Page 26 of Starting a New Life

My wolf perked up even more, excitedly wagging his fucking tail even as the hair on the back of my neck rose.

“Alpha,” Paul called out, waving me over. He was taking care of an injured wolf who was leaning against a massive cedar, his face pale from blood loss.

My wolf growled as I diverted from course and quickly ran over to Paul.

“You’re gonna want to hear this,” Paul said, his signature mischievous smirk on his face, even as he eyed the cloaked figure warily. None of my wolves had approached him yet; the static crackling all kept them back.

We need to go over. Now! my wolf demanded, but I didn’t give in. We’d go over in time.

“Our newcomer here thanked me for sending our mage.”

Our… mage?

Yes. My wolf preened. Our mage.

I blinked, confusion chilling me to the bone.

“Wait… he didn’t arrive with them?”

Paul shrugged, then shook his head. “I tried to get him to elaborate, but he’s… honestly, he’s barely hanging on to consciousness. But he seemed convinced that the mage is part of our pack.”

He wasn’t.

We didn’t have witches or wizards or fucking mages or whatever. We had all kinds of shifters in our pack, but there were no magic wielders in Balwood.

At least there weren’t supposed to be any.

No one had informed me of their presence.

No one had asked for permission to stay on pack lands.

No one had asked for refuge.

Rage ignited in my chest, a spark that spread like wildfire until every fibre of my body was burning with fury.

The thefts. The intruders. And now a fucking mage hiding in my own territory? What was next?

I cast a long glance at the cloaked figure swaying above the unconscious body of the injured wolf.

Our mage, my wolf preened, not concerned about him hiding on our pack lands for who knew how long. Ours.

He was our problem. That was what he was.

“Paul. Call in for ATVs so we can get our two guests to our packhouse safely. And call Jasper, please. They need medical attention.”

My eyes darted back to the hooded figure.

In my periphery, I saw Paul nodding, but he was biting his lip. “Uhm… what do you want us to do with the… uhh, that guy?”

I growled, the anger burning bright inside me. No matter what the barrier or my wolf said, he was an intruder. And he’d obviously been hiding right under our noses.

I balled my hands into fists.

“For now, throw him into a cell.”

My wolf howled inside my chest, a pitiful whine of protest as I watched the cloaked figure collapse on top of the other wolf, the slight glow of his hands fading, the static crackling in the air abruptly stopping.

My wolf jumped up in alarm, urging me to go over, but I forced myself to step away and focus on controlling the situation. There was too much to navigate right now. We had bodies to take care of.