Free Saved by Wolves (Shifters Meet Their Mate Book 1) by Elena Hunter Page B

Dravin and someone else to take our patrol. I’ll meet you by the north path in ten minutes. If you’re not there, I’m leaving without you.”
    Marcus watched him go, wanting to argue, but knowing it would be pointless. Besides, if they ran into trouble, having a partner at his back, even an asshole one like Jackson, would be safer than being alone. Now he just had to find Dravin. 
    “Marcus,” his gran said in a soft voice, and he waited, shoulders tense. Gran using her soft voice was never a good sign.
    “She’s human, Marcus. She seems like a nice girl, and I can understand the attraction. But there’s a reason we have the laws we do. Nothing good can come of it.”
    Maybe she was right, but maybe she wasn’t. Either way, he needed to know.

Chapter Eleven
    “S he’s off the trail,” Jackson said, sniffing the air. “Why would she have turned east here?”
    “Because it would have looked like a straighter route on the map,” Marcus said. They were only a few miles from Wolf’s Run, and so far, Kirra’s path had been easy to follow. Scuff marks in the dirt and broken twigs told him she’d been more concerned with speed than stealth. He had no doubt they would catch up with her soon. What would happen after that was more of a question. It was time to set some boundaries. Some rules.
    “Look, Jackson, I think we need to call a truce.”
    Jackson knocked aside a branch without speaking, sending it flying back in Marcus’s face.
    He tried again. “I’m not happy about this either. Our first priority is finding Kirra, of course, and then finding out why she’s so anxious to talk to the council. But after that...”
    “After that what?” Jackson rounded on him, crossing his arms, legs braced.
    There was no use in being subtle. Jackson was oblivious to subtle. “I want her,” Marcus said boldly. “I want her, and I don’t want you to try to take advantage of her again.”
    Springing forward, Jackson put his hand around Marcus’s throat and slammed him against the nearest tree. The impact rattled his teeth. “I wasn’t taking advantage of her. And this is all your fault.” He tightened his grip. “If we’d made her tell us why they were after her or why she needed to see the alpha, she never would have gone off on her own.”
    Marcus stomped on Jackson’s instep and threw his head forward, smashing his forehead against Jackson’s chin.
    Jackson’s grip loosened, and he backed off, cradling his jaw.
    They stared at each other, breath heaving, balanced on the balls of their feet.
    “Why do you want her anyway?” Marcus asked. “She’s a human.”
    “I know. I don’t care.”
    Jackson’s answer was a tortured whisper, and Marcus sagged back against the tree. “She calls to you, too, doesn’t she? Ever since I pulled her out of the river and caught her scent, I haven’t been able to get it out of my system. I’ve never felt this way—never been drawn to anyone like this before, shifter or human.”
    “It’s like she’s dug her way in”—Jackson rubbed his bare chest—“and I can’t get her out. I don’t want her there. I don’t want to feel this way about anyone, let alone a human. How do we get rid of it?”
    The confusion on Jackson’s face reflected the lightness in Marcus’s head and the heaviness in his stomach. He felt giddy and all at once. “I’m not sure,” he said slowly. “Gran said nothing good could come of it—”
    “And she’s right. Kirra’s human. It’s forbidden.”
    “We’re not banned from having a relationship with humans. Only from a true mating.”
    “So you think I should just have sex with her? That it would get her out of my system?” Jackson said, eyebrows furrowing.
    “That’s not... I mean... No. No.”
    “Why not? You just said—”
    “I said I want to have a relationship with her, not that you should! I want you to back off!” How had the conversation gone from bad to worse so rapidly?
    Jackson was rubbing the back of his