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Harlow pressed the unlock button on her key fob quickly and grabbed the handle, yanking the door open. Just as she did, a large arm wrapped around her waist, picking her up and spinning her away from her vehicle.
She was swung around while familiar voices and growls surrounded her until she was facing Echo. She already knew the shrill voice before she faced him. He was hunched in an intimidating, ready-to-attack fashion.
Echo licked his lips. “You left, Harlow, without even saying goodbye.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t need to say goodbye. You all betrayed me.” Anger spat out of her as she wiggled and writhed in her captor’s arms. “You all knew what was going on with Vincent. Each and every one of you!”
This time, Harlow stomped on the tracker’s toe as hard as she could, causing him to turn her loose. She tried to maneuver to her car, still holding her keys in her hand, but it was too late. Three other hunters joined in as they punched at her and kicked her.
Harlow felt the blows but couldn’t let herself concentrate on the pain. If she did, she’d never get out. The one thing she had on her side was her small stature. She was smaller and faster than the rest of the goons, and her wolf instincts kicked in.
It was clear they wanted to take her back home, and Harlow would allow no such thing. She mustered all her strength and sent a stiff uppercut to the oversized goon in front of her. His grip on her hair loosened so she was able to turn and kick the next in the stomach with all her power.
Harlow realized with that turn she was even closer to the open door of her car than she had thought. She made a long jump into the front seat, pulling the door shut behind her. Echo’s scratchy nails pawed at the window as she stuck the key in the ignition.
Her free hand locked the doors as the other hunters started reaching for her door handles. Luckily, the spot in front of her was open, and she put the car into drive, smashing her foot on the gas. Harlow veered around the curves of the mall parking lot as fast as she could while still trying to make as many turns as possible. She knew she had to lose them.
Fear rumbled through her body as she drove down the highway. She looked in her rearview mirror almost every other second, praying they didn’t find a way to follow her. Once she was about halfway back to the inn and convinced she lost them, shock and embarrassment followed.
Surely, if Echo and his pack had found her at the mall, they found her first at Forest Crest. If they had been in town today and she hadn’t been in her room, she may have been ambushed a lot sooner. And if they were all in the town earlier, their scent lingered there as well.
There was no way Atlas and Colt didn’t catch wind of them. Worry plagued her as she wondered what they did in town before they found her at the mall. Had they made trouble with any of the townsfolk? Had they spoken to anyone in the Gravecrest pack?
She was now surer than she ever had been that she was going to have to take Atlas’s offer. The Hollow Grove pack was not done with her. She wouldn’t be safe alone.
She had originally turned down the offer of safety on pack territory because she knew she was not liked by some of the members. Now, she wasn’t sure how she even had a choice. She just hoped they would still accept her. No way in hell was she going back to her old pack.
As soon as she got there, it was apparent Atlas, Colt, and Zachary were in a meeting. Their voices all sounded tense, and she couldn’t make out everything. The few words she could put together, however, made it very apparent they were talking about the trackers.
Taking that as her cue, Harlow drew closer to the three, interrupting. “Hi.” Her voice was shaky and she tried to steady it. “I need to um… I mean I would like to.”
“Well spit it out,” Atlas growled.
All three of the men stopped and stared at Harlow as if she was the most inconvenient thing to have entered their sight, yet somehow she was still struck by their beauty. Harlow’s fists tightened at her sides as she gulped the last bit of worry down. “I’m going to need to take you up on your offer… for shelter.”
Colt’s arms crossed over his chest and Zachary’s hands landed on his hips.
“I think, no, I know I’m being tracked, and I can’t go back to the inn.”
“We know.” Atlas scowled.
“You do?” Harlow already knew that answer but asked anyway.
The three striking men sighed and grumbled. Atlas met both Zachary and Colt’s eyes with flickers passing between the three of them. Suddenly they all seemed in reluctant agreement.
“You can stay here on pack territory under safe haven. The offer still stands.” Atlas nodded.
Harlow’s body finally grew warm with some semblance of ease again. “Thank you.”
Chapter 14
Harlow
The early evening sun hit the front window of the Wisteria Hill Veterinary Clinic, and Harlow pulled the blinds slightly to stop the glare. Outside, she noticed the watcher who had been there all day and she tried not to throw him a dagger of a look, even if on the inside the anger was chewing at her. At least one pack member was watching the vet’s office the entire time she was there.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” she growled, expecting him to be there but at the same time annoyed at his presence.
Being afforded safe haven was one thing, but Harlow was realizing that fitting in, becoming part of another pack, was something entirely different. She understood why this would be the case. So far, she’d rocked up into town, been followed and attacked by her old pack, and had hardly made a great impression on a lot of the people here—least of all Atlas.
