I made it back to the lounge and tried the key in the door. It opened easily.
I was ready to run, so why weren’t my fucking feet moving? Why was my heart pounding with indecision? I didn’t want to mate with Hunter, but every primal instinct was urging me to stay, to shut the door and fucking stay. The Loup inside me, that part of me that was already connected to Hunter, rose up to cloud my human will.
Stay.
No…
Mate.
No. I didn’t want to…I couldn’t…My body tightened with need as Hunter’s naked, soapy form filled my mind, and a flush rose from my toes to the top of my head.
Oh God.
No! I forced the Loup back, grabbed Hunter’s coat off the peg by the door, and ran.
I had no idea how long I’d been on the move, but I was headed north, I was sure of that. The urge to turn back was gone now.
I guess distance from Hunter helped.
The woodland rushed by as I wove through the trees. The fact that I was continually moving kept the worst of the chill at bay, and my confidence that I could make it grew. Images of cinnamon swirls and chocolate-sprinkled mochas kept my legs pumping. They’d be my reward for getting away. I’d camp out at Lumiers all day and eat what the fuck I wanted once I made it out of this fucking wilderness.
How far had I come? It felt like forever. The breath was hot in my lungs, even though my mouth and nose were numb with cold. I’d hoped Hunter had been exaggerating about how far out we were from civilization, but I should have known by the way he so confidently left me to my devices that he was telling the truth.
I hit a clearing, one of many in this vast woodland, and leaped over a thick fallen branch that curved up out of the snow in an arc. I landed badly, and the sound of tearing ligaments was loud and distinct. A fiery lance of pain shot up my ankle.
“Fuck!”
I went down hard, butt in the snow, hands grabbing for the offending ankle. The pain was a deep throb that tightened with each pulse. Dammit, my foot was swelling up.
Shit. No. Don’t panic. It’d be okay.
Just a few minutes and my body would heal. A tingle spread across my foot and up my ankle. Yes, it was working. I winced as my whole foot began to throb, but this was a different throb, one that told me my ligaments were knitting back together.
A sharp crack sliced through the silence, and my head whipped up, searching the darkness at the edge of the clearing. The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention, and my scalp began to crawl.
There was someone out there.
The throbbing in my ankle ebbed. I was almost healed. My breath came out in puffs of mist as I scanned the trees around me.
Hunter.
It had to be.
He’d followed me. But even as I thought the words, they felt wrong.
Not Hunter.
The presence was a palpable force, though.
The fire in my limb winked out, and tension rippled through me. I fake-winced and touched my ankle again. Whoever was out there, watching, needed to think I was still hurt and vulnerable. I pulled myself up slowly, making a show of testing my ankle with my weight, when in reality my muscles were bunching, ready to make a break for it.
And then a shaggy gray wolf stepped out from the shadows and into the clearing. It fixed its blue eyes on me, mouth open in a pant.
Not a regular wolf, because we didn’t have those. This was Loup-Garou. Small by Loup standards, but still lethal to me in human form.
I held up my hands. “Hey. I’m Fee, and I’m just passing—”
Another wolf, a muddy brown color, entered the clearing from the left. Fuck. Could they sense I was one of them?
“Look. I don’t want any trouble. I just need to get out of here.” I made myself stand tall to look less like prey. “If one of you could show me the way to the nearest road, that would be great.”
Yeah, it was a tall order, because if these were rogue wolves, my protected alpha status would mean shit to them—only the official packs adhered to those rules—and these fuckers would probably try and claim me, or some equally bullshit move.
The gray wolf growled and prowled closer. My hackles rose, and I fell instinctively into a defensive crouch. Fuck Hunter and this damn shackle. With it on, I was buggered. I had no weapon, not even my wolf to fight off these fuckers. There was only one thing to do.
I had to run.
My gaze flitted from the gray to the brown wolf, judging the distance between them and me, working out the odds of my slipping past them.
Not gonna happen.
I wasn’t a moron, and going up against two Loup while I was in human form with no weapons was suicidal. I had no choice but to go back the way I’d come.
I was about to spin and take off when the gray wolf shimmered and morphed into human form.
A female human form.
She was lithe and pale, dark hair spilling over her shoulders to cover her breasts.
“You’re one of us,” she said, her gaze skimming over me.
The brown wolf growled, but I recognized it as a warning.
“Quick,” the dark-haired female said. “You must shift and come with us. It isn’t safe for you here. There are rogue males prowling these parts.”
The other wolf was female too, I could sense that now. “I can’t shift.” I held up my wrist. “This stops me from shifting.”
Her mouth tightened. “A male did this to you?”
“Yes.”
She opened her mouth to say more, but a howl cut her off. It was too close.
“The rogue males come.” She looked torn.
The brown wolf rushed her, nudging her with its nose. The stench of fear was sharp and potent.
The female looked at me, her mouth turning down with regret. “Run.”
She shifted, and they vanished into the trees. The howl cut through the air again, closer than before but on the other side of me. Fuck. More than one.
I broke into a sprint in the opposite direction the female wolves had gone. It was obvious they were hiding from the rogue males, and the last thing I wanted was to lead the bastards to them.
How long had these Loup been in these parts? Did Hunter know?
Now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. I needed to focus on my path and not tripping or falling. My back prickled with awareness, and then pants filled the air.
They were behind me. Two of them. I didn’t need to look over my shoulder to know.
I was being hunted, and if they caught me, then Hunter would be the least of my worries.
My lungs ached and burned as I pushed more speed into my limbs. My thighs were on fire. I couldn’t keep this up for much longer, and then I didn’t have to because a weight slammed into my back, taking me down.
My face kissed snow, ice slicing into my skin. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. Growls and yips of triumph assaulted my ears. A rough wet tongue laved the side of my face, and rage burned away the horror of my predicament.
“Get the fuck off me!” I slammed my palms onto the ground and pushed up with all my strength, but my 140-pound human form was no match for the 250-pound Loup on my back. And then the weight lessened, and hands shoved the back of my coat up.
Hands.
The fucker was in human form now, grunting and panting in excitement as he fumbled for the waistband of my jeans.
“Fuck you!” I twisted, bringing my elbow up to smash into the side of the Loup’s head. He let out a bellow and released me long enough for me to attempt to scrabble free, but another set of hands grabbed me.