We move together, quieter now, and we slip behind a cluster of trees. The brush conceals us as he keeps close, but regardless of how near he is, I don’t pull away this time.
Not when I’m focused and too curious to look away from the scene ahead of us.
Voices drift through the trees, both low and controlled. They’re distinctly male, and my chest tightens as three of them step into view.
Recognition hits instantly like a blade sliding between my ribs.
I know those faces and scents. Even when I was overpowered and suppressed by whatever magic they used on me, I memorized their smells and features.
They’re the ones who took me and pinned me down while that magic tore through me. They sold me off like livestock, and now they’re still here, lurking in the woods. Their business obviously isn’t finished yet.
Rage floods my system so fast it makes my vision sharpen and my pulse roar in my ears. More than anything, I want to lunge at them and show them exactly what I’m capable of.
“They’re here,” I breathe, barely containing it.
“I see that,” Zane replies, voice low, steady. He glances at me as I shift my weight forward on Instinct. He wastes no time tightening his grip on my arm, and his brows furrow. “Don’t even think about it.”
“I’m not letting them walk away.”
“Yes, you are. For now, anyway,” he tells me, saying exactly what I don’t want to hear.
My head snaps toward him, barely containing my rage both for those men and Zane for trying to interfere. “They took me. Sold me.”
“And we’re going to figure out why.”
“I already know why.”
“You don’t know enough.”
“I know that I want to kill them.”
The words come out sharp and absolute, making Zane’s jaw tighten. He doesn’t let up on his hold. “That’s not happening.”
I move anyway, just a step, and that’s all it takes.
He reacts instantly, arm wrapping around me and pulling me back hard against him before I can break cover, one hand clamps over my mouth to cut off the sound that almost escapes.
Everything in me goes still.
Immediately, I’m caught and pinned. He’s holding me, and that thought alone sends something I don’t recognize through me.
Zane’s body is solid behind mine, his grip unyielding as he drags me tighter into the shadows. His hand is firm over my mouth, and his other arm is locked around my middle, holding me in place like I weigh nothing.
“Don’t,” he breathes against my ear, his voice barely more than a whisper. “...Move.”
My pulse spikes, and regardless of the wolves standing not far from us, it isn’t because of them.
It’s from this…the suffocating proximity.
His chest presses against my back, steady and warm, and the way his breath brushes my skin puts me on edge. His hold doesn’t waver for a second, like he knows exactly how much force to use to keep me still.
It’s wrong, I know it is, but my body reacts anyway.
Heat flickers low in my chest, loud and unwanted as it tangles with the anger already there. Then, it curls lower, warming my skin in a traitorous way.
No part of me should be responding at all to him or his touch, but it’s instinctive and completely out of my control. This is completely new territory for me, since Zane was always respectful and reserved before. He never manhandled me like this.
I hate it, and I hate him for it. More so, I hate how easily it puts me off kilter.
