Page 98 of Untamed

"Willa," I breathe out her name, feeling the air in my lungs expand and deflate with her name on my lips. Her real name is Willa. My hellcat has a sweetheart name.

It almost makes me want to laugh, but something sorry and pitiful stirs in my belly. I wanted my mate to be the one who told me her name when she spoke to me for the first time. Not this way, with my mate kidnapped and this blue-eyed female who only faintly resembles my hellcat telling me that she is her mother.

Oh, goddess, where is she? I bite back the lament before it can cross my lips. I'll get her back. My wolf and I will demolish Diego in this Challenge and rip the heads off of any wolf, no matter who, who tries to stop me

"She has been taken," I growl to the tearful female. "I will coat my tongue with the blood of our enemies and bring my mate home." My wolf snaps his teeth in emphasis. A few elders, clinging to the periphery, cringe a bit at the snarled promise.

"You are her mate," my hellcat's mother says softly. A strange expression crossed her face. It's a mixture of sorrow and worry and profound relief. "You love my daughter?"

"She is my life," I snarl, slapping my chest. The claws are still there. I don't know if they'll ever go away. My alpha-wolf shivers just under my skin. We are ready to find our mate. Rhet and Lyri are trying to convince us to wait for the Challenge, but we want our female now.

I shake my head. It's becoming harder to separate his thoughts from mine. Maybe because we are the same, we want our hellcat back.

"You said that Willa is special?" Rhet prods her, myQitsuk'smother. We must have interrupted this conversation when we came in.

"My daughter... my Willa was six years when I knew. Oh, signs, yes, there were those. But knowing and thinking, they are different, no?" Too-white fingers wring together, tightly, so tightly that I can sense Jax's wolf getting irritated with her lack of care for herself.

I have to concentrate on understanding what this female is saying. Her cadence is odd, her words slightly twisted, as if she grew up speaking another language. Or in the wild, with only a daughter to talk to. As I stalk into the room, I can catch her scent. She's human. No wolf to speak of. How the fuck did my mate survive with a human mother?

A cold sweat breaks out. I pace back and forth in front of the fireplace, my claws clicking together on the ends of my fingers. I think my brothers left a path for me on purpose. They don't make eye contact, don't try to pacify me. Everyone gives me a wide berth to act a little crazy as my wolf, and I try to shake the remainder of the drugs. The only ones who meet my eyes are Sarj and Jax. Sarj is an unshifted pup, and Jax is an alpha, too.

"What happened when Willa was six?" Rhet asks.

My mate's mother just blinks at Rhet, looking like a lost little bunny for a moment. Then those blue eyes crystallize and harden into diamond chips.

"She was thrown to the river," comes the flat reply. "By her own Father."

I bend my head to my knees. Snarls fill the air. A threat of blood, a promise of pain. I cut the sound off, snapping my teeth at my wolf. We have to focus. Our mate is out there in the hands of my enemies. I can feel her, just a whisper of life from a distance. Our bond isn't complete, and she's so young that her she-wolf can't reach out to mine quite yet, but I know she's there. Surprisingly, or maybe not, she's not afraid. My little hellcat is upset but not terrified. I hold on to that, that string of feeling that gives me hope.

"What happened to her?" Jax chimes in softly.

I watch the mother-wolf meet the Alpha's eyes and visibly relax. "She nearly drowned. Couldn't swim. An oak tree, young, strong, with the deepest roots, fell. The branches caught on her hair and held her above water. She was saved."

She takes a deep breath, and Rhet jumps in again. "Could it have been a coincidence?"

I bare my canines at my oldest brother, not that he gives a damn. Rhet's eyes are fixed on Snow with almost fiendish delight. My wolf settles. Rhet believes in myQitsuk'sWild, maybe more than anyone.

"I saw the trees. The forest..." her voice drifts into an echo of a mother's remembered horror. "My pup, my verylife, was dying. The forest trembled," she whispers. "The trees shook against the wind. Then... the air grew cold and utterly silent. The forest wasangry."

I see Rhet glance at a quiet Ezra with significance before prodding the female again. "Then what?"

She smiles, an eerie, haunting smile that reminds me of my mate more than ever. "Willa's father left the forest not even an hour later. He became more careful. He could not dare risk her life again. The forest knew, and he did, too," she finishes with a triumphant little smile.

"Your pup is a special one," Alpha Jax croons at her. She blushes slightly and for a moment.... alongmoment... I'm caught up in the stunning sight of the old alpha male acting sweet to a female. It's more than a little disturbing. Alpha Jax has a lovelorn, possessive look on his face, and Snow is blushing and just... weird.

"You are like the boulder in the river, resolute and immovable," The mother-wolf suddenly says. She's looking at me. "I didn't expect you. I didn't dare hope that my pup's mate would love her so deeply. I should have known. Most wolves are fish, eel, minnows, or much larger." She pauses, and her eyes go misty, far away, "Some wolves are like catfish, lurking in the depths, invisible and monstrous, waiting to prey on the weak and slow." Her throat moves, a swallow, a tremble under her skin.

"What is Willa?" Jax asks her softly.

Snow refocuses, blinking her eyes. "My daughter is the current. She moves at her own speed, under her own power. And if she wants you to drown, thendrownyou do." Those eyes fix on me again. "I don't think I prepared my daughter for you. I didn't know." She looks at Jax with her lower lip trembling. "I didn't know."

"Shh," Jax rumbles.

Elder Wilson comes into the room. "The Challenge is scheduled for tomorrow. It will be held in BlueSnout.”

I feel a smile of anticipation crawl over my face. I won’t wait. I’ll destroy the world to make it safe for my luna. The thread of our bond tugs at my wolf. His eyes turn east. Soon, my sweet hellcat, my Willa. “First, we save my mate. She is not in BlueSnout.” Diego will have to wait for his death.

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