The Tracker's Secret: Sunderverse (Mate Tracker Book 2) by Ingrid Seymour (the gingerbread man read aloud .txt) 📗

seen Blake’s savagery, that terrible hunger to cause pain and see his victim’s suffering.

“I’ll be fine. You don’t worry about me.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’ve been asking you not to worry about me, but you don’t listen, so why should I?”

“That’s different. I’m a werewolf, Toni. I can rip a man’s head off if I want to. You, on the other hand, are vulnerable.”

If he only knew. Though I still had to learn how to control the shift, then maybe I’d also be able to rip someone’s head off—not that it was something I looked forward to doing.

“Are you sure you’ll be all right? I could stay. There.” He pointed toward my papasan chair.

I would have loved for him to stay—in the chair, or preferably, on top of me—but we’d already determined that was a bad idea. And more than that, I had to get up in a couple of hours and go to Eric’s place for my second training session.

“I’ll be all right. I’ll scream bloody murder if I need you.”

“I’ll lock up on my way out.” He backed away, nodding, and went downstairs taking slow, reluctant steps. With a mind of its own, my mom’s protection spell had started allowing him in, so there was no keeping him out.

The bell chimed as he exited, and then there was silence. I went back to bed and tried to sleep, but before I could catch a wink, the clock struck 3:30 AM, and I jumped out of bed and drove to my second meeting with Eric Cross.

Chapter 25

ERIC WAS WAITING FOR me in the same, bottom-floor room of his modern mansion. Like yesterday, he wore sweaty clothes that told me he’d already been through an intense workout of some kind. He stood with his hands behind his back.

I set my duffel bag down on the floor and greeted him.

He ignored my good morning and got right to business. “Any urges to shift since I last saw you?”

“Yeah,” I admitted with a wince.

“What caused it? Anger? Fear?”

“No. Um, it was... lust.”

He raised an eyebrow. “That’ll do it.”

Coming closer, he brought his hands forward, holding a strange contraption in one of them. I frowned at it. It looked like some sort of metal circlet with spikes on the inside.

“What the hell is that?” I demanded, taking a step back.

“Something that will help you remember what happens while you’re in your wolf form. Give me your wrist.”

It was my turn to put my hands behind my back. “No way. That looks painful.”

“That’s exactly the point.” His blue eyes twinkled with amusement.

“Nope. Not doing it.”

“Then our agreement is over. You have to do what I say.”

Shit, that was one of the conditions.

“Fine, but I want you to answer some questions first.”

“Pshaw, you don’t set the terms, little wolf.”

“Oh, yeah? Then I’ll tell Damien you’re not preparing me properly, the whole point is to train me to be a proper werewolf, and in order for me to do that, I need to understand stuff, so I have questions, and I need answers now.”

His chest rumbled and his upper lip twitched, flashing one fang. My heart skittered, and I fought the instinct to submit to him. I defiantly raised my chin and puffed my chest.

Eric held my gaze for a long moment, a blue light flashing in the depths of his pupils, his chest rumbling without interruption like a truck engine.

At last, he threw his hands up in the air. “Okay, fine. Ask your stupid questions.” He sank to the floor, crisscrossing his legs and setting the bracelet from hell on the carpeted floor.

I blinked down at him, then awkwardly sat, also crisscrossing my legs and resting my wrists on folded knees.

He waited with an expression of annoyed boredom. “Well, let’s get this over with.”

“Um, all right, my questions mainly pertain to... mates.”

“But of course.” He rolled his eyes, looking disgusted. Not his favorite topic, it seemed, but I wouldn’t let him embarrass me. If he was a sourpuss about the subject, that was not my fault. Not everybody was an embittered sociopath.

Sheesh, Toni! The man lost his family, have some sympathy.

“What is the role of an alpha’s mate?” I asked.

He frowned and cocked his head to one side, looking curious. “You just found out you’re a werewolf, and you already have your sights set on an alpha male?”

“You’re supposed to answer my questions, not the other way around.”

“You’re infuriating, you know that?”

I shrugged. “I’ve been told that once or twice, but I really don’t give a shit what people think.”

He sniffled and let out a little exhale through his mouth as if to calm himself down. He infuriated me, so I was glad to repay the favor.

“Wait a minute,” he narrowed his eyes at me, “I saw you with Jake Knight at the party. That’s the alpha you’re referring to, isn’t it?”

I clenched my teeth, refusing to answer.

“Fine,” he snapped when he realized I wasn’t going to say anything. “An alpha’s mate's main duties would be to help him continue his lineage by providing strong and healthy offspring. If this alpha leads a pack, it will also be the mate’s responsibility to provide support to his rule, and to ensure that he puts his pack first, all the time, above anything else, including his own family.” Eric’s jaw clenched tightly as he said the last few words, making me wonder if putting his pack first had resulted in the death of his family.

“Is that all?”

“Hardly, an alpha’s mate must always obey without question, something I don’t believe you would be capable of, given your personality. Walter Knight’s pack is quite old-fashioned, and their females are supposed to behave according to many outdated values.”

Walter Knight, Jake’s grandfather who I’d met only a few days ago, was the pack’s leader from the sound of it. Was he expecting Jake to take over?

“Females are expected to stay at home, raise the children, and ensure that their mates and the pack have