AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He smiled, then we were off again and he rushed me into a black SUV parked out the front of the property. He scooped me into the passenger’s seat, then he jumped into the driver’s side and we were racing down the road. I glanced at the house I didn’t recognize, at the surrounding suburb that I couldn’t recall.
But the man sitting across from me, who’d come to my rescue…I remembered something about him. Enough to give me confidence that he’d help me.
When he glanced over at me, our gazes clashed and he smiled. “I’ll take such good care of you, little moon. You’ll see.”
There were a myriad of emotions flicking through me. But with those emotions, something new rose up as well…an unease deep in my gut that something wasn’t quite right.
But for the life of me, I couldn’t work out what that was.
CHAPTER 5
WILDER
Idragged myself out of sleep to find I was alone in the woods. No sign of Rune, Daxon, or Ares.
Groaning, I ran a hand through my hair to tame it. Rolling my shoulders, I smacked my lips, wondering if there was any food around. If not, I’d make sure we headed off into the nearest town and find somewhere to shower and grab a hot meal.
I turned on the spot, not seeing any sign of anyone. When I glanced out towards the dirt pathway, the carriage still sat there, the horses grazing on the grass. Okay, so Rune must still be near.
Making my way toward the sound of running water, I hoped to find everyone down there, preferably Rune taking a skinny dip.
I barely made it a few steps out of camp when Daxon appeared from deeper in the woods, rushing toward me like a mad man, his eyes wild, hair messed up. He looked fucking terrified, and that ominous feeling I hated slithered over my spine.
What the hell happened now?
I sped up to meet him, words pouring from my mouth like lava. “Tell me Rune is with you?”
“She’s not. And I can’t find her or Ares. He took her. That fucking, belly-slithering demon stole her from us again.” Daxon heaved for breath, pacing in a circle like a caged wolf, the air around us electric. “Fuck. Fuck.” He was whacking the palm of his hand to the side of his head. “How could we be so stupid?”
“He wouldn’t,” I said slowly. I’d felt like Ares had told us the truth yesterday. Was I a fool to have believed the blood-sucker?
“Are you a fucking idiot?” Daxon snapped. “Of course he did.”
“Calm down,” I growled, my head spinning, my heart thumping with terror as I tried to figure out what to do first.
Fear for Rune rippled through my chest, shattering my thoughts. Panic wound me tight, and I fought the urge to lose my shit like Daxon was clearly doing.
“If he wanted to take her, why here, why now? Why the fuck did he wait? What if she’d gone for a walk in the woods? What if the bear shifters took her?”
Daxon’s face scrunched up at my ideas. “Nope. Ares waited for the perfect moment, Wilder,” he yelled. “Use your fucking brain. He’d stolen her from us before. And look around you…we’re in his stomping grounds…he would know where to hide her.”
He paced faster now in a circle, murmuring, “I can’t sense her. Why can’t I sense her?”
“Could she be too far out of reach?” But even as the words spilled from my mouth, I knew they were wrong. Once you mark someone with a mating bond, the connection was strong enough to be able to call to one another from almost any distance.
He was shaking his head, clutching at his chest like he was about to go into cardiac arrest. “I can’t feel her. Does that mean–”
“Don’t fucking say it. She’s alive and we’ll find her. Your mark is fresh and might need more time to strengthen.”
“Fuck!” Daxon bellowed, dropping to his knees, and I swallowed hard because I’d never seen him so defeated. Shoulders curled forward, spine bowed, he was in torture. His whimpers were cruel sounds of grief, bringing with it a reminder of what I didn't have with Rune.
Something savage rose through me…My wolf demanded release to scour the whole damn forest until we found her. That was going to take some getting used to…the fact that my wolf could evidently come out without the full moon after whatever Rune had done to me.
“We search for them in the woods, pick up her scent, any fucking thing it takes.”
I kept wondering if Ares had taken her…was everything he’d said a ploy to trick us?
A sudden crunch of foliage drew my attention, and I spun around. Speak of the devil, Ares was strolling toward us like the world was at his feet, his smile huge, his gaze scanning the campground.
