Good, the prick had a gun, Graeme thought. At least this would be an interesting fight. Although, based on the way the human was holding the weapon, he doubted he had ever actually used it.

Graeme stayed crouched, unmoving, watching Jeffrey make his way closer to woods. His lips curled away from his teeth when the human was only a few yards away. If he could be patient enough for Jeffrey to actually step into the trees, this was all going to be incredibly easy.

And then somehow, unbelievably, the human's eyes shifted to look directly into his. He saw the instinctual flicker of Jeffrey's fear as Graeme was rising into his lunge, and then the gun went off and knocked them both back.

Graeme groaned heavily as he hit the ground. It felt like the bullet had pierced and collapsed his lung. The human male scrambled up and froze in place at the shock of having fired his weapon at something unbelievably massive that was about to lunge for him.

Was it a bear?

Black bears were rare here, but it wasn't unheard of. At first glance that is what this animal appeared to be, but the face and head shape had been wrong. And its underside was tapered like a canine. It had the coloring of a wolf—but maybe a dappled black and brown variation of the timber wolf—and that growl he heard… it had to be a wolf.

Jeffrey brushed himself off and cautiously approached, noticing when he got closer how the animal's breathing was rapid and shallow.

"Fuck me,

" Jeffrey breathed in awe.

"What are you?

" He crouched down and studied the bear-sized wolf closer as Graeme struggled to regain his breath.

When the human reached out to touch Graeme's rear flank, he growled threateningly and Jeffrey flinched back before chuckling to himself.

"Father is going to ** when he sees this,

" he laughed to himself. And then his laugh caught in his throat as he watched the wolf's body begin to transform into a very large, very muscular human.

"Is he now?

" Graeme rasped and Jeffrey sprang up with a strangled scream. Graeme followed him to his feet.

When the male shakily raised the revolver in one hand to aim it at the thing stalking toward him, Graeme dodged to the side and grabbed Jeffrey's arm, pinning it under his bicep in an over hook that, with one violent shake, made the human drop the gun to the ground.

"Ah!

" Jeffrey cried in pain at the arm that was now squeezed and immobile against this creature. He tried to push off the chest of this thing, but the massive man beast grabbed his wrist and tucked it tightly under Jeffery's other arm so that now both arms were painfully pinned.

Graeme stepped through the space between them and flipped the male over onto his back with his arms still pinned under Graeme's bicep.

Jeffrey hollered with the impact and the feeling that both of his arms were about to snap. His legs kicked, but he was pinned to the ground. What the ** was happening?

Graeme squeezed the arm hold tighter, forcing another cry out of the human who was squinting in pain.

"You enjoy hurting women?

" Graeme snarled before turning his head to spit blood out of his mouth.

"W-what?

" the male stammered, his eyes still squinted closed against the pressure that Graeme was putting on him.

"You heard me,

" Graeme growled, and he leaned in, forcing Jeffrey's arms to angle further. The human cried out.

"What women? I-I don't know what you're—

"

"Don't play dumb,

" Graeme growled, his teeth gritted in restraint so that he wouldn't immediately snap the guy in two.

At that moment he thought of how August's eyes had gone vacant when she remembered what this bastard did to her—the way her chin jutted out defiant to the shame and guilt and helplessness she had felt because of something this male had put her through.

"Was August Cady your first?

" he ground out, focusing the sadness he felt for his mate into rage for the man below him.

"Who?

" Jeffrey groaned, his eyes still squinted in pain.

The possibility that the male could do something to his mate and then deny it or have it be such an insignificant detail in his life that he had already forgotten it made Graeme's anger flare higher. But then he suddenly remembered where he had just come from—Penelope said her enchantment would be such that no one from August's past would remember her.

If her own mother could forget her, then Jeffrey would have as well. Fucking Eliade. This meant that the bastard below him wouldn't even remember what he had done whilst August would remain with the memory for life.

"How many women have you r*ped, Maura?

" Graeme tried again.

"I don't…

"

"I have reports with your name on them. If you lie, I'm breaking both of your arms,

" Graeme growled. He added enough pressure to the arm hold that Jeffrey could feel just how close that already was to happening.

"Okay, okay,

" Jeffrey yelled.

"That's just—that word isn't right. It didn't happen like that,

" he cried.

Graeme covered the male's mouth with his free hand and yanked his two arms away from him, dislocating them both for Jeffrey to scream in pain. The human's face was contorted and red, his screams muffled by Graeme's hand.

"How many?

" Graeme growled again.

Jeffrey was too lost to the pain to respond.

"Answer or they'll be ripped off next,

" he added.

"Two! Two accused me!

" he screeched.

"Oh **, my arms!

"

If he remembered two females accusing him, that would mean August was a third.

"I lied, Maura,

" Graeme snarled next to his ear.

"Your arms won't be the only thing you lose before I'm done with you.

"

The woods around the lake of Jeffrey's house had gone dark now that the sun slid the last of its rays below the horizon, and a clear sky let show a brilliant dusting of stars over this haven tucked into the city. It was a tranquil sight for anyone looking on unaware of the muffled, torturous screams coming from its shadows.

When the struggle finally ended and those muffled screams ceased, allowing the full peace of the night to reign, Graeme's wolf slipped into the lake to rinse the blood from his fur and mouth. He was trembling from the adrenaline and from the repairing of the collapsed lung his body was still working on.

The frigid water made him huff out quick, shallow breaths, and once he finally climbed back onto the muddy bank bordering the trees, he shook the water from his body and quickly trotted deeper into the shadows.

He had been wrong—a timber wolf wouldn't be blamed for that attack. It ended up being too gruesome. Who knows what the humans would make of it when he was discovered.

Now that that first monster was taken care of, Graeme was eager to finish the second and get back to his mate and his pack. He needed to talk with Greta and Sam, find out more about what other devious things the elders were doing in his pack that Penelope had vaguely alluded to, and set about making things right.

And he couldn't wait to hold August in his arms again.. Every part of him ached for her—his entire being called for her, pulling him in the direction it knew she was in.