Page 111 of Big Bad Wolf

“Rafe!”

Ruby’s voice yanked him back to the present. She was alive! She wasn’t lying in the grass, she was fighting, struggling against the giant wolf. He could have killed her by now, but he hadn’t. Of course he hadn’t. They wanted her alive.

“Rafe, get this bastard off of me!” Ruby tore at the wolf’s fur, ripping out tufts of hair with her fists.

He leaped, a growl escaping his lips, and he knocked the other wolf off Ruby’s body. She rolled away, panting and holding her arm. Blood, bright red and smelling like Ruby and life and eternity, seeped through her fingers.

He would kill him. He would kill this wolf and any others that dared to hurt her. He would fucking kill everyone.

His mind went blank of everything except the burning desire to destroy anyone that came near Ruby. He was only vaguely aware of her yelling at him. He only distantly heard her words pleading with him not to chase this bastard of a wolf into the woods. He only barely understood that she stood at the edge of the tree line, begging him to come back.

Rafe saw nothing but the wolf in front of him. He smelled nothing but the fear coming off the animal as he tore through the woods. He heard nothing except the wolves behind him panting as they closed in on him.

He knew their scent. It was Wyatt and two of his Highland lackeys.

Some distant human part of his brain realized that he shouldn’t have run after them, that going after these wolves would only make everything worse. But he couldn’t hear that part anymore because the rest of his brain was screaming for blood.

These bastards had attacked his Mate. Over and over again they’d come for her, and they wouldn’t stop until he made them.

He hadn’t let a single one stay behind. He’d attacked and they’d followed, taking the bait like the mindless animals they were. He’d lured them away from Ruby.

He opened up his stride, gaining ground on the first wolf, dirt and pine needles flying beneath his paws. The coward should turn and fight him, not make Rafe chase him down like a fucking chipmunk, but he nearly had him now. He was nipping at the first wolf’s heels when Wyatt pounced from behind, landing hard on Rafe’s back. He rolled through the dirt and crashed into a tree. The impact slammed the air from his lungs and left him gasping for breath.

The first wolf, the one with Ruby’s blood still on his lips, stood over him now, the other two by his side. Rafe growled low in his throat. A warning.

Wyatt growled in return and pounced, but Rafe rolled and avoided his gnashing jaws. The two other wolves circled him as Rafe pushed to his feet, the trio surrounding him.

Again, a distant part of his brain warned that it would be worse if he ended up dead, that it would hurt Ruby more if he never returned. But his wolf side howled for revenge.

These wolves had threatened Ruby and neither side of him could let that go. He’d lost one woman in his life to the savagery of his kind, he sure as fuck wasn’t going to lose another.

Rafe bared his teeth and pounced.

Chapter Forty-Six

“Ruby! Ruby!” Lena’s voice broke through her shock. “Come on, we have to get you inside.”

Ruby was kneeling in the dirt at the edge of the woods. Rafe was gone. She looked up at Lena, her tears blurring her sister’s concerned face.

“Come on, Ruby. You’re bleeding.” Lena tugged on her hand, but Ruby couldn’t find any strength to stand. Rafe had just run off into the woods to chase a vicious werewolf with at least two more on his tail. Ruby had seen them race after him. He was as good as dead. Her Mate was ripped from her, robbing her of a lifetime with him.

Another wail escaped her lips. Lena grabbed her under the arms and hoisted her up, shushing and whispering to her as they hobbled toward the house. Ruby was vaguely aware that she was bleeding and that her shoulder burned with every step. But the pain was nothing compared to the one tearing through her chest.

Lena dragged her back into the house, Ruby weeping and bleeding all over her. She helped her into a kitchen chair and gingerly cleaned her wound. Ruby winced at the sting of peroxide. The pain snapped her out of her spinning thoughts.

“He’s my Mate, Lena. I know you don’t believe it, but he’s it. He’s mine.” Her voice was clogged with tears. She sounded pitiful.

Lena peered down into her face after wrapping her arm in a bandage. “I think you’ll live,” she reported.

“Not without him.”

“Oh, Ruby.”

“I don’t know where he went or if he’ll come back,” she sniffed, wiping her nose on the back of her hand. “There was more than one, Lena.”

Lena passed Ruby the box of tissues, her pale eyes seeing everything: Ruby’s blotchy face, her runny nose, her bloody shoulder. And maybe seeing more than that.

“I believe you. Or I’m trying to anyway. After Theo’s show and tell, it’s hard to deny what they are.” Lena gave her a rueful smile and Ruby couldn’t help but return it. “But now you’re telling me you can’t live without him? This is all pretty nuts, you know.”