Page 16 of Unwilling Mate

It takes all my strength not to roll my eyes at that statement. But what choice do I have? Stay here and be Thorn’s look-a-like plaything or go back there and at least stay alive a little longer. Thorn would get tired of me eventually…then maybe kill me. This way, I’m making the choice for myself.

Westin and Levi lead me to a truck and take me back to my stepmother’s house in record time. It looks the exact same as it did when Thorn carried me away from this place. The paint is peeling, and the yard is sparse, like no one gives a shit what the outer walls look like. Not that the inside is any better.

We go inside, and my stepmother and stepsisters make a big show of how excited they are to have me back. I don’t smile. I don’t cry.

My heart is broken, and there’s nothing left inside me but ash. There’s nothing to do but keep on going.

They exclaim over my new clothes and fawn over my hair. But the second the men leave, they descend like wolves, tearing the seams of my new sweater and ripping the shoes from my feet. I knew the happy family act wouldn’t last long.

“You ungrateful girl,” my stepmother growls in my face. “You let that monster take you away, and what, you fucked him for thesepretty clothes? You little whore. Well, I’ll show you where the whores hang out in this house.”

She grabs my hair at the nape of my neck and drags me toward the basement. I can barely keep my feet under me down the stairs. When she releases me, she shoves me toward a box built into the wall. It looks like a circuit box maybe?

“Open it,” she demands. “Or I’ll lock you down here without food or water until you do.”

I try the clasp but quickly realize it’s locked. Of course it is. There is a little number dial built into the side. I try random numbers until my stepmother slaps me hard in the back of the head. “This was your father’s box. It’s something meaningful. I know you know what it is. Now open it.”

I consider my options and frown as I scroll the dials to the numbers of my mother’s birthday. It clicks open with a small hiss. Inside, there’s a glass-shaped wolf like a decorative figurine. It’s heavy as I pull it from the box. A note sits inside the small wolf, written in my father’s handwriting.

This was your mother’s favorite.

My stepmother snatches it from my hand and twists it around, studying it from every angle. “It’s just a piece of junk.”

I try to reach out, but I’m not fast enough. The glass hits the concrete basement floor and shatters before I can get my hands underneath it.

My stepsisters laugh all the way up the stairs, following their mother. The lock at the top clicks, and then the light goes out to leave me in the dark. Figures. I knew they’d treat me worse this time, yet some tiny part of me held out hope therewas something human left in them. But, no, they are soulless harpies, and I hate them so much I almost choke with it.

I feel around the box, looking for any other clues, but there’s nothing save a small light built into the top of it. I click it on and sigh. Well, at least I have a little light. I kneel near the glass to study it, but it’s beyond repair. Just like my life.

10

THORN

I’mmiles away from the cabin when I realize something is wrong. Someone has been here in my part of the forest. I catch their scent and run faster, knowing two shifters are near. Levi is back, and he brought his brother, Weston, as backup.

Why the fuck can’t they just let me be?

The closer I get, the clearer their scents get, but it’s not until I smell Abbie’s unique scent mingled with theirs that I really lose my shit. If I wasn’t already in my wolf form, I would be now. As I run toward the cabin, I become more animal than human as possessiveness and the need to protect my mate takes over every cell of my body.

My mind is clouded with rage when I realize they took her. My mate is not at the cabin where I left her. Instantly, images of her hurt or even worse pop into my mind, making my wolf whimper.

I don’t have to look for clues to know where she is. Or at least to find someone who knows where she is. Without a second glance at the cabin, I change my course and start running toward the village I haven’t visited in over a decade. I don’t know why myold pack took her, but I’m about to find out. And they are going to find out what happens when they take something that’s mine.

I run up the mountain as fast as my paws carry me. When I finally get to the edge of the village, part of my old pack is already waiting for me.

Alistair—the leader of them—is standing tall, his arms folded across his chest as he scolds me like a disappointed parent. Levi and Weston flank him, wearing similar expressions on their faces.

Shifting into my human form mid stride, I growl, “Where is she?! Tell me, or I swear I will tear this entire place apart!”

“Calm yourself before we have to put you down,” Alistair warns. “We can’t let you do this again.”

“This is different,” I grit through my teeth. “She is my mate. I marked her, and she loves me.”

“Then why did she want to leave? She came willingly.”

“You are lying!” I take a threatening step toward them. If they think I won’t be able to take all three of them, they are mistaken. I will do anything to get to her.

“He is not,” Levi confirms. “After we told her what you did to her mother, she happily came with us.”

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