Free The Witch and the Wolf: Part One by Lola Kidd

don’t think I should be telling you this , but she thinks it was dark fae.”
    Cross’ eyes bulged. “Dark fucking fae?! Which ones? Kern? I think I heard something about them on my last gun run.”
    “The Lost Tribe,” Rory said quickly. Cross didn’t say anything for a long time. Rory picked up her burger and started eating. She wasn’t going to let her food get cold while he mulled over her admission.
    ***
    His wolf was about to break free of the hold he had on it. They were in a public place and that would be the worst thing possible. This had never happened to him before. He was always able to keep his wolf on a very tight leash. He was the master of the animal within. But his was different.
    The Lost Tribe. He had heard about them like every other supernatural being in existence. They were the worst of the dark fae and had been banished to another dimension hundreds of years earlier. They had been responsible for the death of hundreds of supernatural creatures, possibly even thousands. There was no way to know. They had used their power, not just to make life for humans hell on earth, but to hurt their own kind. There was a reason humans called fae like them demons.
    In the United States, the biggest target of the Lost Tribe had been witches. It really wasn’t too hard to see why. No other supernatural creatures had the power to stop them. Had they succeeded, they would have been able to make their presence known and rule over humanity with an iron fist. They were a seriously bad bunch.
    And now they were killing witches in Cleary. Witches close to the one who was his mate. There was no doubt about that anymore. He couldn’t just laugh her off as a fun piece of ass to have for a night or two. No, Aurora Silver was his mate. His wolf had claimed her long before his human conscious had even started to get a clue. From the way his wolf was reacting now, she must be in serious trouble.
    The two things had to be related. The Lost Tribe murder and the attack on Rory. The particulars didn’t matter. He knew it was true deep in his bones. So, an ancient, mega-powerful, and evil tribe of fae were out to kill Rory and they were either working with the Sun Riders or the Sun Riders also wanted to kill her. Perfect. That was just fan-fucking-tastic. He had just found his mate and now she was in mortal danger.
    What was really bothering his wolf was that there was no way he would be able to protect her on his own. Hell, even with the help of all the Moon Brothers and their allies, the Golden Bears, East Coast Pride, and the Fury Pack, there was almost no chance of defeating even one Lost Tribe fae. They were that fucking powerful.
    He tried to calm himself down , but it was no use. He was a ticking time bomb at this point.
    “Get a box,” he told Rory.
    “What?” she had ketchup on her lip.
    “Get. A. Box.” he said again. “We need to leave. Now.”
    “I’m not done eating and you haven’t even touched your…” she looked at him this time. Really looked at him. His distress must have been obvious because she got up and got the boxes herself. She boxed both of their plates up herself.
    When she was done, he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the restaurant with him. He looked around. There was nothing for him to hide behind , but the other cars in the parking lot. There weren’t many, but that was the best he was going to be able to do at that point.
    He led her as far away from the diner windows as he could and prayed no cars would drive in when he was shifting. It was dark outside so it would be hard to see him anyway. He hoped it was enough.  
    He held his wolf in as long as he could. The second he hit the car he had been seeking, he let his wolf go. The shift was almost painful it happened so fast. It felt like all of his bones were liquid and his skin burned away. In less than the blink of an eye he went from towering over Rory, to eye level with her shoulder.
    All he wanted to do was snap Rory up and