. Troy felt the urge to wink at her but then he caught Mac’s glare in the rearview.

“Don’t fucking do it, Captain Crunch,” Mac said. “Don’t wink at my female.”

Rogue snarled like she was imitating Mac’s dumb ass. “Don’t wink at my female,” she mimicked in a caveman voice, but again, she liked it, that was obvious. “You two should fight again,” she said, her voice normal.

Mac turned his glare on her. “Don’t instigate, Rogue, he won’t shift, you know, look at his face. He’s not healing himself. He’s got actual bandages on his chest! Bandages! Who does that?”

Rogue snuggled into Mac, leaning across the center, then kissed him on the cheek. “Ok, I’ll stop.” Mac growled but he’d already given in and Troy lost interest, as thoughts of his own dream mate filled his head.

What would she be like, his mate, if he ever got one? It would be easy for a female to fascinate him for the rest of his life. She would only need to have a soft hand and an iron will and a heart that beat for him alone, and he would never leave her side. He would be the most faithful dog at the pound, tongue out always, wanting just to please her, to make sure she forever looked at him with love and lust. The thought made Troy take another look at Rogue and Mac practically making out in the front seat, even though Mac was driving.

That was what Mac had. And Crew. And Beckett. And Trevor. And Harlan. And Graeme. And now even Jaggar. And did Troy want that shit for himself? Damn straight he did, even though he knew just having these stolen moments as a man was more than he’d even dreamed of in the last decade or two, and there was no way he was getting a mate on top of it. Not in a million years. Trent would get a mate before Troy would, Troy knew that in his heart, so he did what wolves do when they are hurting, or even just sad. He bit at his packmate, because his packmate could take it.

Eyes front, asshole, you’re driving.Troy told Mac inruhi.I'm not in the mood to die in this sardine tin today.

Mac snapped to attention and Rogue let him. They were almost to Mugshots, and anticipation began to beat inside Troy. He buzzed with it often, the joy of being a man overshadowing everything else in his brain, infusing every experience with life and chaos. Because every experience was new, even the ones he’d had as a wolf. He was different now, the same package but in a different container, and it had changed him a little, and the world around him a lot. That feeling he’d gotten as a young wolf, when the woods had beckoned and the small animal had broken from the underbrush, and the chase was imminent, that was how he felt all the time, now. Like he had to move or he would die. He had to act, had tolive, or… or nothing. There was no alternative.

They pulled into the back parking lot and parked, then Cerise parked Beckett’s big truck beside them, flashing them a smile. They spilled out into the parking lot, all of them. Troy unfolded himself from the back of Mac’s car, slammed his door and lifted his face to the still-hot breeze of early evening.

Did he scent the barest whiff of peppermint?

He did. That cool fresh scent from the night before?It was from a female.One he had to meet.

Troy backed away from the vehicles and people, trying to get a clearer scent, catch just a bit more information, when his wolf leaned in, giving him a second to warn the others before the ground shook. “Earthquake coming.” Beckett and Crew moved in close to their females, while Mac and Rogue separated a few steps, placing their backs to each other, postures alert.

“Khainquake or regular quake?” Beckett said easily when the ground stopped rolling, his light drawl not as obvious as his twang.

“Khainquake,” Crew said under his breath, looking around, his dark eyes spooked. He pulled Dahlia in closer to him and she kissed him on the cheek, looking at him like he was the smartest male in the world.

“Where is he, what is he doing?” Mac said tightly, all business.

Crew shook his head and looked at the trees planted around them to hide the nearby bars. “I can’t tell. Something’s coming.”

“Tonight?” Mac asked, looking around at the trees in the late afternoon colors of the sun heading west.

Crew shook his head again, his eyes still up, like he also expected something to come at them from anywhere. “Not tonight. Khain’s looking for something. But he didn’t find it. And he’s already gone and that’s all I know.”

But Troy scented different coming off him in waves. Crew knew more than he was saying. Mac seemed satisfied though. Troy caught a whiff of a communication he sent out inruhi, probably to Trevor, relaying the conversation and their status. Troy could spy on it if he wanted to, but he didn’t want to. Crew wasn’t the only one with secrets, and secrets only told their stories when they were ripe.

A truck pulled up too close to them, a bear leaning out the window, looking like Bruin, but grinning like Conri. Bru’s grin was innocent, infectious, even a little sweet. Conri’s grin had teeth. Like he might be up to something. They were seeing it more and more often, the more comfortable the big bear got around the wolves. He was acting Fire Chief while Bruin was off saving thebearenwith his mate, which mostly meant he drove around in his big truck and did whatever he felt like while their younger brothers ran the show.

“Conri,” Cerise called, waving.

“Hey Bargain-Basement-Bru,” Mac said. He grinned. “I’ll call you BBB for short.” He snort-snarled, like he thought he was funny.

Troy only glared at Conri. His ribs still ached from the night before.

“Wolfs. Wolf’s mates. Troy,” Conri said.

Troy snarled at him. “You. Me. Payback.”

Conri laughed at him openly and Troy growled deep in his throat. Fucking bears that fought like linebackers were not cool. Conri got a pass because he was kind of cool, sometimes cool, and he’d helped save Track and Treena, so yeah, he got a lifetime pass, but if any of his bear friends showed up, Troy planned to start lobbing bricks.

Conri would do for his first fight of the night, though. Some blows to the head would dull the buzzing inside Troy and calm him down, keep him from getting so keyed up he lost some of his human-ness, doing things like howling instead of saying words if he tried to talk too fast. Conri was fun to fight if Troy could just keep Conri from getting ahold of him. If all Conri was doing was throwing lumbering hooks, Troy almost always had time to get out of the way. It was when Conri got those big meaty paws on him and wrapped those thick arms around him, that Troy was done for. That’s when Conri could put the hurting on a male.

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