Hunting For A Mate 4 (BBW Shifter Menage Romance) Read Free

needed to catch her to make sure she didn’t hurt herself.

    I picked up my pace, my paws barely touching the earth before pivoting and pushing me off further through the forest. I could taste the lather forming in my mouth, the panting of my chest reminding me that it had been far too long since I had a good long run in wolf form. Sitting was the curse of the human form: it felt so good. You could just lay around all day. I’d done my fair share of that recently.

    Sitting in board rooms. Sitting and listening to experts and friends advise me about the Pack’s resources and what we should do with them. Everyone seemed to have an opinion, and underneath them all I couldn’t help but sniff out an ulterior motive. Or maybe all the sitting just made me cynical.

    But here, now, I was free. My mind felt smaller, but it was sharper. More focused. None of those greater concerns weighed down on me. I was just chasing my Grace, my lover. If only our lives could be like this forever. But I knew they couldn’t.

    I leapt over a downed log covered in fungus and narrowly dodged a split stump on the other side. Clarissa’s scent was everywhere now. She was close. I slowed down to look around the area.

    A black shape burst through a thick hedge to my left. I saw Clarissa’s eyes go wide with surprise, and her snarling teeth clamped shut right before they bit into my side. With no way to stop mid-air she slammed into me, launching me across the small clearing we’d stopped at. I hit a thick tree trunk and she skidded to stop inches from me.

    I leapt up onto all fours, my head down and my tail wagging high over my head. I let out a playful growl, my yearning for this simpler life getting the better of me. As Pack Alpha, I had to be composed at all times. I couldn’t cut loose. I hadn’t played with Pack Mates in years, and a small but insistent part of me missed that. Now, with just the two of us, I could experience that joy again.

    Clarissa was having none of it. She slowly padded over to me and licked my face. She was still shaken, still uneasy. I Shifted back into human form and she followed suit.

    I lay with my back against the tree, and she came to lay in my arms.

    “Good morning, beautiful,” I said.

    She sat up long enough to jab a finger into my chest. “You’re an asshole for scaring me like that!” Then she lay her head back against my shoulder.

    “I couldn’t let such a clumsy bandit escape without punishment,” I said, goosing her.

    “Clumsy? I was like a professional. Neither of you stirred. I could’ve robbed you blind. I might consider a life as a cat burglar. Maybe I’ll steal the Crown Jewels,” she said, her fingertips lightly scratching tiny circles against my bicep.

    “Somehow I don’t think that would work out,” I said. “And I don’t think I would be sneaky enough to break you out. And Sven…”

    “Oh, Sven definitely couldn’t. His farts would give him away,” Clarissa said.

    I ran my hand along the back of her head and found a swelling knot. “Did you hit your head on something?”

    “I did. I…” she said.

    “What?” I said.

    “I saw something, Helmut. At least, I think I saw something. It was very strange,” she said, holding me tighter. “I was running and I found a cave.”

    “I didn’t know we had caves this close to the village,” I said. I was almost certain we didn’t, but it had been a while since I went exploring out here.

    “It was back there,” she said. “Where I left my clothes.”

    “I didn’t see a cave back there,” I said.

    “I went back inside it. Inside I saw something. I don’t know what it was. Some kind of creature,” She mumbled the last part. “It’s crazy.”

    “Tell me about it,” I said. “It might not be as crazy as you think.” I knew these woods were ancient, and ancient woods kept ancient memories. Legends and myths that were once real, some of which still held on despite a world that has moved on.

    “It was