Page 8 of Tolerated By the Sigma (Mate Hunt 7)

I had texts from a bunch of people, and ignored most of them. Mostly, it was OMGs and congrats from people I knew in town, most of who had pretty much ignored me since they realized I wasn’t going to be mated to a werewolf.

Which we all had been wrong about, apparently.

The only message I tapped on was the one from Del.

Del: You okay?

Damn, I loved that girl.

Everyone else had been congratulating me, but Del saw through the situation enough to worry about how I was feeling.

Me: Define okay.

Del: Internet says, “satisfactory but not exceptionally or especially good”.

Me: I’m okay then.

Del didn’t answer immediately, and my fingers tapped against the side of the phone for a minute before I sent another message.

Me: Do you think this is real?

Del: One of the girls in my pack murdered her first-mate-slash-baby-daddy, and another one has enough magic in her blood that her mate couldn’t starthunting her until they had actually touched. If yours isn’t real, everything in this world is really fucked up.

My lips curved upward.

Del had a unique way of cheering people up that I loved.

Me: I guess.

Del: It’ll take time to get used to the idea, Char. And the hunt is a weird transition time for all of us.

Me: But what if he never bites me? What if his wolf just went insane?

Del: Then I’ll pray for you.

I snorted.

Me: Bitch.

Del: You give the best compliments.

A laugh escaped me.

Oscar growled and bumped the phone with his nose, and I turned it so he could see. Most male wolves could read thanks to attending school with their humans while the humans were learning.

A moment passed, and then he growled at me. This time, his eyes were on mine when he did.

“You don’t like my conversation?” I asked him, lifting an eyebrow.

He curled his lips back in response, showing me his fangs.

“This whole situation is crazy, bud.” I gestured between us. “I have no way of knowing whether or not you’re even really hunting me until you bite me. You don’t have to believe me when I say that there’s no way I could possibly change my mind about any of this, but if you’re not going to believe me, what reason do I have to believe you? Given everything I know about werewolves, I have to assume that you’re losing your mind—or that the human has lost his mind already and you’ve taken over for good.”

The wolf growled at me, but the growl was halfhearted.

He knew I made a valid point.

“We can sleep for now,” I told him, “But tomorrow, you’re either going to have to bite me or let the damned main alpha run tests on us or something to determine whether or not we’re actually mates. I understand that you’re probably not in a hurry to make me yours after what happened with Lisa, but I’m not playing along with this anymore until I know whether or not this is real.”

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