Page 125 of Skyla

I stripped off my clothes and stepped through my shadows outside the building. Wraith was beside me, and one by one they appeared out of the darkness. Myâmmelunewas in the woods. She knew what it meant.

The shadows gripped me. My conscious mind receded.There. Her blueberry scent wove into the woods, the sharper scent of her arousal woven through it.

I moved. Faster than I ever allowed myself to.

She was fast too, my prey.

Ahead of me, a flash of silver in the darkness.

Nothing was truly dark to the Shadows. The silver disappeared, her scent disappearing briefly. To my left, Delta leapt into a tree, running across the branches. Good. He would flank her. This deep in our instincts, we didn’t need to speak.

The shadows spoke for us.

These woods went for miles, but our portion of it wasn’t that big. She was going to run into a fence with much stronger wards. A smile cracked over my face as the five of us spread out, instincts communicating in order to herd her in the direction we wanted.

My conscious mind was present enough to acknowledge this would be hard and fast. In the future, when she was safe, I wanted a longer chase. I wanted tohunther. Tonight I wanted her beneath me, screaming as she came on my tongue.

Well… maybe not screaming. Her mouth would be otherwise occupied.

I pulled up short, hit with a wave of her scent. On the branch in front of me was a scrap of silk. The five of us stared at it, spellbound for an eternal moment. It was wet—soaked withher.

That scent was so strong it had pulled us here.

Clever girl.

Yanking the fabric off the branch, I inhaled, growling with need.

Mine.

A rustle drew our gaze, and we were moving. Flying through the trees, not caring about being scratched or tripped. We needed to get toher.

Âmmelune.

Through the small stream that flowed through the woods. Her footprints sank into the dirt, the water dampening her scent just enough to make me pause. Not enough to throw me off.

I grinned.

Skyla was my queen and my mate. She would never be able to hide from me. Never again.

She stood in front of me, on a rock in the middle of the stream. Leaping to the other side and looking back. She was quick. Not nearly quick enough.

But we would let her think she was.

An echoing growl resounded through the trees in agreement. We knew where we were taking her.

Her dress flowed in the air like a flag of surrender as I caught her around the waist, hauling her to me. She fought back, as given to her instincts now as we were.

I set her down on the ground and held her still even as I felt the others get into position. I was the misdirection.

My hand wrapped around her throat. Her pulse raced beneath my fingers, begging me to show her who it beat for. The richness of her scent sank into my bones. Her chest heaved against the thin material of her nightdress.

Fabric that tore under my hands as easily as paper.

Palming her ass, I dragged her body against mine, taking her breath and body in a kiss meant to drug her. Daze her. Remind her who I was and who she was running from.

She only had a little time left.

“Run, baby girl.”