“You came all this way. Can we talk first? And all my things are still inside the house.”
“Get in the car.” This time, the words were said through gritted teeth.
“Okay, okay, I will. But please answer me one thing.”
“Fine. Ask.”
“What happened between you and the wolf pack here? You owe me at least that much. And I owe it to you to hearyourside of things.” I didn’t actually give a flying fuck what happened, but I knew that if I made it sound like they’d told me their version of the events, Blake might be compelled to defend himself. He’d always been like that. Always had to be right.
It worked.
“It wasn’t my fault,” he gritted.
“I’m not saying it was,” I assured him, slowly backing up to put some space between us. “I just want to know the truth, from you.”
Not! I just wanted to stall for time. I spared a quick glance over his shoulder and back to the house. Mom was by the window, waving her phone. Did that mean they’d already gotten the call out? And to whom?
“My alpha compelled me to kidnap her. I was doing it for the pack.”
“Okay. Then tell me. Tell me everything from the beginning.”
But now he was looking around, suddenly on high alert. His face twisted up into a snarl. He moved fast, faster than I could see, grabbing me and hauling me to him. Arms that were much thinner and lankier than I remembered held me to his equally gaunt chest. I hadn’t noticed how much weight he’d lost through his clothes and fur.
But the feel of the gun against my head had me worried about other things. Like how was I supposed to get out of this?
“You set me up,” he snarled.
“What? No. I didn’t even know you were coming.”
“She’s mine,” he snarled into the trees.
I squinted, but I couldn’t see anything. Neither could he apparently, because he kept turning us, peering this way and that.
I was suddenly knocked out of his arms by a huge, white furry mass, the snowbank softening my fall. The loud clap of a gunshot echoed through the crisp late afternoon air and sent snow tumbling down from the branches overhanging the farmhouse’s long driveway.
There was an angry snarl, and I found Axel and Blake in a ball of fists and boots, the gun lying in the snow some distance away.
“Do! Not! Touch! MY!MATE!”Axel roared.
My heart pounded at his words. His mate? I knew what mates were. I’d looked into it after I found out about Blake, and had been disappointed to come to the conclusion that I was not, in fact, his mate.
Could I really be Axel’s? Was that why we’d gotten along so well since the beginning? And why he hadn’t wanted to leave my side?
Axel was on Blake now, smashing his face in with his giant fists. It seemed a wolf shifter really was no match for a yeti.
A black SUV skidded to a stop right in front of the action. Levi stepped out, and behind him was a tall, stately woman. Was this the other wolf from earlier?
It took the two of them pulling Axel off Blake to make him stop pounding his face into mush. I could barely recognize him from the rearranging Axel had done to his features.
The moment Blake saw the others, he shifted, fur tearing through his skin. He scrambled out of his clothes, but instead oftrying to fight, it was very clear that he was trying to flee in his wolf form. But it was too late.
Between Axel, the two wolves, and Dad, who’d grabbed the shotgun from the rack over the mantel, there was nowhere for him to run. Desperation had him shifting back to human form.
Levi stepped up, holding a pair of manacles that looked straight out of a medieval dungeon. “You’re going away for a long-ass time for the kidnapping and attempted murder of the alpha’s mate.”
Then he was dragging a very naked Blake to the SUV.
“Attempted murder?” I asked, shocked.
