Page 35 of Rejecting his Mate

I turn quickly, snapping my jaws around the neck of the other wolf trying to kill me and pull back, taking a chunk of throat with me.

The taste of blood drives me wild. I want to shove my nose into it and cover my face with it, so I can smell it later, after I win the fight.

Spitting the flesh and muscle onto the ground, I notice the brown wolf on his side, eyes disorientated, while the gray one moves closer.

Halle has a branch and is swinging it back and forth like a baseball bat. I’m guessing she managed to hit the brown wolf, but she’s never going to match the jaws of a full-grown wolf.

And that’s when the gray one attacks her.

I rush at him, hitting him like a missile. We both tumble before coming to a stop. I don’t wait, quickly righting myself and snapping my jaws at him even as I growl.

He gets up, circling me, chomping at me as if he is playing games. At least until he notices the two dead wolves behind me.

Then his demeanor changes.

I sense movement behind me as the brown wolf closes in on my rear. My wolf pulls his lips back and readies himself for the attack.

Both wolves launch at me at the same time. I feel pain in my side as sharp teeth cut through my fur and skin. Anger blazes through me.

Death…

That’s the only thought racing through my mind.

I’m going to kill them both. I’m going to drag their entrails out of their bodies and bathe in their blood. I will end their lives for daring to come here to harm Halle, and I have no idea why I feel this way. I shouldn’t.She should mean nothing to me, and fighting her battles has already put me in the middle of a battle with another pack.

But I don’t question it as I twist to attack the wolf on my flank. There isn’t time for anything other than trying to survive and punishing them for what they’ve done to her.

The brown wolf whimpers as I catch his side with a swipe of my claws. I’m quick, not showing off or trying to make a point; I attack with a ferocity that scares me, but my wolf is not sated yet. His blood lust continues to grow, wanting more death and destruction. I don’t blame him for that.

Seeing Halle hurt, I wanted to kill her mate for touching her too.

The brown wolf sinks his teeth into my back, making me raise my head and roar. Pain spreads through my hindquarters, but I push it aside to get him on his back in the dirt. As soon as he is down, I swipe at his stomach, and his insides spill out. My wolf helps them along, tearing at the brown wolf’s intestines and dragging them out.

Blood fills my senses, my snout coated in it, but I don’t care about that. My focus is on Halle and the gray wolf. I expect him to fight me, but all he does is stare at the dead wolves around us. He has alpha strength, but he turns tail and flees.

Coward.

I watch until I can no longer see him or scent him before I turn to Halle. Rage is burning through me, and the urge to hunt her mate down nearly pushes meforward, but I root my paws into the ground. I won’t leave Halle alone, undefended.

I look at her, blowing air out of my nostrils like a raging bull. My wolf isn’t satisfied. He wants more destruction, more blood. He wants to follow the mate.

Fear flashes in Halle’s eyes, and I will my wolf to calm. I don’t want to scare her or hurt her, but I’m starting to lose control of him.

I turn back in the direction her mate fled.

If we go after him, she’ll be unprotected.

I repeat these words over and over, hoping he will listen. He’s hell bent on vengeance, on killing the wolf who came for us, but that is not what we need to be focused on right now.

My wolf snarls as I try to command him, but he’s not listening. My voice is getting drowned out, my control overrun.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Halle’s soft voice sounds from behind us.

Blood lust is tearing through my body, and my human mind is in agony as I try to hold on to my tentative grip of my wolf.

Run.

I scream the word, but she cannot hear it. It only sounds in my mind.

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