Page 68 of Wolf Cursed
Kai had his pack to think about, and I had myself—and this damned mark. Whatever the hell that meant.
At the end of the day, we were enemies.
I needed to remember that. Especially here.
Up ahead, I spotted Idrissa and Isaac. When they saw me, they broke away from the crowd and rushed toward me. Both of them grabbed me in a tight group hug.
“You’re okay.” Idrissa breathed in relief against my windblown hair.
She drew back.
Isaac grabbed my cheeks in his hands and brushed his nose against mine. “You scared the doggy biscuits off us, girl.”
“Sorry,” I said.
“You smell like the road,” Idrissa added, her expression framing it like a question.
“Kai gave me a ride,” I explained.
She gave me a look that I knew meant there’d be an inquisition later.
“Oh, did he now?” Isaac said with a sly grin.
Rather than answer that innuendo, I pulled his hands from my face, craning my neck toward the gathered crowd behind him.
“What happened with Silas?” I asked.
“Not enough,” Idrissa muttered, but before I could ask more, someone screamed.
I jerked toward the sound, but whoever had made it was obscured by the bodies pressing in around one another. They were all focused on something in the center of it all.
The scream came again.
I shoved past the twins, who both tried calling me back, and into the crowd, moving shoulders and arms out of my way until I broke through into the middle.
I stopped short, taking in the scene before me.
Silas stood across the circle, his hands fisted and bruised as he loomed over a man crouched on his knees. Blood leaked from the stranger’s nose and a nasty cut below his eye. His lip was puffy and swollen, and his entire body was covered in sweat and gravel.
Beside Silas, Drake and Presley stood like sentinels. Behind them, Devon and Cade crowded in. I even recognized that girl Tiffany from the bar inching over so she could stink-eye me. They all wore matching expressions of absolute hate, and my memory flashed to Vorack; to the night he and his men had come for my father. Ganging up in this way so we never stood a chance.
Something inside me broke.
I had no idea who the man on his knees was, and I didn’t care. It only mattered that he was outnumbered and being attacked by a mob.
I wasn’t going to let that happen a second time.
With a cry of my own, I launched myself at Silas. The force—okay, probably the surprise—sent him sprawling, and I managed to knock him to the ground.
He took the brunt of the fall for us both, and the moment he was down, I rolled away, knowing better than to let him get his hands around me. With a violent jab to his ribs, I managed to twist away before he could grab me.
I came up and met the eyes of the man they’d detained.
“Run,” I screamed at him and then twisted again, slipping out of the hands that grabbed for me.
I broke into a run.
The crowd parted but not before someone sturdy and unmoving slammed into me from behind. Arms came around me and lifted me clear off the ground. I kicked wildly, but my feet met only empty air as my captor dodged every defensive maneuver I made.
