Chapter 2
Koe glared at the woman for long minutes while Thrall stood beside him with his arms crossed and a deep scowl marring his face.
His Beta was typically jovial and easy-going, but when it came to outsiders, Thrall was hot-headed and short-tempered, with a penchant for fighting first and figuring everything else out later, which is why he was Beta.
The threat he’d just made, though, had absolute terror pouring from the woman kneeling before them, and Koe didn’t like it.
The scent of feminine fear was objectionable to him and his wolf, and not something he was subjected to often, especially in his own territory.
“Thrall, go beyond our border,” Koe jerked his chin toward the cave entrance. “See what you can see. Be warned, Daemon’s already out there.”
Thrall dipped his chin, shot Jury one last hard look, and then jogged from the cave.
Alone with the woman, Koe ordered, “Get up.”
The woman slowly got to her feet, the tremble in her limbs a testament to how hard she’d been pushing herself. Koe felt a flash of pity spear through him, but quickly shook it off. It’s exactly the reaction The Biters would expect from him and a reaction they would capitalize on.
“Follow me,” he bit out, turning his back on the woman and stalking toward the cave entrance. “Do yourself a favor and obey,” he growled. Stopping, he shot her a menacing look over his shoulder, “Try to run or anything else, and I promise, you will regret it, Sweetheart.”
Another bout of fear wafted from the woman and had Koe’s jaw clenching as he curled his hands into tight fists. He hated being the one to evoke such a scent, but his pack had to be protected.
Exiting the cave, the sky had turned a murky grey with the threat of an impending storm.
Clouds hung low and heavy over the forest, and the air felt electrified.
Unsure if it was the change in atmosphere or the potential threat at his back, Koe stopped walking and waited for the woman to reach his side before he started walking again, asking, “Name?”
Quietly, she muttered, “Jury.”
“Excuse me?”
Lifting her chin, she said louder. “Jury. Jury Warmont.”
“Why did you abandon your pack?”
“They abandoned me,” she bit out angrily.
“Funny,” Koe snorted derisively. “You’re the one running through enemy territory in an attempt to escape.”
Almost too low for him to hear, Jury mumbled, “I’d run through hell if I had to.”
A second after the admission, a crack of thunder boomed overhead while a streak of lightning ripped across the sky.
It felt ominous, prompting Koe to shoot Jury a sidelong glance.
It had been a long time since he’d walked beside someone so small.
There were no female shifters in his Allegiance pack, and none of his shifters were mated.
Jury was a tiny thing, he assumed, even by female standards.
She was no more than five feet two, maybe five feet three, and slender.
He wondered if her weight was by choice.
She could say whatever she wanted, but there was no denying her scent.
The fear that had rolled off her when Thrall had threatened to send her back to Bragga had Koe leaning toward believing her.
Was she being abused by her Biter’s pack?
The answer to that would have to wait until his Enforcers reported back.
Beside him, Jury stumbled, and Koe instinctively reached out to steady her. When she flinched away from him, he jerked his hands back, pissed at his own instincts. Angrily, he demanded, “Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Nostrils flaring, he didn’t scent any blood, just fear, hunger, weariness, and…
female. She was wearing a form-fitting black turtleneck, which was preposterous considering it was full-on summer in Montana.
Her black leggings disappeared into dark combat boots that reached mid-calf, and her long, inky-black hair hung damply around her face.
He assumed it was damp from perspiration, but she could have come onto his territory across the Missouri River, too.
It was her face, though, that kept drawing his glances.
Her skin was super pale, so much so that he wondered if she was sick.
Or maybe she just looked like that because her clothes and hair were so dark.
Her delicate brows were black, too, but her eyes…
He’d never seen eyes like hers before. They were impossibly light, and there was no dark line around the iris, so it was almost impossible to tell where her faint eye color ended and the whites of her eyes began.
The most prominent color was the black pinpoint of her pupil. She was ethereal-looking.
“What are you going to do with me?” she asked quietly.
Her query went unanswered for long minutes as they stalked toward his compound because he honestly didn’t know yet. Finally, he offered the truth. “It depends on what my boys find.”
Quickly, she prompted, “If they find nothing?”
“Then there’s still the transgression of coming onto my territory, unannounced, uninvited, and unwelcomed.”
Thunder cracked the sky again, and the swollen clouds breached; a hard rain began to fall.
That ominous feeling seized Koe again, sending chills blasting up his spine as all the fine hairs on his body went on end.
Grey eyes scanning the trees around them, he listened hard.
Beside him, Jury stumbled again and went down.
Koe caught her just before she crashed onto her knees.
Helping her stand, he frowned down at her.
He could feel the violent tremble in her body, and while rain ran down her face, Koe swore he saw tears in her eyes as she asked, “C-can we rest a minute?”
Shaking his head, he clenched his jaw. Hell no, they weren’t resting. Without asking, he swept her up into his arms and double-timed it to the compound.