Page 25 of Shifter's Dream

Trevor eyed him in the rearview mirror and pulled back out into traffic. “You shaved your mustache,” he said.

Troy grunted, then grabbed up Track’s teething toy, a giraffe with a long neck, and held it so Track could gnaw on it while Troy thought about what to tell his brother. He felt humiliated for the first time in many years, and he could not figure out how to start the conversation, no matter what angle he approached it from.

“And you lost your shirt,” Trevor said.

Troy decided it was his business, for now. He couldn’t say a word.

But when they drew close to home, Trevor asked him straight out. “What happened, Troy, tell me.”

Troy couldn’t stop the answer that came out of his mouth. “I ah, I bit a female.”

Trevor visibly stiffened, and his scent said this was much worse than he’d imagined. “You claimed someone?” he said.

Troy nodded and said,Yeah, inruhi.

Trevor spoke carefully. “Who?”

Shit, how to answer that one?A female, was all he said.A waitress from the bar.He still didn’t know her name, but he wasn’t going to admit that unless he had to.

Trevor’s eyes met his in the mirror, and his scent said he was disappointed in Troy. “Then what happened?”

We slept.Troy dropped his head.Then she threw me out.

“Did she… know you were going to bite her?” Trevor asked.

Troy shook his head no.

Trevor was silent until they pulled up in the driveway. “I’m going to have to tell Wade,” he finally said, his tone of voice carefully controlled. He couldn’t control his scent though, and that said that Troy had fucked up royally.

Troy didn’t have time for it, he was already steeped in thoughts of strategy, able only to concentrate on his next step. She’d said, “Don’t look for me,” and he would honor that unless he thought she was in danger, which he did not. His every instinct was that his female was strong and capable of taking care of herself, and even Khain was no immediate threat to her.

So he did nothing andhated it. He got Track out of the car seat and followed Trevor, not knowing how to tell his brother the whole story without breaking down. He’d been matched with a One True Mate. He’d met his One True mate, and he’d driven her away, all in a few hours. Humiliation stung his insides again, and for the first time in his life, he had to contemplate his future existence without someone he’d fallen hard and fast for, without someone he should be spending his life with.

He did not know what to do, and so he clung to the baby in his arms, and tried to trust that his wolf could help him, and if not his wolf, then his brother, if he could just figure out how to admit what had really happened.

Inside, Troy found a full house. Everyone was there, it seemed, except Graeme and Heather, Bruin and Willow, and Jaggar and Leilani. Wade was at the new, oversized, reinforced, dining room table with Crew, Eventine, Harlan, and Mac, and the others clustered in the kitchen and living room. Troy stayed in the corner near the door holding Track, looking at everyone, seeing them all in a new way. He should be introducing his female, but she wasn’t there with him. His fault. Maybe hehadbeen born in a barn, he didn’t know.

Trevor said his hellos and cut through to Wade. Troy followed slowly, as if trudging through molasses. Halfway across the room, Ella kissed him on the cheek in greeting and took baby Track from him, leaving him with no excuses. He made it to the table in time to hear Trevor say, “…claimed someone last night.”

Mac heard and nodded. “What time was that, around midnight? Rogue totally felt it, you don’t want to know how she woke me up.”

Trevor stared hard at Mac, then looked at Wade, then back at Mac. “Are you saying Troy claimed a One-” He snapped his eyes back to Troy. They were gathering a crowd. Trevor’s tone was one of wonder. “I assumed she was a human… Troy, what was her name?”

“I don’t know,” Troy said softly and carefully, feeling a kind of embarrassment he’d never know existed before. He’d loved her, lost her, and never even known her name.

Mac smirked, and Ella said, “Troy, no.”

Wade pointed at Trevor, then around the room. “What about the rest of you? Anyone else feel something?”

Trevor nodded, expression serious. “Yes. Ella woke me at the same time.”

A murmur peppered around the room. Cerise blushed. So did Dahlia. Ella just lifted her eyebrows and didn’t say a word.

“Wait, that woman from last night? The waitress?” Beckett said.

Wade held up his hands. “Someone start from the beginning and tell me everything. Who was there?”

Mac held up his hand and glared at Troy. “I was there. Troy went all gaga over a waitress, shaved his mustache to get her attention, felt her up on the dance floor, then he took off, and that’s all we know because he disappeared.” He held up his hand to Trevor and shook his head. “Now, I’m noCitlali, but if you add all that to the fact that he admits he claimed her without even asking her name, something I would never do, by the way, and the general horniness of you, you, you, and you, last night at theexact same time,” he pointed around the room, making Rogue snort and everyone else blush, “then I think we can safely assume that yes, Troy met his One True Mate last night, and since she’s not here on his arm, then perhaps he fucked that up. Surprise!”

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