Page 25 of Yasmin and the Yeti
“RHAAL!” she screamed, her voice echoing through the silent forest. “RHAAL!”
Broc flinched at the volume but didn’t release her. Instead, his expression set with grim determination. He clearly believed he was doing the right thing, saving her from a monster.
He didn’t understand, couldn’t understand that the only monster in this moment was the one trying to take her from her mate.
As he pulled her further from the clearing, she fought with everything she had. She clawed at his hand, kicked at his legs, twisted in his grip. But for all her resistance, she was no match for his strength. Even injured, he was far stronger than any human.
“Please,” she begged, tears streaming down her face now. “Please don’t do this. Rhaal! RHAAL!”
Her scream tore through the air, a raw, desperate plea that carried on the wind. It wasn’t just fear—it was the primal cry of a mate calling for her protector, her other half.
Broc winced at the sound but continued pulling her through the snow, his face set in lines of grim determination. Each step took her further from the cave, from safety, from Rhaal.
In desperation, she changed tactics. She stopped fighting and instead went limp, dropping her full weight to the ground. Surprised, Broc stumbled, his bad leg buckling slightly. His grip loosened just enough for her to wrench her arm free.
She scrambled backward through the snow, putting distance between them.
“Rhaal!” she cried again, her voice hoarse from screaming.
Broc recovered quickly, his expression pained but resolute. He spoke again, his tone pleading now. He gestured toward her, then to the mountains, then made a cutting motion across his throat.
The meaning was clear enough. Rhaal would hurt her. Kill her.
“No,” she said, shaking her head vehemently. “You’re wrong. He would never hurt me.”
But Broc couldn’t understand her words, only her fear. He advanced again, more cautiously this time, his hand outstretched in what he clearly thought was a non-threatening gesture.
She backed away, searching desperately for an escape route, a weapon, anything. The rocks were too dense to run through effectively, especially with Broc’s longer stride. The cave was too far now.
She was trapped, cornered by a being who genuinely believed he was saving her.
“RHAAL!” she screamed one last time, pouring every ounce of her terror and desperation into the call.
The world fell silent after her cry, the echo fading into the still winter air. For a moment, nothing moved.
Then a deep, bone-chilling roar shattered the silence, a sound of pure rage that made the very air vibrate. It was followed by the crash of something massive moving towards them at terrifying speed.
Broc froze, his head whipping toward the sound. His eyes widened with a mixture of shock and what might have been fear.
Relief flooded through her, so intense it made her knees weak. Rhaal had heard her. He was coming.
And judging by that roar, he was coming with the full fury of a male whose mate had been threatened.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The scream tore through the air, slicing into Rhaal’s consciousness like a blade of ice. He froze, every muscle locking in place, his blood turning to frost in his veins.
Yasmin.
Her voice carried a terror so raw, so desperate, that it catapulted him back through time. Suddenly he was in the collapsing cave again, dust choking his lungs, rocks falling all around him. Ayla’s scream pierced the chaos, a sound he’d carried in his nightmares for years.
I’m coming. I’m coming.
The words echoed in his mind, the same ones he’d shouted to his sister as he’d clawed through falling rock. Words that had meant nothing in the end.
But this time it was different. This time he wouldn’t be too late.
Primal strength flooded his body as the world sharpened to crystal clarity—scents, sounds, the direction of her call. Hedropped the freshly killed pikka and launched himself through the rock canyons
