Page 41 of Forbidden Wolf

He placed a kiss to the palm of my left hand. “Then we need to move around until you sense those changes in your hands.”

My eyes opened and met his glowing gaze. “And then what do we do?”

A dark feral smile widened his lips, showing his enlarged canines. “Then we study them the way they have us. We’ll stalk them to their lairs and flush them out. Together, we’ll find a way to blow those fuckers all the way back to Hell.”

***

Tasha

The sun shone down on us as we moved through the forest, stopping every so often to determine if I could hear anything or Levi could detect the scent of the hellspawn. Now that he had a plan, Levi’s focus was relentless, his wolf energy combining with the natural aura of the man. Every so often, the tips of his ears twitched, and his head turned sharply toward something he sensed. He used to struggle against his wolf, now they had combined to become the ultimate predator.

Occasionally, I heard vague mutterings, but nothing I could clearly interpret. For the first time ever, I needed my mother. She would understand what was happening to me. I knew it deep inside by her reaction to me talking about hearing the monsters under my bed talking. Father had dismissed it as childish nonsense, but she never had. It was the only time she had held me and showed me affection.

Now I wondered if it was because she heard them as well.

Levi was on his phone again, typing away and studying images that had been sent to him. He had snapped a few photographs along our route and sent them off to some guy called Radar.

Exhausted from wandering through this forest and finding nothing, I sat at the base of a tree and rested my arms on my knees. Instead of concentrating on the recent voices, I regressed to when I was little, to the voices that taunted and terrorised me. Leaning my head on my arms, I closed my eyes and rewound time to take me back to my childhood.

Sweat coated my body and fear paralysed me. The darkness of my room surrounded me as the voices started. At first, I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but over time, I began to distinguish certain voices in the group until the conversations became clearer.

Mother used to sit with me, holding me while singing against my ear. I jolted at a memory, my eyes flying open and my stomach cramping in terror.

“What?” Levi was by my side in an instant as if he sensed the change in my emotions.

My eyes were wide when I stared up at him. “They knew my name. I heard them calling me and telling me to come with them. That was the day Mum sent me to the secure base to start school. Before that, she’d kept me at home.”

Levi studied me with a contemplative look in his eyes.

“It would make sense that they could feel you if you were able to detect them. I should have realised it sooner.” He groaned and rubbed the sides of his head. “I’m so fucking stupid!”

“What does all this mean?” I asked, standing up on shaky legs.

“I’ve no fucking idea, but my guess is that they do not want anyone out here who knows who or what they are, or potentially where to find them.”

White noise erupted in my head while I tried to cobble my thoughts together. They knew who I was. Even as a child, they’d been able to track me and find my name. Sickness crashed into me in a wave of nausea that burned my throat.

Levi’s arms found me and held me securely, his chin propped on my head. “They won’t hurt you, Tasha. I killed to protect you before, and I will do so again.”

The faint growl that rumbled against my ear calmed my emotions and made me feel safe.

“You will always be mine to protect.”

The deep tone of ownership sent shivers rippling from my core into my body. In an instant, he went from aggressive stranger to the only man who’d held my heart. My eyes fluttered closed as I listened to the beat of his heart. The rhythm had been engrained into my soul for years.

“Come on.” He gave me a quick squeeze and started to lead me in the direction we’d been heading.

“Stop.” My hand found his. “We need to go in this direction.”

Instead of south, I led us in a westerly direction, guided by an instinct I’d never listened to before. Heat from Levi pulsed steadily at my side, allowing me to focus even when I began to lose faith in my abilities. A familiar muttering started in my head, the palms of my hands heating and itching.

My claws lengthened to allow me to trail them over my palms as I tried to concentrate.

One voice boomed over the others. It was the master that I’d heard a few days ago. His voice made dread flutter into my chest, but at the same time I wanted to go to him.

Levi’s arms around my waist stopped me.

“Stay still,” he hissed in my ear.

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