Page 19 of Banished Mates
She prepared to spring forward but Rowan stopped her advancement with a swift bark as he lowered his head in warning. The message was clear. Try to leave and she was going down.
If he hadn’t, I would have done it.
She sneezed but kept us within her sights. Rowan lowered to the ground, his belly flattening, but he kept his gaze trained on her. The hair down her spine stuck straight up and she trembled. I didn’t want to terrify her further, so I backed up until the opposite wall pressed into my shoulder blades. Her attention switched to me and all I could see reflected in her canine expression was wariness. Fear bled from her pores, and it physically pained me not to pull her into my lap and comfort her.
I groaned, inhaling as much of her as I could get to calm the nervousness spreading to my limbs. Letting my head fall back, it smacked the wall and the dull pain radiated down my neck. It did nothing to assuage the heaviness in my cock.
My stomach tightened and I ached to bury myself inside her. I needed her more than I needed to breathe, but I didn’t dare approach her with how skittish she behaved.
My eyes tracked her blood-matted fur and I sneered at Rowan. He must have hurt her while he was dragging her into the house.
He was lucky he was my brother, or I would have snapped his neck.
Camden
I’d doneevery conceivable thing in the last few weeks to find Willow.
Blood stained my hands, and I didn’t fucking care. I was growing careless of who I hurt. I needed to get Willow beside me.
The knowledge that some sick fuck had her, gnawed at my insides. There were only two things I hoped for; her well-being and for her to keep track of every fucking creep that touched even a strand of her hair.
After reviewing the footage provided by the coffee shop, I’d learned the wriggling piece of shit beneath my foot was one of them.
It’d taken me almost a month to track the fucker down. He bared his teeth at me. The look in his eyes told me everything I needed to know, he wanted to shift and take off running.
I applied more pressure on his throat and he stilled, eyes peeled wide open. The motel I found him in was seedy, and shoving his face into the stain on the carpet only brought me happiness.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about.” His voice grated on my ears. I sneered down at him and pulled out my cell and faced it at him as I flashed the image of Willow. He squinted from the bright light and recognition finally seeped into them.
“You’re going to tell me every-fucking-thing.”
The whites of his eyes shone and his attention fixed over my shoulder. He couldn’t meet my gaze because of my dominance, but this was outright avoidance.
I snapped my teeth together and in a quick move, I slammed my boot down onto his shoulder.
A snap cracked through the air, and he screamed. It cut off when I reapplied pressure to his throat. He gripped my ankle, and I pressed harder in warning.
“I’m just the transport. I-I’ll tell you everything I know, just don’t kill me,” he pleaded. I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Speak, then.” I lifted my boot off so he could get words I could understand out and not that muffled shit he’d forced out of his throat.
“I was the one that picked her up in the parking lot.”
“Why her?”
“No reason. She was a beauty and I could get good money for her. I also heard she was from the Redwood Pack,” he blurted. Trafficking women? I sneered down at him, disgust eating my gut. It seemed more sinister than a coincidence. “As a dormant werewolf, she’d fetch some money, so she’s useful for something.”
A snarl slipped free as my wolf lunged forward. I closed my eyes, battling for control. She wasn’t useless, even as a dormant. She was intelligent, kind, determined, and those were just the few things I could articulate in the moment. The fact that this slimeball under my boot would speak of her in such a low manner boiled my fucking blood.
“That’s all I know.” I forcefully pushed my foot back down. “I swear! I told you everything,” he wheezed. “You agreed not to kill me.”
I smirked, lifting an eyebrow.
“I never said I was a wolf of my word.”
Using my weight, I drew back and slammed my foot on his face, and blood erupted from his now broken nose. He yelped and used his knees to scoot back. I twisted and brought my boot down on his knee.
The snap was satisfying. A snarl lifted my lips as I continued beating him. He tried shifting a few times, but I had broken more than a few bones.
