9. Marie
9
MARIE
A s soon as I call her forth, shutting my eyes and letting her take control, a sense of calm washes over the human side of me.
Because she’s pissed off enough for the two of us.
Not allowing her mate to mark her has been tough on the wolf inside me. She hated the idea of hurting her partner or making him feel like he wasn’t wanted. Yet she did it for me. Because foolishly, I put my desire not to hurt the feelings of someone else above my own mate.
Never again.
And there is no way in hell I’m going to allow Graham to use me as an excuse to physically harm Jonathan or force him into a formal challenge with the unstable man sitting in front of me.
Jonathan is coming for me. I don’t know how I know that, but I do.
He’s sensed my fear, and he’s on the way. And if I don’t get out of here and intercept him, there’s going to be bloodshed and a war between these packs.
Maybe it’s inevitable, and we’ll never be able to get past this, but not today. Not while he’s crazed and out of control.
“What the fuck is she doing?”
The man to my right shouts as he spots the fur erupting through my skin and feels the vibrations running through me as I shift, my bones and joints stretching and realigning as my wolf does her thing. In a split second, instead of having an angry woman squished into the middle seat, there’s a giant wolf, with teeth bared and one thing in mind.
Escape.
With a snap of my jaws, one man’s throat is gone. A flood of crimson liquid pours down his neck, turning his white shirt bright red in an instant. His head lolls forward, and he collapses against the door, the light already fading from his eyes.
“Fuck,” Graham’s shouts, jerking the steering wheel hard to the side as he slams on the brakes.
Spinning, I lunge for the man on the other side of me, whose shift has begun, but he’s too slow, and he knows it. Eyes wide, he screams and rears back as I drag my razor-sharp claws down his chest, flaying open his belly and taking his face between my jaws.
In human form, I may be a petite female, but my wolf is impressive. And refuses to take any shit.
Graham has underestimated me. He should have known better than to use such a sloppy command. I am mated to an alpha after all. My wolf was always going to take charge, and now she’s going to show these men just how much of an error in judgement they’ve made.
As his cheekbones crush under my bite, I yank my head to the side, releasing him only when I hear a satisfying snap, and the sound of blood gurgling in his throat comes to a stop.
“You’ll pay for this,” Graham warns as he yanks open the rear door and glares at me. “Out.”
The body of his enforcer topples out the door and lands at his feet, and he growls as blood drips from the side of the seat into the dirt.
My wolf is unrepentant, and his command rolls off her like water. His alpha orders carry no weight with a wolf destined to be a luna. I’m his equal in the pack hierarchy wolves adhere to, but he doesn’t seem to see it like that.
He reaches for her, trying to grab her by the scruff of the neck, but she snaps, ready to rip his fingers off if he’s stupid enough to try that again.
Behind me, the driver opens the other back door, and his hand grabs at my tail.
My wolf spins, snarling and baring her teeth at him. She doesn't want to be touched by any male other than her mate.
“Get her out of the fucking car,” Graham shouts, looking disgusted at the red dripping from my fur and coating my muzzle. Well, tough. He’s the one who caused this. I have no guilt about what I need to do to keep myself safe.
Because there’s no way I’m safe with this man. If he’s willing to kidnap and mate me, knowing I’ve got a fated mate, he’s capable of anything. I’ve no intention of finding out just how depraved he can be.
As Graham’s driver dives through the door to tackle me, I hop into the front seat and out the open door, my paws hitting the door feeling like freedom.
“You idiot.” Graham hisses when he realises I’m no longer confined to the vehicle.
I hear the crack of bones snapping and know it won’t be long until I have an extremely pissed off alpha hot on my heels. I may be big for a female, but I’m still no match for an alpha as impressive as Graham. He’ll catch me quickly. I need to make the most of this head start and pray for a miracle.
Putting one paw in front of the other, I don’t look back. I don’t have a second to waste. Instead, I keep my head down and sprint away from them, plunging into the dense forest at the side of the road, hoping the thick undergrowth will be easier for me to duck and dive through than the larger wolves on my trail.
The noise of them crashing through branches and leaves has the hair standing up on the back of my neck. I slide under a fallen tree and bound up over a rock formation, leaping over a thicket of thorns with ease, before taking off again at top speed.
I feel Jonathan getting nearer. I swear, I can hear his voice in my head.
Relief washes over me as I hear a howl in the distance, from the opposite direction of Graham’s pack. I can practically smell Grey Ridge territory within my grasp.
Except the snap of teeth right on my tail makes me yelp and veer off to the side, forced to change course by the two wolves in pursuit, attempting to steer me away from the bridge.
So, with no choice, I let them, hoping an idea will come to me as I run. The most important thing for now is just staying out of their grasp.
The sound of running water gets louder and louder as they close their trap, and my wolf dumps more adrenaline into my system, pushing me to go faster, to hold on just a little longer as I race on burning legs.
Up ahead, the bridge comes into view, but immediately, I know I won’t make it across before they catch up to me. There’s only option is.
Behind me, I can feel the smug energy coming from Graham who believes he’s victorious already. He thinks I have no way out and eases off. But he doesn’t know me, not well enough, and he’s misjudged me once again.
With one final burst, I jump, launching myself into the air, using my hind legs on the railing to propel myself as far as I can, out over the churning water.
The cold water takes the air from my lungs. Stabbing pain sears my flesh, and my brain feels like it’s being crushed in a vice as the rushing water tosses me around, refusing to let me back to the surface to feed my screaming lungs. As I thrash and fight my way toward the light piercing through the water, knowing I’d be able to swim better in human form but be more vulnerable to the cold and injury.
It may be my only hope.
As I fight against the current, I curse Graham Reynolds. Praying I can find my way out of this, for Jonathan’s sake as much as my own, I keep fighting. But as the dark spots appear in the corner of my eyes, and my animal’s chest heaves with the need to breathe, I realise this might not have been the masterplan I thought it was.