The two men stand there, smirking with that hungry, predatory way that screams they’ve found something vulnerable, and potentially valuable. Everything about them screams danger, as if the entire pack is swathed in dark energy that sets my nerves on edge.
“Well, well,” one of them says, voice rough. “Look what we finally found.”
Scared just from the sight of them, Astrid lets go of a quiet sound and presses against me.
Forcing myself to stand my ground, it feels all too much like the first time we were surrounded, and I’ll be damned if I let them terrify her all over again. Once was more than enough.
I’m shaking, and I know it, but I harden my stance, not backing down as I stare at them with as much intimidation as I can muster. But compared to them, three against one, the odds aren’t in my favor.
“The Alpha’s scent is all over her… guess he wasn’t lying.”
“Doesn’t mean anything for the brat,” the other murmurs, glancing at Astrid. “Just means she’s worth more now.”
A harsh, violent chill moves down my spine so fast that it knocks the breath from my lungs.
They want her, not me. They know what she is, and they want her for it.
“You’re not touching her,” I snap, voice cracking.
The wolf takes a step closer and snarls, but one of the men just huffs out his subtle amusement. “Be smart here. You can’t fight us, so you might as well hand her over.”
Those words, reminiscent of the taunts I endured before, sets something off in me.
I’ve been told my entire life how weak I am, how I don’t have enough power to be of any use to the pack. I’m just dead weight and can hardly even hold my wolf form.
And now, they’re closing in while my daughter trembles behind me, afraid of what they might do. And despite how I try to stop it, their words claw at me before they even have the chance to.
Even if everyone has been right all along, and even if I’m not strong enough, I still have to protect what’s mine.
And when the wolf snarls and Astrid screams, I snap.
Instinctively, I lunge for the closest man, catching his jaw hard enough to catch him off guard. But he grabs my wrist and twists, sending blinding pain shooting through my arm.
I cry out, forced to listen to Astrid calling for me.
“Run, Astrid!”
But I can’t even see if she has gone. The other man steps around us, surely cutting off her escape, and panic unfurls inside me.
Everything in me burns, and raw desperation tears at my chest as I’m pushed to the dirt, lungs emptying all over again. My head rings, and the world spins through the haze of it all.
But I don’t think. I can’t.
Instead, I hurry to my feet, pulling urgently at the bond, shouting in my head for Caleb. For anyone.
I hurl myself at the wolf again as every organ, every bone, and every drop of motherly instinct I have screams for me to protect her.
Even if I die doing it.
Chapter 18 - Caleb
That spike of fear moves through our mental channel like a crack of lightning, slamming into my chest so hard that it stops me in my tracks.
It resonates, letting me feel every ounce of Lila’s panic.
And with no hesitation, no second thought, I’m moving.
Shifting mid-step, the world tilts around me, bones moving and reforming as I hit the ground all in the same breath.
