Surprisingly, I don’t shift. Instead, I run straight for him as fast as I can. I lunge full force at Stone, lowering my shoulder and tackling him into a nearby tent. My seven-foot-tall body is much bigger than his, and I easily take him out. My wolf howls inside me at the pride of defending my mate against the biggest wolf here.
I’m tangled in the tent, but release myself easily, jumping to my feet and getting into a fighting stance. I will fight the alpha to the death if I have to. She’s rightfully mine, and I won’t let anyone so much as look at her. As Stone gets to his feet, Dominic gets between the two of us.
“X! No!” Dominic is holding his hands up and his eyes are pleading for me to stop, but my wolf is going crazy inside me. He wants out, and I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to hold him.
I lock eyes with Stone, and it’s then he remembers who I am. Something like regret passes across his eyes, but I can’t be sure before it’s gone and rage replaces it. He looks away from me, but I don’t take my eyes off him. I can sense my mate is close, and I need to keep my eyes on the threat to her.
“I won’t let him take her.” Stone looks around us, but I don’t care who sees. I will defeat him in front of the pack and whoever else is here. I’m sure there are humans present, but I can’t see beyond my tunnel vision. The mating bond has taken over me, and I’m blinded to all reason.
“Mine!”
I turn around to find my mate and make sure she’s not scared. When our eyes meet, I feel the pounding beat of my heart in my ears. I look into the sweet innocent eyes of my beloved. The eyes that have haunted my dreams all these years. The eyes I wished to look into every single day. The eyes I never believed could be mine. It’s my sleeping beauty, and she’s my mate.
“He’s not stable. I won’t let him take her.” Stone’s words break through my fogged mind. “I’ll put him down first.”
I snap back to look at him to tell him what I’ll do to him if he tries it, but I hear a loud growl and turn back in time to see the source is my mate. Pride swells in my chest, and I can feel the alpha blood in her body. My wolf senses that she’s matched well with us, both of us respect her inner strength. I see her wolf come forward in her eyes, and my wolf comes forward to match hers. He wants to claim her, and he won’t wait much longer.
“Everyone just calm down. Xavier, come over here to me.” I hear Ruby call my name, and while I care for her as a close friend, it’s not her place to step into this fight. Even less so when she’s carrying cubs.
“Mine!” Again, my mate lashes out, and my heart fills with pride. She could lead her own pack with the power that’s inside her. She’s my true match.
“Goddamn it. All of you knock it the fuck off!” Dominic’s voice silences everyone. He looks at me, and I see the compassion in his eyes. “Let him take her. He won’t hurt her.”
Dominic, having a mate of his own, understands what’s happening. I would never harm a single hair on my mate’s head. My life is now dedicated to hers until my last breath.
“No.” Stone says the single word to Dominic, but his eyes are locked on me in challenge. So be it.
“I’ll fight you and win.” I have no problems shredding him to pieces if he’s what’s standing between me and what’s mine. I crouch, preparing to attack him. I can smell my mate’s fear, my body and wolf already attuned to her. I turn to meet my love’s eyes and try to ease her worries. “You have nothing to fear from me. I’ll prove I’m strong and a good mate. You’ll see.”
“Don’t hurt my brother.” Her words are tender, and I can see that she cares for her litter mate. He’s also the alpha, so she’ll feel even more loyalty to him.
“I never wish to harm your family unless they keep you from me. It’s best they learn now that I’m strong. They’re no competition against me. I’ll always win.” I don’t want to hurt anyone she cares for, but I will never allow anyone to stand in my way when it comes to her.
“I’ll have to get in the middle of you and him.”
Her words hurt me and make me angry. I won’t have her come between me and something else. I’ll never have her in danger. I see now that this situation is upsetting her, and I need to take us away from it.
Letting out a loud growl, I leap over to her and throw her over my shoulder, preparing to run with her back to the woods. As soon as I have her in my arms, a shooting pain hits my hip, and I drop to my knees, careful to cradle my mate and not drop her. The pain is excruciating, and I feel a drug spread through my body. It’s slowing me and making my limbs heavy.
“They can’t keep you from me.” My mouth is dry, but I look into her eyes, needing to tell her that I love her. I’ve waited so long to have her, but I feel myself slipping away. “My beauty.”
She touches my face, and my wolf howls as I lose consciousness.
I’m know I’m dreaming because it’s the same one I always have of her. It’s a memory of when I was younger and I watched her.
It’s nighttime, and I’m outside her bedroom window, watching her sleep. She started keeping her window open a few days ago, and I don’t know if it’s because she knows I watch her, or just because she likes the night air.
Breathing deep, I take in her sweet scent of roses and it makes me feel calm. Something about being near her makes me feel whole.
Softly, I start to hum a lullaby, hoping I can reach her in her sleep. She rolls to her side, facing me, and in the moonlight I can see she’s still fast asleep. The blanket has fallen off her legs, showing me that she’s only in her panties and an oversized t-shirt.
For a second I stop humming and just look at her. I feel a tightness in my chest at seeing so much of her young body like this. I should leave, but I can’t find it in myself to do so. Instead, I look away, not wanting to take any more of her innocence, just by seeing her like this, than I already have. I look at the moon and start to hum the lullaby again, hoping to soothe her in her dreams.
I should go. I should leave. But I can’t. Instead, I watch the moon and sing to her as I steal her sweet scent for my own selfish comfort. I feel the word forming like it has every other time I have the dream. Every time I wake up, it’s with her name on my lips.
Chapter 5
Gwen
“Gwen.”
I wake up with a throbbing headache and a pain in my hip. As soon as I’m conscious, I shift into my wolf. It’s a protective instinct, my wolf taking over and wanting to be ready if there’s an attack.
Spending so many years in the woods gave my wolf more control. So when he pushes forward, I don’t fight it. I feel my body change and morph into my inner beast, bones snapping as I easily shred my tight clothing. I feel so much stronger with him in control, and I feel safer inside him. I’m still mentally aware of everything happening to me, and that makes me feel powerful.
Looking around, I see that I’m in a cage. My wolf doesn’t like it, and we start to walk the perimeter to see what our boundaries are. The cell is large, probably twelve feet by twelve feet with a cot on one end and a toilet on the other. I look up and down and see the solid steel bars that run from ceiling to floor and are grounded in concrete. I’m strong but not that strong. The pain in my hip starts to lessen to a dull throb, and I tip my head back to smell the wound on my back flank. I can scent a trace
of the tranquilizer they must have used on me. I growl.
My mate is out there, and I need to get to her. I feel the need growing inside me, but I try to calm myself and think. I need to be smart about this. If I let myself turn towards the need, I’ll go crazy in a cell not able to get to her.
I turn around, looking beyond my cell, and see that I’m in a large concrete room. There’s nothing else down here besides my cell, but I can see the small windows that line the top of the ceiling indicating I’m in a basement. The windows are too small for even my human form to escape, and I start to pace the front of the cell, trying to look for weaknesses.
Raising my nose, I scent the room, trying to find a trace of something. I want to find out where I am, and then I can begin to find a way out.
I lean into the bars. I can smell Stone’s scent. I’m either at his house, or he brought me to this place. I get a faint scent of Dominic as well, and I feel a little betrayed. He may have only been doing what the alpha told him, but it still stings to think he would cage me after everything we’ve been through.
I pace the cage a few more times until I hear two sets of boots above me, and then I hear a lock clicking. I keep up the steady prowl of my cage door, waiting on whoever has me to show their face.
When Dominic and Stone come down the stairs, I’m not surprised. I have some words to say to them, but I’m not ready to shift yet.
Dominic looks over at Stone and shakes his head. “I told you he’d be like this.”
Stone crosses his arms and widens his stance, looking unmovable. “He’ll stay there for as long as I think he needs.”
Dominic turns to me and I see the flash in his eyes. I don’t know if it’s anger or pity, or maybe a little of both. “X, change back. We need to talk.”
I look from Dom to Stone and shake my head. I need my wolf to be ready if they try something. If they open the cage, I need to be able to break out. I feel more comfortable in this form right now, so if they need to talk, it’s just gonna be on their side.