by E. M. Moore
Kinsey stands, bringing me to my feet. “Now,” she says. “Leave.”
Sean whips around and shoots his hand out, grabbing me by the wrist. “Checkmate, Mia.” He grins. His sadistic ass finds this funny.
The couples at the table with us gather around, congratulating us and giving Nathan’s outburst true contempt for ruining our moment.
Jonah and a few of Alpha Richard’s security team drag Nathan from the room. He’s fully human now, his skin glistening in sweat and as naked as the day he was born.
My heart cracks down the center, but I place a smile on my face as my world zeroes into a pinpoint. They’ll put two and two together. Unless Nathan and Jonah can come up with some believable excuse, Nathan at least, is done for.
Alpha Richard makes his way over to us. The couples we’re with part, giving him ample space. “I’m so happy for the two of you. I love to see our fated pairs come together, the way it should be. No doubt the tragic events of the past couple of days have shown you two that you need your mate more than anyone else.”
Sean entwines our fingers. “Yes, sir. When I found out she was in the cabin when it caught on fire, it sparked something in me. I knew I couldn’t live without her.”
His answering smile is genuine.
I peer at Sean. He makes me sick, but I have to play the part. My chances of escape are now gone with all the attention. “I always knew that,” I purr in the sweetest voice I can muster.
Alpha Richard laughs, the sound reverberating around the room. “Often, females know everything before men do.”
My whole table laughs, but I have a suspicion it’s just to cover up the mess that’s being picked up on the other side of the room. Kinsey is frozen in her spot, staring at the door Jonah left through. Several servants are arranging brand-new plates just as they were, and before long, it’ll be like nothing even happened.
Alpha Richard takes our joined hands and raises them in the air. “To true love, my shifter brethren.”
The whole room erupts in an applause that surpasses all the noise of the cleaning and the covering up. My hopes dash in that moment. I’m destined to stay with Sean, here, just waiting to see what he’ll have concocted to take me out.
While the applause is still going, Alpha Richard leans over between the two of us. “I’ll have a room prepared for you at the mansion. My treat. I’m so glad to hear of your good news.”
I shake his hand, smiling. It’s an honor to be invited to his personal house. He no doubt wants to make a show of another shifter being with their mated pair. It’s like a billboard for doing the right thing. If you accept your mate, or even if you accept them after they’re reformed, good things happen. You get a round of applause at balls. You get a room at the alpha’s mansion. You get so much attention.
Alpha Richard returns to his table, and as if on cue, everything is back in place. The instruments are playing once again. The table is made up. The couples who were sharing Nathan and Gayle’s table are all seated around it again, talking animatedly amongst themselves. The only thing that’s wrong is that Nathan isn’t there. Neither is Gayle.
Jonah, too, for that matter.
Kinsey leans over. “Plan B.”
“What the fuck is plan B?”
She frowns. “I’m figuring that out now.”
I growl under my breath. I need to figure this shit out. It’s my future.
I can’t do anything attached to Sean, though. Couple after couple keep coming up to our table to congratulate us. I fan my face. Screw the deep breaths, I’m going to milk this anxiety episode for all it’s worth. I hold on to the back of my chair.
“Are you alright?” Kinsey asks.
“Not feeling well,” I tell her, loud enough for Sean to hear. “I think I need some air.”
“I’ll take you,” he says and grabs my hand, excusing us from our line of admirers. He acts the doting mate as we walk back out through the huge entry doors and across the marble floors to the garden.
When we step outside, Sean snickers. “Bet you didn’t see that coming.”
I tear my hand from his. “I certainly didn’t.”
“There,” he says. “Now Gayle knows what it feels like. Plus, I get the added bonus of keeping you quiet. I’ll do anything to get what I want, Mia. Anything.”
I charge at him, catching him off guard, and soon, I’m straddling his chest with my face in his. The hem of my skirt is pooled by his neck. “Shift,” I growl, placing my fingers on his throat and squeezing.
He starts to fight me, scratching at my arms and upper body. My dress snags as we roll around on the ground. Each time I top him, I stare into his eyes and beg him to shift. Sean the human won’t do anything for me, but Sean the wolf will.
“Come out, dammit,” I yell.
He breathes funny, exaggerating every tiny movement, baring his teeth in the process. Saliva leaks from his mouth, eyes turning a shade of yellow gold.
“Please,” I plead. “I know you’re in there. Shift for me again. He’s hurting me.”
His bones start to crack, and I dive off him as he contorts, his fur rippling down his arms until the shift finally completes. Tears stream down my face as Sean’s wolf lies in front of me, face on his paws.
“Please,” I beg him. “I never wanted this to happen, but he won’t stop. I have to leave.”
He whines, the sound tearing at my heartstrings.
“If things had been different from the beginning….” I whisper.
His wolf nudges my hand, and I run my fingers through his soft fur, feeling it slip over my skin like a caress. I close my eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
He whines one last time, then licks my hand. Getting to his paws, he licks the tears from my face, then nudges me. He pushes me again when I don’t immediately move. I stand a little unsteadily, and he play bites at my feet. I understand what he’s telling me to do.
He’s telling me to run.
I slide my hand over the wolf’s head again. “I love you,” I tell the animal, knowing it in my heart. He feels like an old friend now. A kind of kindred soul.
Kinsey grabs my hand. I hadn’t even heard her follow us. She picks up her skirt and starts to drag me out of the garden. I increase the pace, hiking my own skirt to my knees as I run like hell toward the terrace that leads to a side lawn.
The wolf howls, and I feel his pain right down to my toes. I stumble, but Kinsey rights me again. “You know where to go.”
“But Nathan. He’ll be in even bigger trouble than me now.”
“Go,” Kinsey roars. “I’ll contact Jonah. He’ll meet you. I promise.”
We stop underneath the trellises, the moon casting an ethereal glow over the roses. I turn toward her, and it dawns on me I may never see my friend again. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
She lets out a breath, and we embrace, holding onto one another. “You kept me sane when I needed it the most,” she said. “We’ll see each other again. I know it. This isn’t goodbye. I promise.”
I back away, nodding and catching the tears that are falling from the corners of my eyes.
“Now, go,” she says, pushing me forward. “Go before Sean takes control of his wolf again.”
I take off into the night. Behind me, I can already hear Kinsey dialing Jonah on her cell phone.
I run fast and hard.
I run until it hurts to breathe.
The gown impedes my speed, but all I have to do is get to the forest. It seems like it takes forever as I make sure to follow the directions Kinsey gave me on where to wait. When I get there, I double over, placing my forehead on the bark of the tree.
This certainly hasn’t gone as planned. With Sean making that announcement, people will be wondering where we are. They’ll all want to talk to the newly accepted pair. My parents. His parents.
This certainly isn’t the under-the-radar escape that we wanted.
Seconds slowly tick by. Worry settles in at the thirty mark. Agitation follows quickly after.
I’m only allowed to wait here for a few minutes before making my way to the car and the supplies. Each step away seems like another step away from Nathan, though.
My life. My world.
I won’t make it without him. I know that for a fact.
The roar he let out when Sean made the announcement echoes in the back of my head. I hadn’t quite processed it as it happened, but I hear it so clearly now.
It broke him.
Dear Fate, bring Nathan to me, I beg. After all, we’re going to need a miracle.
28
When time is up, I let out a waning cry that surprises even me. It echoes through the dark night, but no response comes. I wait for another minute, using my superior hearing to try to decipher even the tiniest of movement.
There’s still one more chance.
I peel the beautiful gown off and place it in a pile so it’s easy to pick up when I shift. My wolf is waiting to take over, to save me from the pain I’m experiencing. She takes control in no time at all, the pain of shifting is nothing compared to the worry exploding in my heart. She picks up the gown and takes off, leaving no trace that I’d been there. When she gets to the stream in the woods, she drops the gown.
No evidence.
My only awareness is attuned to listening for any sign of Nathan. I need him to be at the car. I need to turn this into the love story I always should’ve had. Nathan is my everything. We promised each other, and dammit, he better keep that promise.
With my wolf in control, she tears through the forest, her animal instincts making it much easier than the first half of the journey I made alone. Unfortunately, the distance she has to travel is much farther than mine. When every second feels so important, time condenses. It feels like it takes her forever to get even remotely close to the rendezvous point Kinsey marked on the map.
When we’re several football field lengths away, she slows, prowling through the forest like the natural predator she is, searching for threats. At this point, we can’t be too careful. The pack may be after us by now. I don’t know how much time Sean’s wolf gave me. He could’ve shifted after I ran for it, then ratted me out to the alpha soon after.
It feels so lonely in the woods by myself. The more the night sounds close in, the more I realize I don’t want to do this alone. Nathan is supposed to be here. I won’t make it a day without him. It would be like ripping off half of myself and thinking that I would be able to survive.
The stillness that forever surrounds us is a mourning march. We get close enough to spy the car on the back road, and my wolf lets out a whimper.
He’s not there.
He’s not leaning against the trunk, smiling. He’s not pacing and searching the tree line, wondering what direction we’re coming from.
My wolf sits, panting, the energy expenditure catching up with her now that she’s settled.
At least we’re on the same page. We’re not leaving here without Nathan.
The wind trickles through her fur. Alert, we wait for a sign. Any sign. The clock that’s been over my head, ticking down since I got pulled into Ms. Ebon’s office, is reemerging with a vengeance. I brought forward my time limit. I’m doing it on my own terms. Much scarier ones, if I’m honest, because I’ve taken control of my life. If this goes wrong, I won’t just be dropped off in the middle of nowhere to live packless.
I’ll be captured, interrogated…punished.
My wolf starts to pace, whining and whimpering. We should’ve left by now. If this was just about me, I would have, but I ceased being one person when Nathan and I gave in to the pull drawing us together like magnets. If he doesn’t leave, I don’t either. He’s fighting for us. I know it. Wherever he is, he’s trying like hell to get here.
Return? My wolf asks. Her discomfort level has risen a few notches the longer time stretches on. She’s as aware of the stakes as I am.
I try to reassure her with the same thoughts that have been running through my head about how hard Nathan will fight to get here, to leave with us.
We perk up when a faint noise reaches her ears. She focuses on it, ears straightening, turning in its direction. The little noise gets louder and louder until I can make out what it is.
Car.
My wolf retreats further into the shadows as we wait. It could just be someone passing by, and I hope like hell that the car waiting on the side of the road doesn’t raise any red flags.
However, it could also be Nathan. That thought makes my heart ram against my ribcage. The beam of headlights spotlight the forest around me. When they approach our getaway car, they slow.
My wolf crouches down, waiting. The SUV inches closer, and I nearly come out of my skin when it suddenly jerks ahead, tires squealing as if whoever is driving has stomped on the gas. My wolf stands, watching as the SUV points directly at our getaway car.
It’s then that I see Sean’s outline.
Fuck.
My wolf leaps from behind the tree, paws digging into the dirt as she runs like hell. If he sabotages our escape, it’s over.
Bounding over the embankment and toward the road, she leaps in the air. The SUV is getting closer and closer, its nose aimed right at the rear end. Everything slows while my wolf flies through the air. I can see Sean so clearly in the car, the look of rage on his face. He catches my wolf out of the corner of his eye, his mouth opening in a slight part as recognition hits.
She lands on the hood with such force that the vehicle swerves, and Sean loses control. My wolf’s paws slip on the slick metal, and she tries to gain purchase. She’s thrown against the windshield, and a crack splits the air as she tumbles up and over the roof, landing in a hard thud on the blacktop. Sean slams on the brakes, and the red lights around us turn white.
Move!
She rolls out of the way just as Sean attempts to back over her. Instead, his rear tires hit the side of the road and sink into the mud. He puts the car into gear again as my wolf stands, every bone in her body aching. Flooring it doesn’t work. The tires spin, kicking up mud. He’s too far into the embankment to get his SUV out.
He roars, the sound penetrating the steel surrounding him. He forces the car door open and steps out. “Where are you, you little bitch?”
My wolf won’t back down from this fight. She steps out into the road in front of his car, and he turns to spot us. The headlights blind the side of her face, but she stares him down, anyway. Her lips pull back, a threatening growl ripping from the rear of her throat.
Sean stalks forward. “Why can’t you just behave?” he seethes. His skin starts to ripple, and his fists tighten at his sides. He throws his head back, the veins in his neck protruding. Squeezing his eyes closed, he bellows into the night. Several deep breaths later, he gains control over his wolf, stuffing him inside the cage he’s been putting him in.
His poor wolf.
Another growl rips from my wolf’s throat. She lunges at Sean, the fiercest sound cutting straight from her mouth. His eyes widen as she comes at him, her jaw gaping open for an attack.
At the last second, he sidesteps her and then throws his arm out, fist catching her in the ribs. Pain ripples through us. She falls to her feet, head down. A whimper careens from her throat, but she shakes herself off and stalks toward him again.
He wipes his face with the back of his hand. “You thought you could escape me?” The laugh that bubbles forth is maniacal. He’s turned himself into a vessel with no compassion. “What? You didn’t think I’d be paying attention when my wolf tracked you. We’re still connected, Mia. As soon as I was able to take control again, I came for you. We’re going back to Daybreak, Mate.”
My wolf snarls at his careless use of the word. We know what it means to have a real one now. We have everything we need in Nathan. Using mate to describe us is a taint of how special the bond really is. She lunges for his throat, and he catches her in the air, squeezing her body. His elbows dig into bruised ribs, and she cries out, which only spurs him on. “Shift!” he commands.
My wolf wants to laugh at him. He has no control over her; no alpha power to make her do something she doesn’t want to do. She resorts to clawing at him, ripping into his face until he lets go.
She scrambles away as I cheer her on from inside.
“Fucking bitch!” He reaches his hand up to his face, gingerly touching the claw marks. When he pulls his fingertips away, fresh blood runs down the sides. The look in his eyes transitions to darkness. “I’m going to kill you. There are no witnesses out here. I’ll tell everyone you tried to run away, but you got lost out here and died. They’ll believe whatever I say.”
My wolf circles him. His evil smirk has nothing on the low growls ripping up her throat. He’s slowly been killing me since we were paired—leaving me alone at the academy, heartbroken; taking me away from my pack; then the outright, obvious attempts to murder me after I got here. He’s sadistic. Pure poison in its truest form.
He tries to pull alpha over me again. “Come here.”
My wolf sits. We’re completely separate from him now. He can’t rule over us. I barely even feel the thrum of Daybreak through my veins, so I doubt he’d even be able to pull pack hierarchy over me. He’s nothing to me now.
The more I stay away from him, the angrier he gets. If his temper gets too out of control, he might shift again, and that will turn the tide in my favor since his wolf and I are on the same page.
He knows better, though.
“Fine,” he seethes. stalking to the trunk of his SUV and grabbing a crowbar. At first, I think he’s going to come for us, but he does something worse—he goes for our escape car.
My wolf leaps at him, her jaw finding his hip before clamping down. He screams, elbowing her in the face until she unhinges her hold at the blossoming burn where he connected. He brings the crowbar up, and she runs away, but not before he catches her in the flank. She cries out in agony, sprawling on the ground. That fucking hurt. She tries to stand among the rippling discomfort, but another whimper rolls through her when she’s met with nothing but aching throbs.