Wicked Werewolf Secret (The Werewolf Society) by Lisa Renee Jones Page A

the frustration of being helpless, unable to do anything about his friend’s pained snarls were making him crazy. Only an hour before he’d told Sarah that Kole was fine, but he’d been wrong. Kole was getting worse and Shi knew the pain his friend was in, knew the risks because he’d lived the haze himself years before, and barely survived it. Oh yes, how he’d lived it. And he’d become living proof that just because a female was your biological mate, it didn’t make her love you or want you. It sure didn’t make her incapable of using you for no good. More pained snarls echoed through the walls, radiating down his spine, bringing back the memories of a betrayal he didn’t want to remember. Shi pressed his fists onto the wall and let his head drop forward. Sarah wasn’t the woman of his past, he reminded himself. She wasn’t trying to hurt Kole. He’d smelled her worry for Kole, her sincere need to know he was okay.  
    He dropped his head between his shoulders staring blankly at the floor, struggling with what he had to do, despite Kole’s wishes. Not only had Kole forbidden Shi from calling Nico, Shi himself had bad blood with the leader of the Guard. But   Nico, as leader of Kole’s pack, could use pack magic to save him, just as Nico had pulled Shi back from the orange haze as well.
    “Damn it to hell,” he murmured and grabbed his cell from his belt, punching the auto-dial button direct to Nico, tone hat he’d not touched since leaving the pack three years before.  
    “Hell must have frozen over for you to call me.” Nico didn’t bother with hello.
    “It’s pretty damn icy,” Shi agreed. “I hear you have some freaky new mojo above and beyond your pack magic since you mated with that witch of yours. I don’t know what that entails, but I hope it works from a distance, because Kole’s here with me and he’s got the orange haze.”
    Nico appeared in front of Shi, tall and dark, dressed in leather. The chin length dark hair he’d had when Shi had last seen him, now fell to his shoulders.  
    “I guess your witch really did give you more than the lipstick on your cheek,” Shi said dryly, referencing the confirmation of the rumors he’d heard about Nico’s obvious ability to just pop to a location at will. “I’m guessing you’re not paying the higher gas prices the rest of us are.”  
    “Where is he?”
    A loud snarl and a crash came from inside the room. “That would be him,” Shi replied dryly.
    “Who’s the woman?”
    Shi held up his hands. “That’s for Kole to discuss, if he so chooses, and obviously, he hasn’t at this point.” He walked to the steel containment door and punched in a code before motioning Nico forward.  
    Nico didn’t move. “I have a better chance of saving him if you help. “
    “I’m not pack.”
    “You’re still bonded to us whether you like it or not.” Nico didn’t wait for an answer. He opened the door and walked into the room. Shi followed him and stepped to Nico’s side, a place he’d once been daily. Kole was hunched down in a corner, his hands shifted, claws extended, his head tilted down.  
    Kole’s gaze jerked up, his glowing orange eyes landing on Nico before shifting to Shi. In a snap, Kole was on his feet, charging at Shi. “You bastard,” he growled, in a voice not completely human.  
    Shi hit the wall with a blast so hard his bones rattled. “You fucking bastard,” Kole said between extended teeth. “If he ignores the King’s orders, he could be severely punished. Now you’ve put him at risk, too.”
    “You’re no good to Sarah dead,” Shi ground out a second before Nico yanked Kole away from him.  
    Nico shoved Kole against the wall, but to Shi’s surprise, he felt no pack magic. Kole roared and to Shi’s shock, and he was pretty sure Nico’s, Kole shoved Nico back and kept going until Nico hit the wall.  
    “I didn’t want you involved,” Kole growled. “You shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t have