Wolf's Return (Black Hills Wolves Book 1) by Rebecca Royce Page B

question formed on his tongue. He wanted to ask, needed to know about B. For ten years she’d haunted him, tempted him, and driven him to near madness in his dreams. His body craved hers. But he didn’t say a word because he had forsaken the right to do so when he’d left.
    “Where are we going?”
    Gee stopped moving, and Drew almost plowed into him from behind. “We’re no longer going. We have arrived.”
    “Thanks.” The scent of another shifter reached his nose, and in less than a second, he knew who he’d been brought to see. Ryker Grey. Pack Enforcer. The one who made sure they all obeyed the rules and who brought them to justice if they didn’t. His father’s violent right hand. “Seriously? Did you bring me all the way back here to be killed?”
    “If you had come to Ryker ten years ago instead of leaving like you did, then things would be quite differently.” Gee didn’t talk much. Ryker wasn’t much of a conversationalist either. Or at least he never had been before. Why use ten words when one would do?
    His old—friend?—colleague?—pack mate?—it had always been next to impossible to define their relationship well—hadn’t aged much. If anything, his square jawline had hardened. Like Gee, Ryker’s bloodline traced back to Native American ancestors. Some member of their wolf pack, or in Gee’s case Bear clan, had mated a nonshifter, a pure human. They retained their human ancestors’ line of features. With dark hair and severe eyes, they both gave off the impression of intensity, all the time.
    “I wasn’t going to throw Ryker in the middle of this.” He tried to breathe through the discomfort and fisted his hands. Humans didn’t talk about each other in front of each other. He had to get used to the fact no one in the pack would blink an eye about discussing these things in public and specifically in front of the person being discussed. “And I didn’t want him—you—siding with my father. I had enough troubles.”
    Drew rubbed at his leg. It didn’t hurt right then, but the old wound was a constant ache, in his memory if nowhere else.
    Gee shook his head. “Well, you’re never going to know, are you?”
    Enough was enough. Had Gee brought him back to the Black Hills just to drive him crazy? “Nothing to say for yourself, Ryker? Wanna weigh in on this?”
    Ryker had been kneeling down over a campfire. He stood up and looked Drew straight in the eyes. The jolt of pack awareness Drew hadn’t felt in a decade lanced through him and threatened to take him to the ground. It was a week until the full moon, the only time Drew ever had to shift, but he thought he might lose control and bring on his wolf any second.
    For the first time in ten years, Drew sucked in a deep breath—a real lungful of pure, mountain air.
    “You’re late.” Ryker threw a twig into the fire. It sparked and burst apart with a pop .
    The forest fell quiet. Drew could actually hear his own intake and outtake of breath. “For what? I don’t remember having any appointments. I thought I’d be attending a funeral at some point.”
    Ryker and Gee shared a look Drew couldn’t decipher. And it ignited the flint of his temper. “If you have something to say, say it.”
    “You’re late for starting your life, son.” The bland expression didn’t match Ryker’s near-tolerant tone.
    Drew growled. It felt good to not have to restrain the sound. “You’re not my father. You’re older than me, I don’t even know how much more, but you don’t get to call me son.”
    “Lifetimes older. Take my word on it.” Ryker dismissed his objection with a shake of his head. “I need to see something.”
    “What’s that?” Drew felt edgy. Goose bumps had popped out all over his body. Ryker hadn’t threatened him. Why did he feel like he was about to get into a fight?
    Two seconds later, Ryker struck. He hardly had a second to shift before Ryker slammed him into the ground. It had been years since he’d made the