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I took a step back, moving slowly in the direction of town. “See? I’m heading to town. You can turn me over to your alpha.”
The wolf moved with me, inching closer with each step I took away. It stayed low, its body tense like a spring ready to explode.
There was no way I’d make it to town fast enough if this creature charged me. I had to keep it calm. Keep myself small and unthreatening.
Stepping cautiously, I continued to back up, and the wolf advanced. Teeth still bared, that low growl still rumbling from its throat.
My heel hit a root, and I flailed, working to keep my balance, but failed, ending up on my ass in a pile of pine needles. “Fuck.”
Hands stinging from where they’d landed to break my fall, I pushed myself up just as the wolf launched himself at me.
Scrambling, I turned and ran. The wolf’s paws hit my back, knocking me to the ground. I landed face first, but adrenaline masked any pain. Just as I got to my knees, huge paws pushed me back to the ground. Pinned, my face in the mud, I froze, panting.
So far, I was being treated like a prisoner and I knew if I waited, there was a good chance someone would get Luke and he could fix this. The rest of the patrol had to arrive soon, right?
The weight of the paws vanished, and I heard the distinct sound of cracking bones, alerting me to a shift. Quickly, I righted myself and jumped to my feet. Ready to bolt, I hesitated, curious to see who had brought me down.
An older male I didn’t recognize stood in the darkness, unconcerned with the fact that he was completely naked. Just because shifters didn’t worry about nudity didn’t mean we all wanted to see each other naked. This male was stout and soft in every place a shifter was usually lean and hard muscled.
His large belly reminded me of the human men I saw when I went into their cities. Whoever this guy was, he likely didn’t shift often. The metabolism spikes when we shifted kept even the laziest shifters lean without effort. It was another one of those perks I gave up when I stopped.
“I’m sorry if I startled you,” I said. “I’m Morgan Cordova, I’m kind of stuck here with your pack for a while.”
“Oh, I know exactly who you are,” he said. “I thought it would be a few more years before I got rid of the golden boy, but I get to destroy him without having to do the work.”
I swallowed hard and took a step back.Shit.This was so not good. Where was my baseball bat when I needed it? “Look, you don’t want to hurt me. I’m nobody special.”
“But you are. Killing you will be so much easier than killing him.” He moved toward me. “And I’m going to have some fun with you first.”
“Oh, hell no.” I clenched my hands into fists, my whole body going tense. I would not be hurt by another man. Especially not the way he wanted to hurt me. I could practically feel the lust rolling from him in waves. I would die before I let another man have me by force. “Come closer and I will bite off your favorite part.”
He continued to move toward me, a twisted smile on his lips. “I love it when they have some fight in them.”
“Back the fuck off.” I kept my eyes on him, but analyzed the woods around me. I had to run and needed the best path to slow down a wolf. Seeing his physical form gave me enough hope that he wouldn’t be able to keep up.
When he lunged, his meaty hands grabbing for me, I dodged, then shifted my weight so I could bolt to the right, into the trees and away from here. I was heading in an unfamiliar direction, away from town, but I noticed a rocky incline that would be difficult to traverse with paws.
Desperate to get away, I pumped my arms hard. My lungs burned, my muscles screamed in protest. I wasn’t exactly in prime shape, either. Next time Jasmine invited me to join her in a run, I was going.
The rocks were so close. I was almost there. I could taste freedom.
Sharp pain surged through my leg as claws dug in, yanking me to the ground. I slammed my head on one of the rocks I’d seen as my savior and my vision blurred. I was dragged over the ground as my world started to fade. I couldn’t pass out. It didn’t matter what happened next; I had to try to fight this. I had to stay awake, or I was dead. Ignoring the pain, I focused only on staying conscious.
I felt the hot breath of the panting wolf on my neck, his paws on my back, pinning me to the ground. Struggling, I tried to break free of his hold, but he extended those claws again, straight into my shoulder blade. I screamed and tears streamed down my cheeks.
“Let me go.” I wasn’t sure if I was speaking out loud anymore. My head throbbed and my stomach threatened to spill everything I’d eaten.
In the darkness, I tried to find anything I could use as a weapon, but my vision failed me, making everything appear at odd angles or in duplicate. Even when I reached my hand to where I thought a rock would be, I came up empty.
This couldn’t be how I died.
This couldn’t be how Luke died.
I couldn’t let him down.
Despite the fact that the thought made no sense, I hung on to it, apologizing internally for not saving him. My death was his death and somehow, that was worse.
Suddenly, the claws were ripped from my flesh and I cried out as gaping wounds were no doubt torn into my skin. Growls followed and in my groggy, half-conscious state, I realized they weren’t coming from my attacker.
