Page 36 of Craved By the Werewolf
Raina snorted beside me. "RidgeRide?"
Brann kept going, talking faster now. "—and bolted for the gate before we could stop her. She's inside the south entrance and we can't catch her. She's... fast. Really fast."
I picked up my pace, Kai and Raina flanking me now like we were running a damn interception play.
"Stop chasing her," I said into the comm. "You'll only make it worse."
"But she's?—"
"I said stop."
The channel went quiet except for the sound of my boots pounding the dirt.
Through the trees, movement caught my eye—a flash of golden hair, bare legs, and a determined-as-hell expression tearing down the path toward me. Two of my guards were trailing her like she'd set them on fire.
She saw me, and something wild lit in her eyes.
She didn't slow down. If anything, she kicked it up a notch until she was close enough that I had to brace for impact.
"Vala—"
"I'm not going to LA," she blurted, breathless, like if she didn't get it out fast enough the words might dissolve. "I don't care if I get fired, I am not leaving Mystic Ridge."
I stared at her, still catching up to the fact that she'd just broken into a wolf compound to tell me this.
"And before you say anything," she went on, pointing at me like I'd been about to argue, "I would have told you everything. But you didn't call me, so I thought maybe you were mad or—" She cut herself off, shaking her head. "Doesn't matter. I'm here now. I'm not going anywhere."
The guards behind her looked like they weren't sure if they should stay or retreat. Raina muttered, "Better than TV," under her breath.
I just stood there, caught somewhere between relief, disbelief, and the urge to drag her straight back to my quarters before she could say another word. My wolf was howling yes, mine, keep her, while my brain tried to process what the hell just happened.
She shifted on her feet, like she was waiting for me to explode or pull some Alpha power move.
I didn't. I just kept staring at her like the beautiful lunatic she was.
I put a hand at the small of her back—firm enough to guide, not force—and steered her away from the commotion she had caused. My wolf settled a fraction at the contact, but the rest of me was wound tight.
"Where are we—" she started.
"We are going somewhere private," I said, already angling us toward my quarters. The murmurs behind us faded as we cut across the inner courtyard, boots crunching over the gravel path.
Vala didn't stay quiet long. "LA moved the meeting up. I had to pack in a rush, catch the first flight out."
Her words came fast, tumbling over each other like she had to unload everything before I cut her off. "When you didn't call, I figured you?—"
I kept my eyes forward, jaw tight. Every sentence was a spark in dry tinder, and I didn't trust myself to speak until I had the whole picture.
She glanced at me, reading my silence. "Thorne..."
Still nothing. I was trying to process the simple, infuriating truth: she'd been gone. I'd torn the place apart looking for a sign, a reason, anything.
We passed the training field, the morning air sharp with the scent of dew on trampled grass. I heard the clack of sparring sticks somewhere to our left—the world going on like nothing had happened—and my wolf didn't give a damn about any of it.
Her steps slowed just enough that I noticed. "If you're angry, just say it," she said, softer now. "Or... if you think I shouldn't have come back..."
That made me look at her.
She was still walking, but her eyes were fixed ahead, shoulders squared like she was bracing for a crash. It twisted something in me—the fact she could even think that.
