Chapter 21
AGELIUS
Sharkey knew the way as well as I did, they’d been our neighbors after all, but he trailed after me, prowling just behind my left haunch.
I didn’t like having him behind me. I didn’t trust him.
I didn’t trust Zarbius either. For all I knew he might have set me up and Sharkey was going to kill me on this trip, so I stayed alert, always directing some of my senses backward.
Any time Sharkey disappeared completely behind me, I changed directions slightly to bring him back on my rear quarter again.
It was late in the afternoon, but up here in the high country you wouldn’t have known.
The trees were sparser, the canopy more spread out, and the sun fell unobstructed between the trees.
This area of the forest was quite inaccessible, and the risk of coming across humans was almost nil, even so we were careful.
The grass was dry and brittle, the air quite still and held the dry, aromatic scent of summer.
Passing under the trees, the shade was pleasantly cool, though the dry grass still scratched as we padded over it.
The journey had been uneventful and as we descended the second mountain, with the trees closing densely around us, I began to anticipate our arrival.
I picked up the pace, eager to get there, to find myself amongst safe and familiar faces.
I knew the way well from here, as we often ran this way during the pack run, so I allowed my mind to wander, considering how best to approach the farm, and figuring out a way to speak with Talius alone.
A heavy weight slammed me to the ground, my shoulders hitting the earth with a painful thud.
My snout skidded through the dirt with a loud crunch, and pain shot up the back of my neck.
I couldn’t breathe! In a panic, I snorted the forest floor debris from my nostrils, dragging in a strained wisp of air.
My head had gone fuzzy, but instinctively I thrashed, hind legs kicking out wildly until a grunt of pain told me I’d caught the inner thigh of my attacker as I twisted and turned my lower body.
But as much as I thrashed, my head and shoulders remained pinned to the ground, my attacker unmoved by my struggles.
Jaws clamped around my throat, the hard enamel pressing into the skin.
Immediately I stilled, expecting any moment to feel the pop of skin tearing as the killing bite was delivered.
Jaws gaping, tongue lolling, I drew in what were surely my last gasps of air.
My sides heaved, my heart pounded in my chest, and I cursed myself for allowing myself to be surprised like this.
My mate! What would happen to him now? And Irian?
I’d failed both of them, and I’d failed Talius. The grief was overwhelming.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the end.
A low, menacing growl fluttered the fine sensory hairs in my ear and my eyes snapped open, surprised I was still alive.
The wolf that had me pinned to the ground wasn’t Sharkey. He lay writhing on the ground a yard away, along his side five red lines oozed blood, and standing over him was a very familiar wolf – my supervisor and mentor, Johnson!
As the rush of adrenaline and crazy instinct eased, I cautiously inhaled a gasp of air and realized with frightening clarity whose teeth were around my neck.
Talius! Talius, who most likely thought I was responsible for his mate’s abduction.
I shivered. Had they known we were coming and planned the ambush?
Or had they stumbled on us by luck? It didn’t matter, at this moment I was as near to death as I had ever been.
Talius’ eyes were red with rage, his canines had descended and pressed against my fluttering carotid, his saliva dripped down my neck.
I whined and stretched my neck out offering more of my throat.
For a moment, nothing happened. Talius continued to snarl and growl, the rumbling sounds vibrating against my quivering throat.
I lay as still as I possibly could, as Talius and his wolf struggled for control.
His wolf undoubtedly wanted to kill me, but intellectually Talius would have known the best chance of getting Irian back was to keep me alive.
My fate depended on whether man or beast dominated.
I waited, my breath coming as frantic little huffs, scarcely daring to move as much as it required to drag those tiny wisps into my lungs, my life hanging in the balance.
Suddenly, Talius shifted. One moment he was all wolf, the next he was a man. He moved so fast his hands were around my throat before I could move, not that I would have. My survival was balanced on a very fine edge, I knew that.
Even as he bellowed, “Shift!”, I was already shifting.
Talius was terrifying. I’d never seen him like this.
He was consumed by rage, his face flushed dark with anger, brows drawn, jaw set, lips pursed, his eyes intense, the pupils big and dark.
His wolf was still very near the surface.
I could imagine its frenzy, believing itself to be in the presence of the person who’d taken its mate.
Rational thought might not be likely at the moment.
Somehow, I had to explain things to him.
I made myself go limp beneath him, offering no resistance. His hands were tight around my neck, but I could still make the slightest of movements, tilting it away, offering my submission.