Page 105 of Never Tamed
The wolf spits out the boot and shakes its head before creeping toward me again with hackles lifted.
Noble’s there suddenly and hits our enemy like an avalanche, his weight driving the creature away from me. My ankle screams as I lurch to my feet and half-drag it through the snow.
Warmth pulses inside my sock and leaves a terribly bright trail behind me. Blood. Exactly what Andras will want. Exactly what we need.
But god, it hurts. This is taking method acting to a whole new level.
I grit my teeth. The fucker is going to bleed much more than I am, and he’ll regret every teeth mark I have to deal with.
My power hums under my skin, begging,demandingto be released. I could end that little wolf with hardly any effort. Like lifting a finger and taking a sip of espresso. Its blood would pool on my tongue and maybe I’d give into the joy of it like Dax does.
I can end most of the others on our tail in one surge if I let myself. Hell, I could make it to the river in the blink of an eye, too. Not yet.
Not until the time is right.
The agony helps me focus. The small bit of unease and nerves fall away and I focus on the bite, what it means for us tonight.
So I stagger. I bleed. I make myself an easy target. Andras will come and then the rest of his men will go down with him. “Help! Somebody. Please help!” I cry out.
Overdoing it a little, baby. Just a bit. Noble snarls at my side. His muzzle is red, and his chest heaves. He presses against me once as a reminder that I’m not alone.
Sorry. I’ll try to tone it down.I lean heavily on him and whimper.
The stench of fireworks and charred wood lines my nostrils and through it all is the cold. Winter smells differently now.
But I know the river is close. Even from here, I can also smell the icy freshness of it and the mossy bank buried underneath the layers of ice. The storm swallows every landmark.
I have to trust that we aren’t running around in useless circles.
A howl cuts through the storm, closer this time. Another answers. Then another.
Fear pierces my chest.
They’re tightening in. He’s onto us. He knows what we planned and he’s trapping us instead of the other way around.
Noble snaps his head toward me, lips curled back over his teeth. His eyes burn with urgency.Move. The others are waiting.
I push forward, every step agony, my ankle making me slow. Snowflakes sting my eyes until I can’t tell what’s storm and what’s wolf anymore. The shadows close in. The howls get louder.
You’re not helping, I warn Noble.
His worry is a physical presence between us and weighing me down like an anchor.
My mate is injured and our enemies are circling. You’ll have to excuse me, he bites out.
And then I see it. Through the veil of white, there’s the ghostly shimmer of ice ahead. The river. We actually made it.
Relief nearly knocks me off my feet, but I don’t stop. We’re almost there, almost—
Something slams into my back. I crash into the snow face-first, too fast to screech, the cold shocking. Teeth snap inches from my throat as claws dig into my side right where Catarina nearly gutted me.
Twisting, I scream and thrash, but I’m pinned by the wolf’s weight crushing me down.
Fuck!They came out of nowhere!
My power flares, roaring in my blood, impossible to ignore. I can feel it on the edge of my skin, the wolf inside me ready to burst free.
If I call to it, I’ll give myself away. If I don’t, I die.
