Page 1 of Never Tamed
Chapter 1
Ren
Catarina buries her claws in my side.
My scream clogs somewhere behind my tonsils despite the blinding flash of pain pulling it up and out. The tips of each talon bite into my internal organs and I pull up short, my throat constricting, muscles tense like they’ll harden to keep her out.
Too little, too late.
She saw an opening and she struck, faster than I’d bargained.
“What are you going to do now?” She hisses air through her teeth. “Thought you'd rush in to save the day, didn’t you?”
Her ice blue eyes are dead. Despite the chaos and the mess we’ve made of the church, the torn petals and shredded lace, not one hair on her perfect head is out of place.
I hate her. I’ll ruin her.
She shoves me back and pries her claws free in the same move. Blood geysers from the holes left behind. I shove my hand against the wound and Catarina takes another swipe at me, crimson dripping from her fingers. I duck back in time for her to catch nothing but open air.
Barely.
Every nasty thought I’ve had about the woman coalesces into a single film of red across my vision. I’ve never met her until today—if you can call trying to mutilate someone a meeting—but I’ve always wanted her dead.
“You damned yourself with your color scheme.” I flash her a blood-stained grin and increase the pressure on my side. “Really, Catarina? Mauve?”
She growls and lunges. I duck to avoid her, but the movement stretches the puncture holes, and I drop to my knees with a yelp.
None of this shit happened when I was just a waitress.
Back when werewolves certainly didn’t exist. And I wasn’t one of them.
There’s yelling in my head where the mate bond between Torin and me burns as bright as the tail of a comet. His roar, not mine.
His fear and anger and panic blot out everything else inside me because it’s compounded by the other two mate bonds connecting me to Mathis and Noble. For an agonizing heartbeat, their worry is the only thing I feel, disconnecting me from the pain in my body.
Ren, you have to hold on. I’m coming. Torin is outside the periphery of my hazy vision and fighting the crowd around us.
Mathis is a one-man storm and takes down anyone who manages to get close to him. His fists fly faster than bullets from a machine gun.
Grinding my teeth, I force the alphas out of my head. The connection remains. How does anyone get anything done with mates hounding them? They’re going to get me killed with their concern.
“I expected so much more out of you.” Catarina’s taunt helps draw me to my feet. “The way Andras spoke, you were going to be somewhat of a challenge.”
Bitches like her are a dime a dozen.
They never used to come into Rudy’s, we were too far beneath them, but the girls and I would see them when we’d go shopping. The untouchables. The ice queens.
I stumble up, my arms at my side for balance.
I’ll be doing the world a favor by putting Catarina down like a dog.
She smirks before launching herself at me again. The double slits in the skirt of her wedding gown give her maneuverability, a regular bridal assassin.
The image of Andras fucking her from behind fills my head a second before she strikes. The pain from the wound blurs with the rest of the aches in me, my body worn down. Nerves have eaten away too much of me.
I’m not fast enough to avoid her this time and she sends us both careening into the nearest pew. The wood cracks, shattering around us.
Catarina makes a whole lot of noise during her attack.
