Page 52 of The Wolf's Kidnapped Mate

A devastating howl sounded in the distance. Our heads swiveled around to face the window, hearts uniting in a fervent rhythm as we rose to our feet and edged toward the pane. At the bottom of the hill was a pack of wolves. Four of them coasted toward us while one of them hung back, one with black fur that looked dreadfully familiar.

Fred gripped my upper arm. “Fuck,fuck.”

“Don’t panic.”

“Kylie, we have to shift right now and just make a break for it.”

I shook my head. “That would lead them right to the safe house. We can’t blow our cover like that. We should circle back around the hill and maybe scale the mountain, lead them to that mineshaft we found when we—”

“No.”

“It’s the only way. We have to drag them away, maybe injure them so we can run off and—”

He clutched my hand. “I can’t let anything happen to you.”

I stared at the window with his hand in mine, knowing damn well we were wasting time trying to figure things out. He was squeezing the life out of me. But I didn’t feel pain.

All I felt was the horrifying realization that I was facing my death—and his death.

“At all costs, Kylie,” he whispered. “I won’t let it happen.”

I frowned at our approaching demise, those vicious snarls making my bones shudder.

He grabbed my shoulders and forced me to face him. “Do you trust me?”

I stammered over my response. The howls grew louder,closer. I could practically feel the decrepit heat of that wolf’s breath on my face all over again.

He shook me once, hard. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes!”

“Show me your throat.”

Without hesitation, I tilted my head back and exposed my throat to him. He burrowed into my flesh, canines extending with the motion and plunging into my skin with the rest of histeeth. The bite was quick and sharp, a shocking sensation that roused a soul-satisfying moan.

He cradled me in his arms for a moment as his lips perched at the wound, panting like he had run for miles just to taste my flesh. The room spun as my vision tunneled. And as I held him there, as I listened to our enemies sprint directly for the cabin, I felt stronger than I ever had in my life.

Nothing could stop me.

Not even death.

Chapter 17 - Fred

Something extraordinary happened the moment my lips left her throat. I stood back with Kylie in my arms, cradling her to keep her legs steady, and I was overwhelmed with a great urgency, a longing that I’d never expected to feel.

Hope sprouted in my center and penetrated my chest like a beanstalk blasting through the soil. It wound around my heart and infected the muscle, sending the hopeful swirls through my body by way of my veins. Every inch of me was covered by the time I held Kylie’s face and drew her toward me.

I tilted my head to the right, showing her my throat. “Bite me. Now.”

She didn’t fight me. She didn’t argue. Though her limbs were lax, her bite was firm and confident, accompanied by a momentous growl that crawled from deep within to warn those that dared to come after us. The warning growl vibrated my neck. I felt her commitment to protecting me by the sheer force of her tenderness until she released my throat.

Within seconds, our wounds healed. The marks flared and swelled in round crimson shapes, the canines much deeper than the rest. At first glance, anyone would assume they were hickeys. But shifters knew this mark very well.

It was the very mark I had been attempting to prevent since Blake announced us as mates. This mission had changed a visceral part of me—and now it was physical too. It was right on my neck. It was done by the woman I’d sworn would never be my mate.

I took her shoulders lightly and leveled my gaze with hers. “Now you’re protected.”

“And you.”

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