Page 106 of Undying
ChapterThirty-One
CASTLE
Tobias and I stand in unison, our chairs scraping against the floor in our rush. Claws slice through the tips of my fingers, but I barely feel the bite of pain, too consumed with the overwhelming need to protect my mate. My fangs—which never really go away—lengthen, and I struggle to keep my beast from escaping the cage of my body.
While I can easily eviscerate and dismember a person in my wolf form, I can do it faster with my axe in my hand. Once my beast gets free, there will be no stopping his rampage, not until every last person who threatens our mate is dead.
I head toward the door, Tobias a step behind me, and I can’t help but grumble at him. “Why the fuck is there not a weapons cache in every room?”
“I don’t fucking know, but I intend to remedy it the first chance I get,” he replies with a growl as he stomps into the hallway, cursing under his breath with every step.
“Milo—head to the office and engage the emergency shutters.” Stanton snaps out the command, punching out orders on his phone. “Bryce and Kenny—secure the house. Kill anyone who enters.” They vanish almost before he finishes speaking. “I’ll alert Delta Team that we have a situation.”
All of us enter the office, each intent on our own tasks. Milo heads directly toward the control panel hidden behind an old painting, Stanton marches toward his desk, while Tobias and I head toward the small armory we stashed behind the fake bookshelf.
We’re so distracted that it takes me nearly a full minute before I realize Jolie hasn’t followed us, her absence like a fist to the gut. Sure that I’m wrong, that my littlesætawouldn’t be foolish enough to go off on her own, I straighten and glance around the room. The longer I go without spotting her, the more my spine stiffens.
I search the room twice, sure that I must be wrong, but there is not even a wisp of her presence. A growl rumbles in my chest, the ruff on the back of my wolf rising, and I lift my nose in the air, detecting only a faded hint of her sharp citrus scent.
I try to pick up the scent of any foreign intruders, but come up empty as well.
We were so focused on our battle plan that no one bothered to watch Jolie, assuming that she would follow us.
My mate is too smart to wander off by herself.
Someone must have grabbed her while we were distracted.
“She’s gone,” I snarl, fear making my voice sound almost feral.
I don’t wait for the others, I just snatch up my double-headed axe before charging back into the hallway, ignoring the cursing behind me.
Adrenaline surges through my body, and my muscles bulk up, readying for battle.
When I catch sight of Jolie standing in the open doorway to the mansion, not moving, I lope toward her, terrified that I won’t reach her in time. I skid to a stop behind her, nearly plowing into her, and slip my hand around her waist and drag her against me. My heart is beating so hard that I’m surprised it doesn’t implode.
As I search the darkness, I gently shove Jolie behind me and lift my axe as I brace for an attack.
Only to be confronted with an empty yard.
“I don’t think that we’re under attack,” Jolie mutters behind me, trying to peek around me. I quickly slam the door shut, not wanting to make her a target. Once I’m sure the door is secure, I turn and quickly pin her to the wall.
The rest of the guys melted away, silently granting me permission to take her to task.
I slip my hand around her throat and tip her head back, forcing her to look at me. “You disappeared.”
She blinks up at me, confusion clouding her gorgeous brown eyes, which only enrages me further. I press closer, not giving her a chance to escape again. My wolf is so riled that I’m barely able to form words. “We were under attack, and you disappeared.”
Her mouth opens, then closes, then she purses her lips, looking somewhere between sheepish and defiant. I tighten my grip on her throat, a warning not to mess with me. “Think carefully before you speak, mysæta. Lie to me, and I’ll take you over my knee.”
Lust darkens her eyes, like I offered her an incentive instead of a threat.
And damn if my cock doesn’t spring to attention at the thought of having her naked and at my mercy. I slip my knee between her thighs, and she moans when I press against her pussy. She arches against me before she can stop herself, then shakes her head as if to clear it.
Much to my dismay, she seems to heed my silent threat.
“I didn’t disappear,” she protests in a breathy voice. “When you guys went to the office, I decided to assess the threat. When I didn’t sense any danger, I went to the front door.”
I heave out a massive sigh of exasperation at the way she so casually placed herself in danger. I plant my hand against the wall next to her head to keep from following through with my threat to spank her ass a nice cherry red. Pressing my forehead against hers, I pray for patience. “You’re our mate—ours to protect. If anything happens to you, our will to live will cease to exist.”
