Page 65 of The Wolf's Kidnapped Mate

I took one more step before pausing, watching how he hungrily and repulsively devoured every inch of my naked body. He was totally mesmerized.

Good.

“Ray,” I whispered. “Are you ready for me to tell you the truth?”

He licked his lips again and nodded excitedly while adjusting himself. “Tell me you love me, Kylie. Tell me you want me, and I’ll consider letting your brother roam free.”

“I don’t care about him. Or anyone.”

He met my gaze with a lustful grin and opened his arms. “Come to me then. Show me how you feel, right here. Rightnow.”

Alarms went off in my brain as I stepped toward him. No way in hell was he going to grope my body. He wouldn’t have a chance. Because the way the waist-high grass around us rustled told me the boys were closing in. Growls floated up from behind Bernadetti.

When he started to turn, I shifted into wolf form and pounced on him. Human flesh was so much easier to rip. Without wasting a second, I bit into his throat, holding him in place as he struggled to grab my fur.

“You bitch. You fucking slimy bi—”

I bit harder, cutting his words off without crushing his pipe. A snarling mess broke out in the grass. Karla and Cora darted into the meadow past me. Guns went off. Heart-wrenching whines signaled the injuries of those wolves who had dared to attack us.

Silence settled over the meadow. Other than Bernadetti breathing frantically under my grip, I heard nothing.

The snout of a gun appeared in my view, settling over Bernadetti’s forehead. A hand rested upon my shoulder and eased me back. Blood oozed from Bernadetti’s wound, but not enough to kill him just yet. Not enough to truly harm him if he wasn’t bluffing about his black-market enhancements.

I didn’t shift into human form. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing my body before his death.

Cora cocked her rifle. “Where did you get the juice?”

Bernadetti glared up at her while coughing. “Fuck you.”

She pressed the rifle deeper into his forehead. “Any other last words, Berns?”

Karla patted my neck, drawing me away from the scene. “Don’t worry about him. Go to your brother.”

I froze up. My brother?

Fred appeared in his dusty white wolf form, panting heavily. Red spattered the front of his dusty white fur—and it didn’t smell like his blood.

I gasped.Liam.

Fred backed into the tall grass.His head won’t stop bleeding.

Goddess, no, I croaked as I jogged after him.Please, be okay. Just be okay.

Pitiful whimpers met my ears when I walked over the trampled grass a few feet away from Bernadetti. Liam was laid out on his side with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Fred shifted next to him and cradled his head while I nuzzled intomy brother. I dropped to my belly and shoved my snout into his neck.

Fred carefully inspected the head wound. It was a nasty one for sure. Even as a shifter, he would need to be monitored by medical professionals, and soon. I raised my eyebrows when I heard Cora and Karla talking to Bernadetti.

“…so you just did it to be selfish?” Karla snapped. “What a waste.”

Bernadetti spat at them. “I don’t regret a thing.”

“What a coincidence. We won’t either.”

Bang.

It was over. It was finally over.

I never had to run again.

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