Despite seeming a bit confused, she gives me a small, obedient nod. Even so, she doesn’t understand the threat. She’s innocent and pure, and she has no idea about the true danger beneath it all.
And I intend to keep her that way for as long as I possibly can.
We continue through the trees until we reach a fork in the path, then turn right. Just as we reach a big oak tree, the breeze blows by us, and something in it makes me stop. Another unfamiliar scent.
Astrid stiffens too, sensing the same thing I do. At once, the woods fall completely still.
Feeling eyes on us, I ease her behind me and glance around. “Stay close.”
To my left, a branch cracks. Then another.
Back to back, more scents hit me, all icy and bitter somehow. Goosebumps rise along my skin, and my blood runs cold.
Wraith Peak.
As one figure steps out from within the trees, more appear, some as men and others as shifted wolves. They come out at once, making me glance from side to side as my pulse roars in my ears. Immediately, we’re surrounded.
My throat tightens while I keep a tight grip on Astrid, not knowing where to look. My back is exposed, and it makes me feel utterly cornered.
“Stay back,” I snap, instincts flaring beneath my skin.
A man straight ahead of me steps forward and chuckles. His shoulders are broad, and he carries himself with a special kind of arrogance that can only come from someone who has never been told no before.
From a quick glance, he looks young, but built like someone who has trained for years. His eyes linger on us, dark and cold.
“What do we have here? The little witchling and her mother...”
Astrid clutches my hand nervously. “Mama—”
“It’s okay,” I whisper to her, pulling her in front of me while I protect her back, sheltering her. “I’ve got you.”
The apparent leader tilts his head with an easy grin. “You’ve been hiding something, haven’t you? Something your precious pack can’t know about.”
My stomach lurches, but I force myself to stand my ground. “Leave us alone.”
“Sorry, can’t. Alpha’s orders,” he muses, crossing his arms while gesturing vaguely towards us. “And after what we learned yesterday, it wouldn’t be right not to secure both assets.”
Assets.
The word hits me with molten disgust, and my whole body goes hot with rage.
“Touch her, and I’ll tear your throat out myself.”
He looks almost surprised by the direct threat, but he laughs. Then, so do the rest of them.
Mocking and cruel, they sound so sure that I’m not a threat, and while I don’t have the same strength most wolves do, it’s a different story when my daughter is involved.
With another chuckle, the man takes another step forward, and that gleam in his eyes hardens. “Funny… but we’re taking you both. You can either come quietly, or—”
From somewhere behind me, a low growl rips through the space so viciously that everyone stops. The Wraith Peak wolves freeze, not moving a single muscle between them.
A new scent surrounds me, and my breath almost catches. I know it. Briarwood wolves.
My pack.
Something stirs in my chest at the recognition, and hope sparks to life.
They came. Does that mean they do care?
