Page 34 of Never Tamed
He lets out a breath, long and heavy. “Goddess.”
I look over at him. There’s an aching kind of grief in his expression.
“Mathis hasn’t said much,” Noble murmurs. “But he doesn’t need to. The way he looked when he heard the radio… I know that pain. I felt it when I lost my sister.”
“He was trying so hard not to break,” I say. “But Flora was very special to him. Like a sister.”
Noble frowns and my heart skips a beat. I kick out at the snow.
“He believes he failed her and it’s his fault. I feel him.”
“I know,” I say, throat tight. “I wish there was some way that I could comfort him, make him feel better.”
“You’re barely holding on, too,” Noble finishes for me.
Slowly, I nod. Tears began to sting the corners of my eyes and I blink them away.
“I can feel that, too. We’re in the middle of the fight of our lives. Both packs have lost so many—family, friends, packmates. The best thing we can do now is to take out Andras. That’s the only way we’re going to avenge those who’re gone and keep the others safe.”
He’s right. I know he is. We have to focus on what’s ahead. Andras always seems to be one step ahead of us, so we need to be one step in front of him. That’s the only way we’re going to survive.
The memory of when Flora instinctually jumped in front of me when we were attacked at Rudy’s springs forward in my mind. Even in the short amount of time I’ve known her, I found her incredibly warm and sweet but unwilling to take anyone’s shit.
If she were here now, she’d be bossing the guys around and telling me not to shed a tear. Kick Andras’s ass extra hard for her.
The thought makes me smile. I planned on doing it anyway. Now I’ll send his rectum into his throat just for her.
By the timewe settle for the night, the cold has dug deep into my bones. The pit Mathis carved out of frozen dirt is large enough for us to snuggle into and block out the wind. The heat of so many wolves helps me stay warm. Dax and Mathis shift into their wolf forms and their bodies, along with the fire, provide enough warmth for me and Noble.
Torin is the last to shift. With a final look toward his beta, he does, the massive blond wolf closest to my feet.
I curl into Mathis’s side, inhaling the woodsy scent of him. He just lets out a long, shaking breath and lays his muzzle on the top of my head. He’s so solid even as a wolf. I press my cheek against his chest and memorize the steady, heavy thud of his heartbeat, strong and grounding.
And I hope it’s enough to bring him some kind of comfort.
With the four men surrounding and the heat radiating off their bodies, I drift off into dreamland and somehow, my unconscious brain decides to put me right back in the middle of the forest.
Almost like it won’t release me. Like I don’t want to go.
Frost coats everything—leaves, branches, my skin. There’s no cold. I’m running, light on my feet, faster than I’ve ever moved, faster than when I shift.
The trees blur past me. The wind sings through my hair.
“Find me.”
The voice echoes from everywhere and nowhere. Soft, feminine, familiar.
“Find me…”
It repeats, again and again. Like a song. Like a heartbeat.
The ground inclines and I leap over fallen logs, breath burning in my lungs. I dodge through moonlit glades and my feet barely sink in the snow. Something glows ahead, white and distant, and Ineedto reach it. I don’t know why—I justknow.
“Find me.”
The voice grows louder.Urgent.The glow… it’s calling to me.
Then I hit the earth harder than before. My body feels different, not like a dream anymore. Things are too real and too vivid for me to still be asleep. I’ve woken up.
