Page 27 of Hell Kissed
My fingers dig into cold, snow slicked timber, but just as I lift my leg against it, a hand wraps around my ankle and jerks me back down. I stagger down and strong hands pin me to the fence. Wood bites into my spine while my hands are pulled up high, and Kyvain’s raging blue eyes glare down on me.
“You fucking bit me, you whore!”
My knee comes up hard and fast, and he crumbles to the ground even faster. The three men who surrounded him earlier lunge forward. I never flinch, but the violence I anticipate never comes.
They leap onto my lifelong tormentor, and angry kicks and punches are thrown at him.
“Don’t fucking touch her!” they roar with newfound loyalty.
“Ever.”
But an alpha has more power than three confused mates.
Kyvain thrashes out with a roar of power and all three of them cower back.
One of them peers up, his blond head still down turned but his eyes searing into mine with aggression and confusion as he says, “Alpha Morganson said you’re not coming back. You’re not welcome anymore.”
That’s when it sinks in. They’ve all marked me as their mate. Possibly more than just these four.
And they’re fucking furious about it. Mating with the outcast no one wants apparently wasn’t one of their life goals. They see me as a weakness, and now a threat.
“He’ll make your life hell if you don’t go,” the blond boy urges. “I can’t watch him kill you slowly.”
“Get the fuck out of here,” Calvin hisses at me. “Get out. You’re safer if you leave.”
Bea nods, and my heart drops.
I knew I was safer out of the pack. I knew I didn’t belong. It just hurts to hear it spoken out loud.
Kyvain leaps to his feet.
Adrenaline spirals through me. I climb the fence once more. A big hand catches my foot, but I kick him off. When I reach the top, I flip him off one last time, a sweet goodbye to my fated mate. My battered heart soars as I land steadily on two feet on the other side.
I don’t wait. I don’t look back. I hurry away from the edge of the pack’s territory and head toward the mountains I’ve always been warned to stay away from. Apparently, they’re dangerous, but they’re nothing compared to the danger I would face if I stayed.
Once I’m out of sight, I slow down, taking a moment to let everything sink in.
I press my palms to my eyes, and immediately feel a wave of heat in the night that continues to grow colder. Pulling my hands away, the first thing I see are a pair of ashen boots in the snow.
Because of course I’ve been found. I’m just that lucky. Thinking I could get away from men who can randomly materialize was an impossibility I’d only tricked myself into believing.
My gaze drifts up the man’s perfect body, and kind but tormented blue eyes meet mine once more.
“Let me take you to your mother. I promise I won’t harm you.” He nods toward the towering blond giant of a man behind him. “I won’t let Aric or Torben lay a hand on you either.” Latham’s honesty is a vivid thing. I can see it in the sharp features of his face, but I can feel it too.
I believe him.
Mostly because he’s just the lesser of two evils.
“Or Loki,” I add.
He shakes his head and releases a long sigh. “I wish you’d change his name,” he says under his breath and I’m surprised how easily he makes me smile. “I’ll keep the hellcat safe too.”
My smile only grows wider, but it slowly occurs to me that someone’s missing.
“WhereisAric?”
Latham motions toward the fence I left behind just as a roar of fiery rage shakes the ground I stand upon.
