Page 137 of Monsters in Love

I moaned as agony ripped along my arm. That burn moved deeper, coursing along my vein until it hit the wall of my chest. My pulse thrummed, then skipped a beat. Then it skipped a lot of beats. The lack of sound in my chest was a wall of agony.

I shoved my fist against my chest as the world grayed.

“We'll…take…care…of…you.”The Alpha came closer.

Darkness swallowed me. Darkness that licked my arm. His tongue was cold. Then, with another flare of cold, sound boomed in my chest once more. An ache ripped through me, the pain like a punch that had me pressing my fist against the throb and sucking in deep breaths.

The darkness eased, lightening once more until the Alpha filled my view. I stared up at him, sucking in harsh breaths until reality crashed in.

This was happening.

This was really happening.

“What is going on?” I whispered through the sawing gasps of air. “What the fuck do you want with me?”

He lowered his head, those black nostrils flaring as he sniffed, and nudged my arm. That bruise was still there, dark and ugly, making me wince when I looked at it. He came closer. “You going to trust us yet, female?”

Trust.

I jerked my gaze to his. Trust didn’t come easily to me. Trust him to what? Not eat my damn face off…or trust him to keep me alive? There was a damn wide space in between there. But as I thought about that, the resounding boom in my chest screamed the answer. “Okay,” I gasped, unable to do anything else.

“Then we keep moving.” He lifted his gaze to the sky. “Need to move fast.”

“Why?”

He just lowered his gaze, those dark eyes giving nothing away. “Ride him,” he growled, and gave a jerk of his head. “Now.”

Ride him?

The other Wolf came forward, and even though they looked almost identical, I knew they weren’t. That drum in my head picked up a beat as those words hit me. An image bloomed…me,him,flesh and fur, fucking hard. Heat flared through me as my stomach tightened. God, that was sick.Ride him…

Christ.

I swallowed hard and pushed upwards. “Okay. Okay, I can do this.”

My ride came closer and sat with his back to me. I fell against him more than I climbed on. My fists buried into his fur as he rose and adjusted my weight, making me fall face-first against his neck.

He didn’t even wait for me to settle, just took a step forward and, with one massive lunge, leaped over the river and hit the other side with athud!

I let out a scream as he leaped and squeezed my eyes closed. He turned his head when we landed, glancing back at me, those dark eyes glinting as he panted. For a second, I thought he was almost…laughing at me.

“Cocky bastard, aren’t you?” I whispered. And I swore that grin grew wider.

Then he took off along with the others, tearing another cry of alarm from my lips. Paws thudded hard against the ground as we ran, plunging back into the trees once more, until I was lost to the blur and the almost panicked pounding of their steps.

The others ran beside us, glancing at me as we cut through the trees. I didn’t know where we were heading, but it was far from the city…and salvation.

In the wake of the cold rush of the river, deep shudders started tearing through me, rattling my bones. I let out a moan and lay forward, my head smacking against his neck as he ran, until he slowed, then stopped.

I closed my eyes, just holding on and shuddering.

Everywhere ached. My jaw, my joints, and I was super conscious of the panicked racing in my chest, just waiting for the sudden lack of sound once more.

“Female?” The deep growl came at my ear.

“Arden,” I whispered.

“What?”

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