Page 75 of Untamed

I takeQitsuk'schain in my hand. Something makes me uneasy. Alpha Jax is still M.I.A., and Lyri wasn't warned of any visitors. After Jax's sister, Glory's, disaster of a 'visit,' I'm not eager to welcome any more wolves to my land.

I jump into the ATV Asher drove here, pulling my mate in on my lap. I stroke her fur absently, my mind on the wolves.

"How many?"

"Three. One male, two female."

"Scents?"

"Far to the north. No pack I recognize," he replies. "Thjis is there. They seem intimidated."Thjis is the size of a grizzly, so I understand their hesitation.

It only takes eight minutes to drive back to the packhouse. It takes far less for the scent to hit me once we reach the yard.

"Goddess. It's not possible," I say outloud. But I know it's possible. I know it is.

"Greta," I mumble, meeting the sky-blue gaze from my puphood.

I step out of the ATV in a daze, shocked to my core. She survived... and I failed as her alphason.

"Tarkik," she croaks. Her voice is older, husky. She must be, what, twenty-two, twenty-three now? She's thin, her bony arms exposed by too-short sleeves of her ill-fitting shirt. Her cheekbones are sharp enough to make her look gaunt. Her eyes hold the scared look of prolonged starvation and suffering.

"It is you," she sobs, taking a step towards me, her trembling arms outstretched towards me.

I take a step, ready to catch her as she wobbles on weak knees, when I see a flash of gold in the corner of my vision.

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Willa

She will lose more than an eye. We want her life between our teeth. We want her lifeblood to run down our throat. We want her dead.She looks at our Mactiir as if he ishers. But he said that he wasmine.

When we leap at the female, the arm that hits our chest sends all the air whooshing from our lungs.

My she-wolf retreats immediately, her whine of hurt and confusion making my head start to pound.

"No, mate," Mactiir snaps at us. His other arm closes around the other female, holding her tight to his side.

I stumble over my paws, not quite able to shift back to feet yet. The word 'mate' feels like it slapped me in the face, more brutal than his hit. I've never heard Mactiir say the word as if it tastes sour on his tongue.

Pain blooms in my chest, and I don't understand it. I can't breathe, spots dancing in front of my eyes, and I wonder suddenly if I forgot to inhale again?

"Get her out of here before she hurts Greta," Mactiir tells someone.

Strong arms pick me up. The Dark Male, the one who smells of the sky and now... now I scent the kindness in him. Maybe it's not kindness. Maybe it's just concern for me.

Because I still can't breathe. My body is trembling, and I bury my snout in his arm. My teeth are chattering, but the Dark Male's chest moves under me, up and down. It's a slow rhythm that lulls my body into taking a breath. Then another. And another.

I keep my face hidden and don't shift back. Not as the Dark Male carries me away, and the scent of Mactiir and that female fades. Not when I scent a vehicle and feel the Dark Male move to sit inside with me still cradled in his arms. Not when I hear the Dark Male's voice, reverberating under my right ear, tell the Laughing male that I may be in "medical shock" and to turn up the heat and "drive fast, damnit."

I don't peek out from him until I hear something worth looking at again.

"What's wrong?" the Pup sounds hoarse as if he's been crying.

"Our fucking brother is an idiot," the Laughing male says grimly.

"That's a clear explanation," the Pup says. The Laughing male approaches the Pup and murmurs something I don’t catch.

I peek at the Pup, and he sucks in a breath. "Ah, poor kitty-cat," he says quietly. Sorrow, the emotion an echo of my own bruised heart, is shared with the soft brown eyes looking at me. We are bothvulnerable; defenseless, exposed, weak.

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