Page 2 of Forsaking His Mate

What choice do I have? I’m at a disadvantage and this can help. I silence my mind and block out everything but my own breathing. When I’m calm, I close my eyes and reach out.

It takes me a few tries before my awareness leaves my body and I’m floating above myself. I have dirt on my back and my sneakers are coated in mud too.

I make my awareness to move and float above the forest floor, scanning for danger. I’m aware there isfighting ahead and to the east, but I’m looking for immediate danger.

That’s when I see him.

A huge marl-colored wolf is stalking in my direction. He’s keeping low, but he’s moving fast. The wolf is enormous, and from his size, I’d guess an alpha or a beta male.

He’s a death sentence if he reaches me.

I force my awareness back into my body. My mind slams back awake with a painful punch that goes through my limbs like an electric current. I snap my eyes open. I’m looking at the leaves covering the ground in front of my nose, no longer flying above the trees.

My gut twists.

I need to keep moving.

My legs ache fiercely, but I stand and even though we’re not supposed to turn it off, I silence the pack bond. I need to focus on where my attacker is coming from, and I can’t do that with so much noise.

Instantly, everything is muted, as if someone flipped a switch in my head.

The quiet is strange. Unnerving.

Then, sounds start to filter through. I can hear birds in the trees and the rustling of leaves as the wind moves through the undergrowth. In the distance, howling and barking tell me where the fighting is happening.

I know he’s behind me, but despite how fast he was moving, I can’t hear him. He’ll reach me soon, though, so I do the only thing I can.

I run.

Branches skim my arms, slicing at my skin, but I keep going. I can’t outpace a wolf, not in human form, but to stop would be instant death.

So, I keep moving, even though I know I cannot win.

A flash of fur erupts out of the undergrowth to the left of me. It hits me with so much force it drives me to the ground. Rocks and stones slice my hands as I use them to soften my fall.

I don’t give myself time to absorb the pain, scrambling to my feet and pulling a long-bladed knife from my belt.

Cold ghosts over my skin as the biggest wolf I’ve ever seen gets up from the forest floor six feet from me. He is bigger than my father, but he is not one of my pack.

The strong waves coming off him are overwhelming and his unfamiliarity has me baring my teeth as I slowly take a step backward. The wolf that shares my consciousness stalks back and forth inside my mind, wanting to come out and play, but I can’t make that happen, even though I wish she could fight this battle for me.

The marl wolf lowers his head, his hackles raised, and emits a low growl deep in his throat. Blood is matted into his fur, especially around his muzzle. Did this wolf kill my pack members, the ones I heard dying?

Even if I was able to shift, I wouldn’t be able to beat him in a fight. He is built to destroy, to attack, and right now this wolf looks like he wants to tear me apart.

I’m staring death in the face and there is nothing I can do about it.

I try to calm my heart, not wanting to show weakness, even though I want to drop to my knees and submit. Slowly, I move back another step and raise my hands as if that can save me. It can’t.

Teeth still bared, he lifts his snout to sniff the air.

I know what he’s scenting.

I don’t smell like other wolves because I’m not like any of my kind.

Every wolf has a small amount of magic that flows through them. It allows them to shift from human into their animal form and not just on the full moon. I’ve heard the lore a thousand times about the magical pelts that turned Leif and Torsten into wolves, but I am not like them.

The magic inside me is different. Corrupted.

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