“Maybe two miles through rough terrain. It’ll slow you down.”
“Not me.”
Chase is a wolf. He’s a bit more delicate than I am. A bear will barrel through any kind of thick undergrowth without issue.
“Bodhi, once you shift out there, with your mate in danger, with that much rage...” Chase pauses. “You might not be able to control what happens next.”
“I won’t hurt her.”
There’s a pause. He knows I won’t. Not intentionally, anyway. But high on adrenaline, out of control, and faced with men who’ve touched his mate? It’s not injuring Emma that Chase is worried about.
It’s what I’ll do to everyone else. And whether I’ll be able to come back from it.
I think about Emma, and I know there’s no alternative. I have to get to her now.
“Bodhi…”
I end the call and step out into the mountain air. It’s colder here, thin with altitude, and sharp with the scent of pine. But underneath it all, carrying on the wind, I catch something else. Something that makes the beast inside me surge toward the surface with desperate hunger.
Emma.
Faint, nearly lost among the forest scents, but it’s her. My mate is close. And she’s petrified.
The scar pulses at the back of my shoulder. I’m close. I strip off my clothes and leave them in the SUV. The mountain airraises goosebumps on my skin, but I barely feel the cold. The shift is already pushing forward, demanding release, demanding the hunt.
When I let it come, it hits like lightning. Bones crack and realign, muscles tearing and reforming in brutal waves. My jaw extends, teeth sharpening, claws punching free as fur erupts across my skin.
When it’s over, I’m no longer a man. I’m eight hundred pounds of apex predator with one goal: get to my mate.
I rear up on my hind legs, testing the air with flared nostrils.
Emma’s scent is stronger now in this form, and I don’t need a map or coordinates to follow it. My ears swivel, picking up sounds no human could hear. The distant hum of a car engine. Voices. And underneath it all, threaded through her scent, I feel her fear, but beneath that, her defiant certainty that I’m coming for her.
I am. Nothing will stop me.
And so faint I almost miss it, the sound of a woman pleading for someone to leave her alone.
Emma.
I drop to all fours and charge into the trees.
Dusk turns into night and blankets the dark forest in shades of grey. Trees blur past as I tear through the underbrush, massive paws finding purchase on moss-covered rocks and fallen logs. Branches that would stop a human snap like twigs under my weight.
The scent trail grows stronger with each stride. Emma’s terror is sharp as a blade against my soul.
Hold on.I push the thought toward her, not knowing if she can hear me.I’m coming.
The distance falls away beneath my paws, and the forest begins to thin. Through the trees, I catch glimpses of artificiallight. The cabin. I slow my charge and drop into a stalking crouch as I approach the edge of the clearing.
There. A log structure maybe fifty feet away, windows glowing warm yellow in the darkness. The black sedan sits in the dirt driveway, along with another vehicle I don’t recognize.
Kozlov’s scent. Then Ashworth’s. This is the place.
Enhanced hearing picks up voices from inside. Male voices. And then, cutting through the night air like a knife, a woman’s cry.
Something inside me snaps.
Every rational thought disappears in a flood of primal rage. The beast bellows, the sound echoing through the forest like thunder. I’m already moving before the echo fades, all thoughts of forming a plan forgotten, as I charge across the clearing with single-minded fury.
