Maybe that’s why I listen to her this time. Or maybe it’s just exhaustion. Either way, I stop thinking and press my palm flat to Cade’s chest. His shirt is soft cotton, but the warmth beneath it feels like fire being shot straight into my veins.
Two things happen all at once: a blast of energy fills my core, rising up toward my chest and out through my arms before it shocks Cade.
He, in turn, grabs my wrist, flips me with brutal efficiency, and pins me to the ground before I even register I’m moving through the air.
“What the fuck was that, Rowan?” His tight gaze glows, and he blinks several times. With each flutter of his eyes, a softness returns to his face, and he loosens his hold. “You weren’t trying to hurt me.”
“No.”
It’s all I can get out with him straddled over me, his mouth only inches from mine. The explanation claws at my throat, but the words won’t come. Not with the weight of him above me, not with the bond roaring like wildfire between us.
Before I can figure out what to do next, Cade’s attention snaps toward the trees. His chest rumbles with a sound that vibrates straight through me.
“Run, Rowan.” The command cuts through me, sending chills racing down my spine.
“What?”
He doesn’t even look at me as his hand clamps around my arm, hauling me to my feet. “Get back to the manor. Now.”
Someone’s coming,Wolf warns.No, two of them. Let me out. We can help him.
I want to believe her, but my brain is busy trying to process the fact that my best defense is apparently a fur suit with teeth. Still, something about Cade’s voice lingers in my veins, hot and frantic.
Before I can listen to either of them, he snarls, his fury aimed at me. “I swear to the gods above, Rowan, get out of here!”
Right. Obey the scary alpha, not the voice in my head.
But any thoughts of escape die the second two wolves slip from the tree line, shadows with fur blacker than night. Their eyes gleam as they stalk forward. I turn toward the manor, legs pumping, but even I know I’m not fast enough. Unless Cade can take both of them down at once, I’m basically a chew toy waiting for my turn to be tossed around.
Shift,Wolf urges, her voice a snarl of impatience.I can run faster than you.
She’s not wrong, and I’m out of options. Even knowing the pain waiting for me, I don’t hesitate—I call her forward.
Agony splinters through me. Bones snap and rearrange, tendons tear and weave back together, skin stretches and shreds like paper. For a heartbeat, I think I really am dying—confetti made of flesh scattered in the wind. I count the seconds. One. Two. Three. Four.
And then it’s done.
My chest heaves, every nerve sizzling, but the ache is nothing compared to what those wolves will do if wedon’t move. Wolf wastes no time. She bolts forward. Only not toward the manor.
What are you doing?I shout inside my own skull.
What we’re meant to,she replies with infuriating certainty. Being by our mate.
He’s going to be so freaking furious. I try to fight her, to call the shift back, but she doesn’t allow me to take control. Before I know it, she’s leaping toward one of the intruders, teeth bared and claws extended.
Shifter shits.This isn’t going to be good.
We strike first, jaws clamping onto the wolf’s leg. Blood fills our mouth, hot and metallic, but pain slams into us just as quick. A sharp bite to our flank that takes out one leg in seconds. We howl, the sound splitting the night, guttural and haunting.
Wolf doesn’t stop. She lunges again, reckless, her jaw closing around fur and flesh. For one dizzying second, I think maybe we can get the upper hand until teeth sink into our exposed neck. Searing pain moves through us, and the world narrows to the taste of crimson and the press of fangs.
A blur tears past us then, faster than lightning, and I scent her long before I see her.Liz.
But I can’t see where she goes once I see Cade’s wolf barreling toward the wolf nearest to me. He charges forward with a fury I canfeelmore than see, golden eyes burning as he rips the attacker away from us. Blood sprays across the earth, and I can’t tell if it’s theirs or ours.
You shouldn’t have done that, I tell Wolf as we lie there, pinned to the ground by nothing but exhaustion andblood loss. My chest rises and falls shallowly, every breath a labor.We were supposed to run.
We had to try,she argues, though the conviction in her tone is weaker now.
