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Petar was a powerful and fair leader, but he was a piss poor mate. Leaving my mother to care for Luka and me, run a household, and uphold her position as mate to the faction leader. All while my father did whatever the fuck he wanted, often with whoever the fuck he wanted, and embarrassing himself and our family while he did it. When he was challenged and lost, he took our mother with him to hell. All because he claimed her, tying their life forces together and stealing both parents away from us when the unthinkable happened.
Beside me, Jacob snorts, sounding very much like his grizzly shifter side. “Call it what you like, but the Jarik I know wouldn’t be sitting beside me going after just any female.”
Fuck. I can’t disagree with that.
“Have you bonded her?”
I think of the silvery imprint of my teeth that I left on her shoulder that she’ll wear for the rest of her life, remembering the supple feel of her skin between my teeth and the sweet tang of her blood on my tongue.
I nod.
Jacob drags his eyes from the road to me for a moment. “Have you claimed each other yet?”
My jaw ticks. “No.”
I swear I see him relax a degree, because if they kill her and I’ve claimed her, I’ll die along with her. It’s not a secret among our world, but it’s not exactly common knowledge, either. Hopefully, whoever has Mercy won’t think to use her to potentially get rid of me.
We come up over a hill and take a sharp turn when a cabin suddenly comes into view. Before Jacob comes to a full stop, I’m out of the truck and racing to the front door, which is wide open.
Cabinis maybe a stretch for the shack I barrel into. It looks abandoned. The front door hangs poorly on rusted hinges and stray bits of garbage, mostly fast-food wrappers that have long ago lost their greasy scent, have found their way into the corners and along the poorly drywalled walls.
All that’s left is the lingering scents of coyote, stale urine, Mercy’s familiar sweet scent, andfear.
A low growl starts up from deep in my throat and I feel my teeth sharpening. On the other side of the room is the shredded remains of a door leading down into a basement. Mercy and the coyote’s scents are strongest here.That’s where they held her.My beast is snarling as I start down the staircase. It quickly becomes obvious that this part of the cabin is empty, so I spin around and race back up. I’m barely through the doorway leading outside when a sharp scream cuts through the stillness of the forest.
My heart lurches and I make it one step before my beast explodes out of me. I hit the ground on all fours, claws digging into the frozen ground as I lunge toward the direction of her scream. Jacob following closely behind me in his grizzly form.
My breaths fogs the icy air, and the reek of piss and fear leads us straight to them. Breaking through the thick underbrush, I find a large male holding my female up against a tree. He looks human, with his meaty hand wrapped around her throat and his nose inches from hers, but there is no mistaking the stink of coyote. Mercy’s head is turned to the side, with her eyes squeezed shut as he growls into her face. Spittle hitting her cheek as he tells her all the ways he’s going to hurt her for what she’s done.
The glaring sight of dried blood that coats the side of her face has my vision tunneling before turning red.My loud growl announces my presence and the male’s head swivels my way with a snarl that quickly dies to a whine in the back of his throat.
“Alpha!” he squeaks. His head swings back to where he still has his hand wrapped around Mercy’s throat and he quickly releases her. “I—You—”
The moment he lets her go Mercy slumps to the ground and I’m on him.
“Don’t kill him, Jarik.” I hear Jacob shout from behind me. “Not before we can question him.”
My teeth ache to sink into the worthless coyote’s throat, but the grizzly is right. So instead, I grab him by his shirt and lift him into the air so that we’re nose to muzzle.
“Mercy,bejbe, are you alright?” I ask, turning my head but keeping one eye on the coyote.
“I’m okay.” Her voice is thin and warbles a little, but the reek of fear that was rolling off her has mostly vanished. It’s enough to bring my attention back to the shifter in my hands.
“Start. Talking.” I growl through a mouth full of sharp teeth.
Out of the corner of my eye I watch Jacob, in human form again, lean over Mercy. Thank the Gods, shifters keep their clothes when they shift. It would be a shame to have to kill him after all he’s done for me. When he examines the dried blood coating the side of her head, I grit my teeth and hold back the urge to snap the coyote’s neck.
“I—I—I,” The smell of fresh piss fills the air and I drop the shifter with a groan. I donothave the patience for this.
Reaching down, I fist my hand in the front of his shirt and start dragging him through the forest, being mindful that he hits every fallen tree and rock along the way back to the cabin. His legs scrabble against the ground and his fingers pry at my fist, but his struggles are in vain.
Storming through the cabins open doorway, I toss him onto the couch with enough force that, if it hadn’t been against the wall, the whole thing would have gone over.
Jacob and Mercy follow soon after. Jacob is carrying a pair of track pants and a t-shirt that he must have grabbed from his truck on the way. My beast has been helpful up to this point, but I need my human form for this next part. I’m so amped that it takes a minute, and several reassurances that Mercy is safe now, to calm down enough to convince my beast to shift. Once I do, I take the offered pants but don’t bother with the shirt. Tying the drawstring to keep them on my hips, I cross the room to where Mercy is leaning against the far wall by a small window. My hands cup her face and I lean down, pressing my forehead to hers.
“Are you alright?” My voice is deep and full of gravel. One hand slides back to cup the back of her neck while the other gently brushes against the dried blood coating the side of her head, trying to erase it from her skin but it holds fast.
“I am now.” Her hand circles my wrist, and she blinks wide blue eyes up at me. My beast purrs at the way she holds onto me just like I’m holding onto her. The way she looks up at me, like I’m her savior when I’m nowhere close to being worthy of such a look. I never should have left her with Yesenia, no matter how safe I thought she’d be. It’s my fault she was attacked. My fault she’s hurt.
