Page 37 of Forbidden Wolf

“I think the bigger question is how can I hear them?” I could rationalise hearing them with my ear to the ground by saying they were in underground tunnels and I had super vampire hearing. That didn’t explain why I heard them as a child.

“We both know you’re different, Tasha. Is it because you were always able to tune into the energies of creatures around you?”

“I used to hear voices as a child. What if they’re the same?”

One of my greatest fears had been realised. I was a freak, and it was one of the reasons why I didn’t fit in.

Levi’s fingers trailed up and down my back as his face took on his pensive look. “Maybe we’ve finally found an advantage in this war. They’ve been one step ahead of us because we didn’t even know they existed. Your gifts change the dynamics.”

“They don’t feel like a ‘gift’,” I replied. “Anyone who exhibits any difference is taken by the coven leaders, and most are never seen again.”

Kimber had joined the military and made it six months before her gifts were revealed and Castus swooped in to remove her from the military. I hadn’t seen her since. He often took pleasure in taunting me about her, hinting that he’d let me see her. There were days I was unsure if she was in a coven facility, in the middle of the war, or dead. So many were missing, presumed dead that I’d lost count.

Levi tucked my hair behind my ear. “Why do you think they take them away, Tasha? Maybe someone has realised their potential and wants to exploit it or eradicate it.”

A shiver rippled down my back and Levi tugged me into his strength. The thought of Kimber with Castus’ personal scientists nauseated me. She would be studied physically and genetically until there was nothing left to discover, all her secrets revealed to Castus.

“They took Kimber,” I confessed in a low tone. It was the first time I dared say her name in over a year. Pressure built behind my eyes as I mentioned her.

These were the moments over the past decade when I missed him most. Some people would try to sympathise, others rationalise why she was taken. Levi merely tightened his hold on me and kissed the top of my head. His arms were bands of steel infusing strength into me, allowing me to fall apart for a moment because he was holding me together.

When I had my emotions under control, Levi took my hand and led me further into the forest.

“My wolf scent should confuse them as I’ve only ever been in that mud in my human form. We need to contact my second in command. If anyone can chart this area and try to identify where they’re coming from, Radar can do it.”

I stiffened at the thought of another lycan knowing my secrets. “Can you trust him?”

“I trust him with my life every day. Radar was in my training group and he became a brother to me. We’ve had each other’s backs as we progressed through the military. His technical abilities allow us to work in the intelligence unit instead of the frontline.”

He spoke so easily of trust and friendship. Most of those in my training unit were long gone, cannon fodder in this war to protect our leaders who sat safely in their castles. There was no glory or honour in death, only pain and misery and decomposing flesh.

Levi found a huge tree with sturdy branches. I squeaked as he tossed me over his shoulder and climbed effortlessly up the tree to settle us on a branch close to the trunk.

“We should be safe here tonight,” he said against my ear.

“Tell me about your life,” I said. I needed to know what had changed the man behind me.

“There’s nothing much to tell,” he said, putting his head on my shoulder. “I joined the military, worked my way through the ranks, and here I am.”

I nudged him with my elbow. “Did you ever think of me?”

It was stupid and insecure, and he’d already told me that we needed to wait for that time appointed to us in the future.

“Every fucking day. I arrived at training to realise that we were mated. It was too late to go home, but the first time we were assigned leave, I searched for you in that forest. I sat under the vampire facility and kept watch every night. You never returned.”

“We don’t get leave when we’re conscripted.”

When I arrived at training my life was held in the hands of my coven leader. Castus loved to exert his authority. If any of us wanted leave, we had to go and personally plead with him. He didn’t mind who he abused. Males and females both came back with haunted looks in their eyes. I tried to ask him for nothing.

“Do you have children?” he asked softly, his hand curving around my stomach.

“My blood tasted bitter to the vampires I was assigned in the breeding programmes. None of them selected me as a partner.”

In other words, my only sexual experiences had been with Levi.

“I’ve already told you; your blood isn’t bitter. It contains my scent in it, marking you as my property.”

“Then why doesn’t my scent repel female wolves?”

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