Page 56 of Wolf Desired

Knox, in his wolf form, prowled the arena floor, snarling and baring his teeth. Pools of blood darkened the floor with a ripped piece of clothing lying in the center of the largest one. He looked as if he were a real wolf trapped in a cage and not a shifter, his movements jerky and wild.

I pressed a hand against my chest, clinging to the gate with my other hand to keep standing, and focused on the pressure inside me. This close to Knox, the pull felt like it was tearing my soul from my chest, and a rage and primal wildness that needed to rip everything apart threatened to seize me.

I wrenched my eyes open and strained to suck in a steadying breath. The emotions coming through the bond had exploded into a vortex that tore at my insides and likely tore at his as well.

For whatever reason, the primal core of his wolf was devouring the human half of his soul, and if it succeeded, I’d lose my mate forever.

I had to get in there. I had to save him.

The lock on the gate required a key that I didn’t have, so I swept my gaze around, looking for it or a way up to the arena’s seating, anything that would help.

There. About ten feet behind me. A passage I hadn’t noticed because I’d been focused on the gate and the light beyond it.

I rushed into the passage, up the short set of stairs into the first row of benches, and climbed over the edge of the wall determined to get into the arena as fast as possible. If I hung from my fingertips, the fall was only a foot or two, but the stone was smooth and I’d barely gotten turned around and over the edge, when my fingers slipped and I crashed to the arena floor, landing on my butt.

A low growl jerked my attention up and I locked gazes with Knox as he bolted toward me with no glimmer of recognition in his eyes.

My pulse stuttered.

He wouldn’t hurt me. I was his mate. If I died, he died. But did his animal half understand that? He was so angry, so determined to kill everything.

“Audrey!”

A wave of power crashed over me along with the sudden need to run away. I wrenched my gaze around the arena, searching for a way to escape even as a part of me screamed that the impetus came from someone’s alpha power, not me.

On the far side, Cyrus and Deacon leaped over the wall to the arena floor their expressions filled with panic and raced toward me.

Both guys looked like they’d already fought with a feral wolf and barely escaped with their lives, and if all the unease churning inside me came from Knox then that meant they’d been fighting with him since last night.

How had it gotten so bad? And why hadn’t they shifted out their injuries? Unless, of course, they were bad enough they feared the shift would exhaust them and they wouldn’t be able to keep doing whatever they were doing with Knox.

Cyrus, who still wore the pants he’d worn yesterday morning indicating that he and Knox had gone straight to this arena when we’d returned to Stonehaven, had lost his shirt and held one arm against his stomach. Blood smeared his chest and ran from beneath his arm and down his legs, soaking into his pants, while Deacon’s whole right side was bloody. He held his right arm to his chest, blood leaking from long gashes that ran from his shoulder to his elbow.

Behind them, Bishop lay on a bench, not moving, and my pulse lurched with a new fear. I couldn’t see if he was injured, but I also couldn’t see if he was breathing.

Oh, God! Had Knox done that?

“Run!” Cyrus roared at me and another burst of power made my muscles tense.

But there wasn’t anywhere to go and the command only added to the emotions crushing my chest. I couldn’t climb back up the wall. It was too tall. The closest gate was locked. And there was no way in hell I’d be able to outrun a wolf.

And now I was no longer certain that Knox wouldn’t hurt me.

He’d mauled Cyrus and hurt Bishop and they were his brothers. I was just some weak little girl who’d forced a mating bond on him.

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