by Helen Scott
We weren’t though, that much became abundantly clear when my eyes landed on the wolves that stood in the tree line, just out of sight enough that I hadn’t spotted them at first. It was like Jax had wanted to see my hopes crushed. He’d wanted me to think we had made it, only to take that away. There was no other explanation for the way he’d staged the wolves.
We couldn’t run, we could barely walk, and neither of us was in any shape to fight. I had no idea what to do as we came to a stop, and I saw Micah look at the wolves around us, his shoulders sagging in defeat. Was surrender our only option?
30
Nina
It was clear as soon as I saw the wolves that Jaxon wasn’t letting us go as he’d claimed. Surprise, surprise. My heart twisted in my chest with the bitterness that came from wanting revenge, wanting to attack and hurt the man who had tormented me ever since I’d seen him at that damn party.
I had no idea how to get us out of this, and from the way Micah was standing, he didn’t either. Everything about my mate’s posture and expression screamed defeat, but I wasn’t ready to give in yet. Not when Roman was still out there.
Faith in my mates had got me through a lot so far, and I wasn’t about to doubt them now. Roman and Blake were both still free and around here somewhere, and I knew they wouldn’t leave us in Jax’s clutches, not if they could help it.
I knew I could never play poker, not from the way everyone could read me like I was an open book, so I wasn’t surprised when Jax swaggered his way over to us. When he leaned down and put his mouth next to my ear, I expected him to whisper something horrid, something that would make my skin crawl.
Instead, he licked me.
A long swipe of his tongue from my earlobe down the side of my neck.
When he pulled away, I could swear he was licking his lips, an idea that was confirmed when he said, “By the gods, I love the taste of fear on your skin.”
I tried to suppress a shudder but couldn’t. This was the man from the café. The man who wanted my fear, my submission, and not in the sexy way either. He wanted to rule me.
I might not have a way out of the current situation, but I could guaran-damn-tee that if he kept me here, I’d break every one of his stupid rules until he wanted nothing to do with me. It might mean that I spent the rest of my life alone, but I’d take being alone over being with this alpha any day. My alphas, on the other hand? I’d let them rule me because I knew they respected and loved me.
Jax had backed up a bit, and I saw him glance at the wolves waiting on his next command. When he looked back at me, he spread his arms wide and said, “Welcome home, mate. You know there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of you getting out of here, right? I’ll never let you go.”
The darkness that filled his eyes was what he’d been holding back earlier. This was the real Jax, this was the man I’d run from. I’d run again if I could. There was no way I’d allow myself to be stuck with this man, not when he looked at me like he wanted to tear my soul from my body and devour it.
“Speaking of hell…” Blake called, his voice coming from off to the side. The man actually sounded cocky, as though he hadn’t just watched his alpha lick me in the creepiest way possible.
As soon as Jax was looking over at him, Blake struck a match—no, not one, multiple, the drag of the match heads against the box audible through the utter silence that had fallen when he spoke. He stared Jax in the eye as he tossed the match in front of him, flicking it to the ground in a deliberate way that said this was not just a stunt, but an opportunity for us to escape. I tugged on Micah and started edging us closer to the woods. We moved slowly, partially so we didn’t draw attention and partially because we were both in pain.
A match in a forest was a dangerous thing. All of our packs knew that and usually had supplies on hand to put out small fires before they became big fires.
This didn’t start small though. There was a great whoosh as the flames spread faster than I thought possible through the grass and bushes, even across some empty dirt patches, circling the pack’s land, trapping all of us within a wall of flame.
I’d thought the smell of gas was because we were in a garage, but now it was clear that there was more going on. Fire didn’t spread that fast without some help. Had this been Roman’s plan? To burn the place down?
Anyone who wasn’t shifted, including Jax and Micah, shifted from surprise and fear. Fire was just as dangerous to us as it was to humans. Jax’s wolf was a charcoal gray with black streaks going through the fur in places. He jumped and snapped at the flames as though he could get them to go out just by being more alpha than them.
Jaxon growled and roared, but I ignored him and shoved Micah toward the flames. His wolf reared back, clearly scared of the fire, so I leaned down and said, “Freedom is on the other side of the flame. Jump and roll. We have to go now or we’re stuck here forever.”
Micah did as I asked, though he let out a small yelp as he did so. Guilt ripped through me, but I didn’t have time to feel it. Instead, I jumped through the flames as well. Only I didn’t quite make it.
Jax was holding onto one hand, leaving my arm burning in the flames.
I screamed, and suddenly, there were other hands there pulling me away from him. I hadn’t seen him shift back into his human form, but there was no one else on that side of the flames that would be trying to hold on to me. My arm was pulled free of the flames, leaving his in them instead. When the pain got to be too much, he released me and we all fell backward away from the fire.
I didn’t understand why he didn’t just jump through as well, like Micah and I had, but he seemed more scared of the fire than we’d been. If I was honest, I’d been more scared of him and being stuck there than I had been of the fire. It probably didn’t help that the flames had only increased with every second that had passed.
A whimper escaped me as I held my arm close to my chest, trying to protect it from any other attacks. I didn’t expect to be scooped up, but I was. I glanced up and found Roman was the one that was holding me, and he was running before I even realized what was going on.
“Micah!” I called out, not wanting to leave a mate behind at this point. We’d come too far and survived too much. I wouldn’t be separated again.
“He’s coming, angel, don’t worry,” Roman said as his legs pumped beneath me, his knees occasionally hitting my ass as we moved through the forest. We were under no illusion that we could outrun the wolves, but at least on my end, I thought they might be a little preoccupied with putting out the fire that surrounded them.
If Jax demanded they go after us rather than deal with the trouble at home, then he’d lose the respect of the pack, something that he couldn’t afford from what I could tell. The men were willing, but if he was letting the fire destroy their homes, possibly injure their mates and children, how far would they really let him go?
I wasn’t sure, and I wasn’t about to bet on them not bowing down to him, so I was glad we were running. As I glanced in front of us, I saw two other shapes moving through the trees. For a moment, I thought it was Jax’s wolves come to corral us back to the pack lands, but the longer I watched, the more I realized that it was Micah and Blake running alongside us in wolf form.
Relief swept through me. I had been worried that even though Micah transformed, he wouldn’t be able to run, but it turned out my worry was for nothing. His gray and tan wolf bounded along next to us, ducking and diving between the trees, while Blake ran on the other side, though he was much more nervous. He kept looking over his shoulder to make sure we weren’t being followed.
At this point, if we were, there wasn’t much we could do about it other than stand and fight, which I would if I had to, or rather if I could. Everything hurt, and my arm still felt like it was trapped in the flames somewhere. If I could shift, then things might’ve been a bit different, but I couldn’t so my healing was slower than everyone else’s.
Finally after running for what felt like forever, we we
re back at the hotel. Roman gently set me down on the ground, and I dug into my sports bra and extracted the key card.
“That’s where you keep things?” Roman asked, sounding amused.
“When I have to,” I replied, narrowing my gaze at him as I opened the door and we all rushed inside. We knew we had limited time before Jax’s wolves were tracking us again, so we couldn’t stay in the motel as long as we wanted, but at least it gave Blake and Micah a chance to shift back into their human forms and get dressed.
I sat on the bed and tried not to move, since everything hurt. I also tried to keep my eyes averted from their naked forms because as much as I wanted to ogle them, I couldn’t let my body get carried away. Sex right now was not an option. Once we were safe again, maybe. I couldn’t wait until the pain of the silver eased and I could move normally again.
“What do we do now?” Blake asked, pulling me out of my thoughts, which was good since thinking about the pain was making it worse.
“We run,” Roman said with a shrug, sounding resigned to his fate. He was right—we didn’t have a choice but to keep on the move, but this time, we had no one we could rely on. Every bridge had been burned, the fields salted, and we had nothing and no one but ourselves. I’d thought things were bad before, but they’d only gotten worse. Now I had three mates and even more questions. We could work on the second part of that statement though. The first I wouldn’t change for the world.
I might’ve been exhausted, but I was more determined than ever to figure out what the hell was going on with me and my mates. As I looked around at the three of them, they nodded. They all agreed—running was the best option. We had never had much of a chance to unpack, and as we started packing up, I said, “Yes, we run, but we have to find the oracle and see what the hell she thinks she’s talking about. I need some answers, and I’ll get them one way or another.”
Want to know what happens next? Click here to preorder Her Shadowed Wolves, book three of the House of Wolves and Magic series!
Also By Helen Scott
Don’t forget to check out Helen’s other series!
Magical Midlife in Mystic Hollow
(Cowritten with Lacey Carter Andersen and L.A. Boruff)
Karma’s Spell
Karma’s Shift - Coming Soon
Immortal Hunters MC
(Cowritten with Lacey Carter Andersen)
Van Helsing Rising
Van Helsing Damned – Coming Soon
Prisoners of Nightstone
(Cowritten with May Dawson)
Potions and Punishments
Incantations and Inmates
Curses and Convicts - Coming Soon
Legends Unleashed
(Cowritten with Lacey Carter Andersen)
Don’t Say My Name
Don’t Cross My Path
Don’t Touch My Men
Twisted Fae
(Cowritten with Lucinda Dark)
Court of Crimson
Court of Frost
Court of Midnight
The Hollow
(Cowritten with Ellabee Andrews)
Survival
Seduction
Surrender
Salsang Chronicles
(Cowritten with Serena Akeroyd)
Stained Egos
Stained Hearts
Stained Minds
Stained Bonds
Stained Souls
Salsang Chronicles Box Set
The Wild Hunt
Daughter of the Hunt
Challenger of the Hunt
Champion of the Hunt – Coming Soon
Cerberus
Daughter of Persephone
Daughter of Hades
Queen of the Underworld
Cerberus Series Box Set
Hera’s Gift (A Cerberus Series Novella)
Wardens of Midnight
Woman of Midnight (A Wardens of Midnight Novella)
Sanctuary at Midnight
The Siren Legacy
The Oracle (A Siren Legacy Novella)
The Siren’s Son
The Siren’s Eyes
The Siren’s Code
The Siren’s Heart
The Banshee (A Siren Legacy Novella)
The Siren’s Bride
Fury’s Valentine (A Siren Legacy Novella)
Standalones, Shared Worlds, and Box Sets
The Sex Tape
Spin My Gold (Cowritten with Lacey Carter Andersen)
Buttercup
Neve
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank you most of all, as the reader, for giving me a chance to entertain you and invite you into my world. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed it!
A big thank you to my cover designer, Rebecca Frank, for helping me bring these books to life, and to my editor, Meghan, and my proofreader, Jutta, for making sure that the readers get the best possible version of the book.
Thank you to my family for helping me pursue my dream and putting up with my wandering mind.
Last, but not least, thank you to my husband for pushing me to share my stories with the world. Thanks for putting up with me every day, babe. You’re amazing!
About the Author
Helen Scott lives in the Chicago area with her wonderful husband and furry, four-legged kids. She spends way too much time with her nose in a book and isn’t sorry about it. When not reading or writing, Helen can be found absorbed in one video game or another or crafting her heart out.
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Her Fated Mates
House of Wolves and Magic Book Two
Copyright © 202q by Helen Scott
Cover Design © Bewitching Book Covers by Rebecca Frank
Editing by Bookish Dreams Editing
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the brief use of quotations in a book review.
This book is intended for adults only. The sexual activities represented in this book are a work of fiction intended for adults. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are used fictitiously by the author. Any resemblance to actual places, events, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.