Free Fighting for Wolves (Shifter Country Wolves Book 3) by Roxie Noir Page A

again.”
    Isaac opened his mouth, then closed it. It was true, and they both knew it.
    Dane stood and started pacing in front of the couch.
    “It’s not the fighting,” he told Isaac. “It’s not even that you lied to me, it’s that I don’t think this is going to be the last one,” he said. “I know you. I think I might know you better than you know yourself, and Isaac, you’re never going to not miss it. Every night when you go to bed, you’ll close your eyes, and for a moment you’ll think of how you felt in the ring. Every time you see a fight, or smell dirty dogs, or hear people cheer, you’re going to want to be back in that ring, even if only for a moment.”
    He was completely, one hundred percent right, and Isaac couldn’t think of anything to say. What could he possibly tell his mate? You’re right, but I want you to be wrong? You’re right, but I want to want to stop fighting?
    “Yeah,” he finally managed.
    The withering look from Dane said that wasn’t good enough.
    “I don’t want fighting to take you away from me,” Dane said. Now he was standing in front of Isaac, his arms crossed in front of him. “I hated having to watch you fight, thinking that one tooth in the wrong place, one bad fall, and you’d be gone.”
    That’s why it’s so thrilling, though, thought Isaac.
    “Don’t you remember it?” Isaac asked. “The way it feels to be in the ring, just your own teeth and claws and nothing else? We met fighting. I know you used to love it as much as I did.”
    Dane just shook his head.
    “I was a shitty fighter,” he said. “You won. I lost. It was easy for me to leave. But you were good at it, you had that knack. That spark.”
    Isaac couldn’t argue.  
    “You’re afraid that I don’t anymore,” he said.
    “That’s not it,” Dane said, softly. “I know you do. Hell, you mow the lawn like you’re fighting it and winning.”
    “But I’m not eighteen.”
    “You’re not eighteen, and how long do you think you’ll be lucky for, Dane? It’s not forever. How many fighters over thirty are there in the ring?”
    Isaac thought for a minute.
    “Exactly,” said Dane. “They retire, they get hurt, or they die.”
    “Just one,” Isaac said. “I swear it’s the last one.”
    Please let me stop missing this, he thought. Let me stop wanting it.
    “Okay,” said Dane. Isaac could tell that his mate didn’t believe him just then, but that didn’t matter.
    He’ll believe me when it’s true, he thought.
    “Want to come see the match?” Isaac offered. “I know a guy.”
    Dane wasn’t amused.
    “I can’t watch you fight,” he said, sadly. “I’m not sure you know how it feels, watching your heart face off with a wolf.”
    For a moment, Isaac imagined the situation reversed: Dane in the ring, Isaac watching. Some other wolf tearing into his mate. The thought alone made him break out into a sweat.
    “That’s fair,” he said, quietly.
    Dane stepped forward and took Isaac’s face in his hands so that the two of them were eye to eye.
    “I don’t want to lose you,” he said. “Is it really the last time?”
    “I love you more than I love fighting,” Isaac said. “I swear.”
    Dane looked into his eyes for a few more moments, and then kissed Isaac hard on the lips, pressing himself against the other man like his life depended on it. Isaac kissed him back, grabbing Dane around the waist.
    When they broke the kiss, they were both breathing hard, and Isaac leaned his forehead against Dane’s.
    “Would you really change my diapers?” he asked, half-teasing.
    Dane’s face broke into a smile, despite himself.
    “I’d rather you not be in diapers,” he said. “But I would.”
    Isaac kissed him again, fiercely.

Chapter Seven

    Grey

    When Grey’s alarm clock went off at five-thirty the next morning, she felt like she’d barely slept at all. In a sense, that was almost true. After all, she’d been at the police station until midnight, and then she’d