Midnight Kisses (Shifter Island #1) - Leia Stone Page 0,33

black wolf snapping at the yellow-eyed dude’s throat.

“That’s it,” another guy shouted from behind me. “Party’s over.”

“Everyone out!” bellowed another dude, both in matching tuxes with black, gelled hair. “Now!”

People fled the garden, running past the pool and back inside where we were. Several women screeched, darting out of the rooms half-dressed and into the hallway. It didn't take a genius to know that the impromptu liaisons upstairs were coming to an untimely end. Yellow Eyes fled, and my black wolf looked back at me as if deciding whether to go after him or stick with me. I tried to inch away toward the door, and he moved with me, growling at anyone who approached within two feet of me.

My little, sexy kisser was being possessive as hell. Just like a newly-mated male would be, except…

This couldn’t be happening. Fated mates were always from the same pack. Always.

Until now … because this obviously wasn’t Nolan. Thank the Mother Mage for that blood spell.

I reached down and dug my fingers into his fur, my tension dissolving as I stroked my mate’s neck and then behind his ears. As soon as my hand landed on his head, he tipped his muzzle up and rubbed it against my leg.

“So that was quite a display,” I said in my most soothing voice as people ran around me to the exit. “But I’m not hurt.”

I’d been in a pack for a long time and recognized all the signs of a protective mate. His wolf came out when that guy grabbed me. He was protecting me, not knowing if I could protect myself. It was sweet. My heart fluttered with the thought. I had a mate … a fated mate … who would apparently rip off the head of any male who touched me. There were only two fated mate pairs in Crescent Pack. They were rare. Less than one percent.

He licked my hand, tasting my fingers before growling at the others still in the living room.

Unfortunately, his wolf was out now, and anyone who came near me would be a threat.

“Hey, blue girl,” one of the tux-clad-clones who’d kicked everyone out said, waving to me. “Tell the wolf you have to go,” he said, eyeing the mate marks on my left hand with alarm. “If you do, he’ll let you leave and be able to calm down enough to shift back to human.”

I ran my fingers through his fur. “I don’t want to leave him.”

The mage wine was still hitting me, but the adrenaline rush had dissolved a good bit of it. Still, I wanted to stay here with my soft wolf-mate forever. I didn’t want this night to end.

The guy cocked his head. “Do you want him to rip out the throat of every man in this room?”

I gulped. “You don’t have to be so condescending—”

My wolf-mate bared his teeth at the guy, hackles raising. Then, he stalked toward the man.

Oh, wow.

My irritation evaporated. “Hey, Green Eyes,” I called to my mate. “Come back over here, and don’t hurt the dude.”

Well, whaddya know … the wolf listened, padding back over to me, sitting by my feet. Ha. I could get used to this.

Now bring me a cheese pizza.

Kidding.

“You need to leave. Now,” the tux guy said. “It’s just a matter of time before—”

Howling erupted upstairs, followed by snarls and snaps.

“Shit!” the dude muttered. “It’s happening.”

His eyes shifted from grass-green to yellow, and the last remnants of the mage wine burned out of my body in a flash. He was shifting … they were all shifting.

All that sexy-shmexy mate-desire was basically coitus-incompletus, making me a lusty-beacon to every single male wolf on campus.

“Hey, wolfie,” I muttered, kneeling to get on my protector’s level. “I gotta go. Uh … will you walk me home?”

Before I even finished the sentence, I was moving toward the door. It was a race—get out of the house before the fighting reached here. Whenever wolves fought, it took a tremendous amount of willpower to keep yourself from shifting and asserting dominance. But a fight like this would be pointless. Better to protect my mate and get the hell out of here. A fight this big was bound to have repercussions. Alpha king repercussions.

Hard pass at that.

“Thank the mage,” I said, relieved when my mate’s wolf followed me out. As I passed the guy fighting against the call of his instinct, I felt my own skin tighten, and then fur rippled down my forearms in response. Why couldn’t she do this during