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I’d been safe with Caelan. I’d felt safe. Even if the circumstances of being in Caelan’s company were questionable, suspect even, I knew he wouldn’t have hurt me.
I might have run from the big, bad wolf, but what had caught me was far worse than anything else.
And as he pulled me toward his tent and my fear mixed with something else, something that was strong and dangerous, something I’d never experienced before, I let it encompass me.
I welcomed it.
24
Caelan
Get up!
The command was loud and angry, a demand, a snarl in my head.
My eyes snapped open, my entire body tense.
She’s gone.
I knew Darragh wasn’t in the room, wasn’t even in the estate or on the main property. I felt that loss as if one of my limbs had been cut off, the pain going bone-deep.
She’d run, and of course I’d anticipated it, but the lack of her presence in the room, her scent long gone, had this agony, this intense panic filling me.
I was off the bed and charging though the house, knowing once I was outside I’d be able to catch her scent. I burst through the front door, all but tearing the wood from the hinges.
I lunged off the porch and landed on the grass several feet away, my knees bent and one hand braced on the earth as I tipped my head back and inhaled deeply. The wind worked in my favor as it brought the sweetness of my mate in the air. I growled low, possessively.
Standing to my full height, I got undressed quickly as I felt my wolf rise up and was mindful enough to remove the talisman and set it on the pile. It didn’t matter if not having it on me caused my family to find me. Nothing mattered but getting to Darragh.
The shift overtook me as soon as I dropped my pants to the ground, and then I was running on all fours through the forest, tracking her slowly dissipating scent but sensing her more strongly the closer I got to where she was.
And when I smelled other aromas mixed with hers, the most prominent one being her fear, I tipped my large head back and roared again.
Something or someone frightened my mate, and although it would have been safe to assume it was because of me since she’d run, that wasn’t the truth.
My female was threatened. That had rage filling me and the protective, possessive instinct reserved only for my mate rising up with a ferocity that actually had me stumbling.
My senses were completely heightened, attuned to everything. They’d never been this sharp, never this crystal clear. I knew it was because of the Linking Instinct. It had opened up some part of me that had always been shut off. It made me more aggressive, more alpha. It made me more dangerous.
I now had a purpose.
And I had no pity or mercy for anyone who thought they could hurt my Darragh. Once I got my hands on them, they’d know what true violence meant.
The closer I got to her, the faster I ran until I was eating up the distance that separated me from the most important person in my entire life. Dirt was kicked up, mud coating my paws, animals racing away because they knew the danger I presented.
I am the predator they fear.
I’d been running for five minutes at full speed, this fire inside me and wrenching a snarl out of my throat. I growled in anticipation at taking down the threat.
I heard a male shout in the near distance and growled louder, the sound seeming to vibrate all around me. And when a burst of energy had me moving faster and getting to Darragh, it was to see my female in all her gloriously beautiful rage.
She stood several feet from a human man, the scent of the stranger’s unwashed and unkempt body not enough to mask the disgusting intent he had for my female. It coated the air so strongly that I bared my canines, saliva dripping off the sharp points of my teeth. I snapped my jaw at him and was pleased when his eyes widened and he stumbled back several feet, losing his footing and slamming his ass down on the ground.
The distress I scented coming from Darragh had me whipping my large head in her direction to make sure she was okay. My heart thundered as I witnessed my female finally coming into herself. It was the most gorgeous, enlightening thing I’d ever experienced… right there next to realizing she was mine.
Her small body was shaking, her hands clenched tightly into fists at her sides. Her head was downcast, her focus on the man in front of her. I wanted to move between them, use my massive body to protect her, to block her from the danger. But the sight of her eyes glowing, the very Lycan trait I’d sensed deep within her, had me frozen, absorbing how beautiful she was.
