Soon,my bear insists.We will find her soon.We need her.
I know,I agree.We just need to get things settled here.Then we’ll find her.
My bear growls low inside me and resumes his pacing.I try to ignore him as I patrol my section.
Headlights break through the darkness ahead, cutting through the trees.Instantly, my body goes still.A truck crawls down the dirt road toward the cult’s outer gate.
Too late for a visitor.My instincts light up like a warning flare.
I move silently closer, staying hidden in the shadows, every muscle coiled and ready.
That’s when it happens.
Something launches from the back of the truck.It takes me a second to realize that it’s someone jumping out, and by then, they’re already colliding into me.
The impact knocks the air straight out of my lungs as we crash to the ground in a tangle of limbs.Pain blooms across my ribs, but I barely feel it because…
Because I’m staring into the wide, terrified eyes of the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.
Mate, my bear howls.
The word slams through me with the force of destiny itself.
My bear is losing his damn mind.Her.It’s her.OURS.Mark her!Claim her!
She yelps softly beneath me, and I lift myself off her curvy body so I don’t crush her.The scent of fear and pain wraps around me so tightly it nearly steals my breath.
The truck slows at the gate, and reality snaps back into place.
We’re exposed here.
I roll us both behind a thick cluster of bushes as the truck comes to a stop.My body shields hers completely as voices drift through the trees—men laughing, the creak of the gate opening.
They don’t know she’s gone yet, but I know they will soon.Real soon.
My bear snarls at me to move, to get her to safety.
I roll, taking my mate with me.I grip her gently but firmly, lifting her over my shoulder in one smooth motion.She doesn’t fight me.Doesn’t scream.Doesn’t make a single sound as I take off at a dead sprint through the forest.
Good.That tells me everything I need to know.She didn’t want to be with those men.
Now she’s with me, exactly where she belongs.
Branches whip past us as I run through the woods.My shoulder screams in pain, but I don’t slow down or loosen my grip on my mate.Adrenaline drowns it out.I don’t slow until the sounds of the truck fade completely into the distance, until I can see the chimney of my house.Only then do I finally stop.
I lower her carefully to the ground and step back so she can see my face.
She’s shaking, terrified, but I can see that she’s trying to hide it.
God, she’s brave as hell.
“What’s your name?”
She licks her lips, her eyes darting to the forest and back to me.“Fern.”
My heart kicks against my ribs.
“Fern,” I repeat, testing her name on my tongue.“My name is Jameson.And you’re safe now.”
