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Chapter 8
Another howl came,piercing and threatening. I’d heard wolf songs often when in the forest and how tranquil they alwayssounded.
Oryn pushed himself up from the ground, a grunt rolling through his chest. He looked down at himself as if he’d never seen himself as a human before. Surely not. Nero had said all three were alphashifters.
“Why are wolves attacking you?” I glanced over my shoulder at the thick woods, shadows crowding between the trunks. I was convinced I’d see an army of hounds rushing down the hill to rip usapart.
“Sharlot,” Oryn responded, his voice deep andguttural.
I grabbed his arm, forcing him to move. Standing around would get uskilled.
“My name is Scarlet.” Heavens… or did he mean “harlot”? After all, he’d watched Nero and me going at it. My face heated, and I looked away, ready to crawl under arock.
He seized my forearm and drew me toward him with such force, I tripped and fell against him, my palms snapping against a hard, bare chest, scorching hot beneath my touch. I gasped and peered up into the bluest eyes, framed by long, dark lashes, crowned by heavybrows.
“What have you done?” His fingers dug into myarm.
Fire burned through me. I hadn’t just survived wolf attacks to have my savior turn on me. Or had that been his intention all along? “What are you talkingabout?”
I wrenched against his hold, but I might as well have been at tug-o-war with aboulder.
“What magic did you use to return me to ahuman?”
“I didn’t do anything. Maybe you changedyourself?”
He shook his head. “Nope. I was stuck in my wolfform.”
Another howl, and Oryn lifted his chin, sniffing theair.
I scanned the surrounding trees. “We need to go before more of themcome.”
Oryn pushed into a march while holding on to my arm, and I limped alongside him, rubbing the bruises forming along my shins from the earlierfall.
“Hey, let go,” I said. “You’ll cover more ground on yourown.”
“No! You helped me and Iwillkeep youprotected.”
All right, not that I could saynoto getting bodyguard action from a hunk, but why were we headed away from the house? “Aren’t we going the wrong way? The cabin is up thehill.”
I staggered alongside him as his pace pickedup.
“There’s more coming from that direction. We need to hide our scent and wait for them to leave.” He rushed, and he took me withhim.
I wasn’t sure how to take Oryn, not with his stiff demeanor and the commanding way he spoke without a hint of emotion. Was that how he ran his pack, all demands and controls? Damn, his members must be warriors. Then again, Nero had said this part of the Den belonged to Oryn, so did that mean he had just fought his own pack? Why would they attack him? And why had he been stuck as awolf?
Grunts came from farther behind us, and Oryn increased his pace. His once-injured arm now swung easily by his side. How quickly did these shiftersheal?
Apparently fast, so why hadn’t Dagen woken upyet?
Didn’t matter. All those questions had to wait until we weren’t in danger. When Oryn broke into a run, he dragged me withhim.
The gushing sound of running water found me and the more ground we covered, the louder the sound grew. We emerged near the river bank. The roaring crash of the waterfall stood to our left. Above was where I’d fallen off the cliff. Good to know I’d headed in the right direction in my attempt to escape. Which had failedmiserably.
A plume of water vapor hung over the pool, and if I wasn’t running for my life, I might consider sitting here for hours with my paints and canvas, capturing thisbeauty.
“Get undressed,” Oryn broke through my thoughts, letting go of my arm and pulling at mysleeve.
“Hey.” I slapped his hand away. “Don’t manhandle me. Understand? And no one is taking my clothes off but me.” And Nero, it seemed.Crap.
