Page 79 of Never His Mate

18

I’m a fucking moron after all. Because only an idiot would stand there after the bad guy makes a quip like that and not realize what was going to happen next.

Before I can react, Shane lunges at me, hand swinging toward my face.

It’s my fault. I never expected he’d lash out like that. And if he did? I’m a predator myself, one who was trained by an Alpha. Even if I didn’t think he’d turn on me, I was ready for him to go for something vital if did attacked. My heart. A lung. Maybe even a kidney if he snuck around my back. But my face? I never thought to guard my face.

His claws rake down my cheek. It’s only pure luck that he misses my eye.

The rusty, tangy scent of my blood fills the air. I gasp, part in shock, part in agony, before I push the pain inside and fight back.

Either he’s faster than I’ve ever given a beta wolf credit for or I lost a step or two living as a lone wolf. Hell, Shane was there during that fateful council meeting. Maybe he picked up a couple of pointers because, no matter how quick I am when I go for his heart, he dodges me easily.

Which just means I have to try harder.

Since I had to pretend to be an omega, I couldn’t train with some of my other packmates. Mom was the only one who knew that I was an alpha, but as a true omega herself, she didn’t have the training and the skills I needed to learn and flourish.

Paul, on the other hand, did.

Mom didn’t trust her new mate right away—thanks for her lingering trust issues, Dad—but when she finally confessed that I was different, my adopted father did everything to prepare me to protect myself. He took care of my training himself, and there’s no one better than a pack Alpha to teach fighting to a young pup.

Too bad Shane seems to have just as good of a teacher.

He’s toying with me. He let me get in a few good hits—before long, his blood perfumes the air alongside mine—but nothing to compare to the slash marks on my face. My skin feels like it’s on fire, and I have to spit out the blood that gets in my mouth. From the taste, I know it’s mine, and that just makes me angrier.

Angrier, and more reckless.

I see an opening. He went for my knee, trying to knock me under his right side, but that left his other half wide open. I dig my claws into the meat of his chest, just like I did to Ryker last year.

I want that heart—but I miss.

In the fury of our fight, my aim is off. I scrape his ribs, tearing through muscle, but I can’t find his heart.

In response, he backhands me.

It’s such a vicious, cruel sort of slap. Cowardly, too. At least with his claws, he fought like a wolf. But maybe that’s the beta inside of Shane, throwing all of his strength into a backhanded hit that sends me flying. I’m sure I took a chunk out of his chest with me, but he’s still standing when I crash into the ground so hard that I nearly snap the tree I hit with my back.

By the time I can recover, popping back up to my feet, all I see is a pile of tattered, blood-stained clothes in the dirt.

Shane’s gone wolf, and he’s already disappearing into the forest.

I’m bloody. Aching. My body is still trying to fight off the effects of the mercury, and now I have countless injuries to heal.

But Shane is escaping, and I call desperately on my wolf.

With a keening howl, she responds.

Fucking hell, I can finally shift again.

Yes!

I don’t even hesitate before I tear off after him, adding my shredded clothes to the pile.

In my wolf form, I’m faster than Shane. It’s part of being an alpha. My sight is keener, my instincts sharper, my pads more sure as I fly across the terrain.

Plus, I want it more.

Forget the way he slashed at me like that. I’m a shifter. Unless I want the scar, or I accepted his offer of mating—ha, yeah, right—my face will be back to normal come morning. I’m a big girl, and I’ve been in worse scrapes than that one.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com