Free The Wolf Inside Me (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) by Celene Lowe Page B

his wolf crazy. He felt it shudder and slam against his skin, howling to be let out of its human prison. The only way he could see about calming it was to find the source of that scent.
    Inside of the bar was even more confusing than the outside. The wash of sensations flooded over him, a cacophony of sights, smells and noises. He heard Dolf's mind whimper and he sent him thoughts of strength and coping. "Find a quiet corner," he instructed Gray. "Shove them outta the way if you have to."
    He felt his second in command move forward, but his eyes were locked across the bar. The source of that intoxicating scent was there, shining like a beacon in front of him. As he looked at her, he felt the whole world collapse down into a pinpoint, with her being the entire reason for its being. She was all there was and suddenly he recognized why her smell had called to him from so far away.
    His mate. He was looking at his mate.
    The older wolves in the pack had told him stories of this. Tales of that moment when your mate was revealed to you. He had always scoffed at the idea that it would be so clean and easy. That it was like the clouds would part and a shaft of pure sunlight would fall onto the face of the one you were fated to be with.
    And yet here she was. Through the gloom of the bar he saw her spotlighted, her dark hair falling down her back, her eyes as blue as the sky in October, her generously curved body made for cupping close to his. He felt desire like he had never experienced before tug at his groin even as his heart ached with longing.
    "Your mate?" Dolf said softly in his mind. "Well fuck, why didn't you say? We'll stay then."
    "I don't know what to do," Zev thought humbly. He was the alpha, the leader. He was the one who made the decisions. He didn't want his packmates to see him so indecisive.
    "Whatever you need to do," Marrok spoke, clapping a hand on his shoulder. Zev felt the warmth of Marrok's wolf pulse beneath his skin and felt some calm return.
    "Let's order some food and see if we can get her to come to us," Zev decided quickly. Gray was already sitting in a booth, having snarled at an embracing couple until they scurried away.
    Marrok went to the counter and waved down the sallow faced woman behind there. Zev sat rigidly in the seat, unused to having to sit at a table. His wolf was going crazy to know that his mate was right there, only feet away from him. But he needed to proceed with caution. Why was a wolf shifter working the counter of a divey bar instead of loping through the forest like the animal she was?
    Zev steadily ripped his napkin into tiny pieces as he kept his focus trained on her. If he didn't keep his hands busy, he would shift right here in the booth, revealing himself as a wolf and ruining centuries of secrecy. "Let's talk about something else," Gray thought to him. "You need to steady yourself."
    "I want to know our next move...." Marrok interjected then thought better of it. "Please."
    Zev exhaled inwardly. As much as it pained him to drag his thoughts away from his mate, there was business to be discussed.
    "The loggers are getting suspicious of us," he thought, and heard his packmates perk up attentively. "I don't know how much longer we can safely work on the inside."
    "Good," thought Dolf. "I'm tired of this low-level sabotage crap. Let's just blow up all the dozers and be done with it."
    "Then we'd be no better than the Sandulf pack," Zev thought darkly and he heard his packmates' minds growl. The Sandulf had lost their humanity ages ago. They viewed the encroachment of the loggers on to their territory as a declaration of war, putting at risk the secrecy the Falls Creek pack treasured. As alpha of the Falls Creek Pack, Zev had sworn to the Sandulf that they would drive the loggers off the mountain without revealing themselves. But the Sandulf were growing impatient. Radulf, the alpha of the Sandulf had made it clear that if the Falls Creek methods didn't work, then he would be ready