Page 18 of Fated to Him

No, I correct myself. They’d want her dead.

I whirl around.

While I was lost in my thoughts, Teri had partially shifted her right hand. With a snarl twisting her lips, she drives her claws toward my heart.

Looks like Teri and Morgan have decided to make the leap from annoying problem-makers to threats I need to put down.

I shove her away. She flies back, smashing into a tree with a gasp.

And then Morgan is lunging for me, a snarl on his lips for putting his mate down.

I reach for my wolf, letting him free. My wolf explodes out of me. I slam Morgan to the ground, seize him by the throat, and bite down until blood fills my mouth.

Teri is sobbing, grieving the loss of her mate, as I sprint after Delilah, who is not in the cabin where I left her.

I should have heard her sneaking out much clearer than I did. Delilah may not smell like a shifter yet, but she’s as fast and as quiet as one. And if my nose is right, which it is, she’s fighting an attack of her own.

A piercing, blood-curdling scream punctures the silence.

Fuck.

I put on a burst of speed.

I expect to find Delilah curled in a ball as one of my packmates attacks her with teeth and claws. The sight that greets me makes me skid to a stop and blink in surprise.

Delilah is up a tree, pummeling Ferris—another pack troublemaker—in the head with twigs, all the while screaming at a pitch that makes me flatten my ears the way Ferris has.

As soon as she sees me, she stops screaming.

Ferris gives up dodging branches and spins around. He takes one look at me and shifts back to his human form, his eyes wide with alarm.

“Malakhi, I was just?—”

I shift and stalk toward him, needing answers first and then him dead at my feet. “You were just killing my mate?”

“Alpha,” he tries again. “I was?—”

Fuck the answers.

I grip his head and twist sharply, breaking his neck. As his body thumps to the ground, I walk to the base of the tree where Delilah is staring down at me, surprisingly composed.

I lift my arms. “Jump. I’ll catch you.”

She hesitates, her hands tightening around the small bundle of sticks she’s cradling. Is she considering launching them at my head?

I muffle my need to smile. Looks like. But will she?

Sighing, she drops the sticks—thankfully not on my head—and moves to climb down.

“I said jump,” I repeat.

She mutters something under her breath.

“Delilah, I’m not standing here and watching you fall out of a tree. Jump, and I’ll catch you.”

I’m also not sure I could handle watching your ass as you wiggle down the tree. There’s only so much a man can take, and I’m already at my limit.

“I wasn’t going to fall.” She sighs and then jumps.

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