Page 5 of Savage Games

An angry shout from the crowds catches my attention.A tall man in a tailored suit glares at her in rage-filled disbelief, pointing toward the end line.He throws his hands up in exasperation, his face turning puce with pent-up fury.

A glimmer of recognition tickles the back of my mind.I’ve met this guy before.Years ago.It’s there but won’t come to me.If I could pick out his scent among the hundreds of others, I’d know.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me.Move your ass," he yells, and my wolf’s hackles go up.Yeah, we’ve definitely crossed paths before.

Naomi’s features pinch in a mixture of discomfort and embarrassment at being spoken to like that so publicly, and I’m furious on her behalf.

This man has no idea how perilously close to danger he is right now.His disrespectful tone makes me want to charge straight over there and ring his neck.I take a tiny step toward him, but my sensitive hearing picks up Naomi's plaintive ‘no,’ and I whip my head toward where she stands, her eyes pleading with me to leave it.

“Please don’t.”

Awareness of my surroundings kicks back in, and with all the crowd's attention on me, including the alphas judging this competition, I decide now is not the time or place.

I have a pack to win.And I'm going to fucking do it because that goddess is going to be my Luna.

And then that guy, whoever the fuck he is, is going to find out what happens when you’re rude to my mate.

2

Wyatt

Spinning on the spot, I put my head down and sprint, finally snapping out of my loved-up trance to rejoin the competition.

Naomi grins, a mixture of joy and relief replacing her worried expression.

“Go,” I shout, urging her to continue without me.I’ve held her up enough already.

With a sharp salute, she turns and dashes away, her speed impressive as she silently but rapidly gains on the contestants ahead of us.

That’s my girl.

She’s almost neck and neck with the last of the leading pack when they get to the cargo nets, and she slides to the earth, gracefully slipping under the heavy net and crawling forward.I’m so damn proud as she overtakes one male and begins to eat up the distance to the next, who struggles with fitting his bulky frame underneath.

Not quite as light on my feet in human form as my mate, I’m still in last place by the time I raise the rough ropes and duck my head down to start my long crawl.

Naomi is all grace and technique as she shimmies her way toward the end.

I, on the other hand, am forced to use sheer dogged determination to drag my hefty form along the dirt and out to the other side, having caught up with one contestant.It’s not pretty, but it gets the job done.

Keeping my head down, I emerge slowly from the heavy net and spring to my feet, immediately searching for Naomi rather than focusing on the rest of the competition, who I need to beat.My heartbeat picks up as I scan the runners ahead and don’t see her.

“Easy there,” I say to myself, when my wolf starts to panic.

“The rogue’s lost it,” someone jeers from the sideline as I stand frozen to the spot, letting my competitors catch up, knowing I won’t be able to continue until I get eyes on my mate.

Naomi’s shocked gasp reaches me right as she plunges into a bath of icy water having slipped from a rope.

Despite knowing we’re in the middle of an obstacle course, I have to hold my wolf back from running to her.He thinks she’s drowning.We know she’s kicking ass.

When her head breaks the surface, panting against the cold-water shock, I can breathe again.Other than being a little wet, she’s doing great.Better than me.

Something deep inside me stirs, a pull so strong that it's almost physical.My wolf has never reacted this way to another being.

So this is what the elders describe when they talk about true mates, that inexplicable connection that forms instantly, like your souls recognize each other and never want to be apart.

“There you are,” I murmur, now able to resume my race to catch up with her once I know she’s safe.I ignore the taunts being hurled at me from the sideline and charge toward the next challenge, pleased to see Naomi getting out of the water quickly and back to the start of the obstacle.

She joins me on the blocks just as another wolf falls from the swinging ropes with a yelp and splashes down, already swimming to the side the second they hit that dark, freezing water.

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