Page 18 of Cruel Mate

“I’m going for a run!” he yelled over his shoulder, stripping his clothes off one by one and leaving them strewn behind him. “Do not follow me!”

The final words were an order, and though he was only beta, he knew they’d listen.

He would run until he could run no more if he had to. He just needed to be alone for a while. And so, he shifted.

By the time he stopped again, Zander realized he was well outside the boundaries of the territory. Distantly, he remembered having crossed the scent markers at least fifteen minutes earlier.

He should probably head back. The sky was beginning to burn crimson, the sun going down for the night.

Nightstar was a safer place than before, but there was still no telling what lurked outside the boundaries of the town.

There had been a couple of reports from messengers on their travels that strange wolves had been scented closer to town than usual.

It was best not to get caught out alone so far from home.

Layla will be alone tonight, he thought grimly as he remembered Jack telling him she had volunteered to take a message to Pine Valley just that morning. He wondered if she had decided to stay the night or was on her way home.

No matter what he did or where he was, he couldn’t seem to get the annoying little minx off his mind. And the thought of her being out there alone wasn’t helping much.

He was just considering returning to the manor when he heard it. The sound of snarling set his fangs on edge.

He lifted his nose and scented the air.

At first, he could smell nothing but the woods, the rodents and the fresh air. Then it hit him. That intoxicatingly infuriating scent that plagued his dreams and lingered in his nostrils every time he was near her.

Layla!

So she hadn’t stayed in Pine Valley. And she wasn’t alone.

By the sounds coming from the direction of their scents, whoever Layla was with, they weren’t having a good time of it.

When he heard her yelp, Zander didn’t stop to think. Suddenly, what she had said at the bonfire didn’t matter. The humiliation she had caused him to suffer was nothing compared to pack loyalty. And the other scents he could smell most definitely weren’t pack scents.

He charged forward on high alert, only skidding to a halt in the shadows at the edge of the clearing to assess the danger he was about to face.

There, pinned to the ground by a huge black wolf, was Layla. He would have recognized that red-gold pelt anywhere. Slender, athletic and glossy-furred, her wolf was practically a prized wolf-dog pet in comparison to the two mean-looking motherfuckers she was attempting to fight off.

The one that circled around her as the other pinned her down, jaws dripping saliva over her slender neck, looked as if he was aiming to tear a lump of flesh for himself.

Layla whimpered, though the determination that blazed in her forest-green eyes suggested that she was going to fight to the last.

In that moment, Zander wasn’t sure she had ever looked more beautiful.

All thought of the night before forgotten, Zander assessed the situation in the blink of an eye and burst into action, flinging himself at the wolf who had her pinned while the other had his back to him.

The whimpers of surprise that erupted from both Layla’s attackers gave him a surge of adrenaline as he and the black wolf hit the ground and rolled over and over, locked by tooth and claw.

Claws scored along his flank, and he howled in pain as the second attacker grabbed at his tail. Fangs met the tip for a second before he managed to yank it free.

The pain seared up his spine but only made him fight harder. Smashing his head into the head of the first wolf to disorient him, he turned on the second, snarling angrily. Seeing his own fur sprouting from his opponent’s jaws, he threw back his head and howled just seconds before charging once more.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Layla cowering where they had left her at the center of the clearing, her face a clear mask of distress and concern. For once, her expression didn’t piss him off. In fact, quite the opposite. It riled him up further to meet the two wolves who came to stand together against him.

Lashing out with a forepaw, he struck first the one and then the other, giving him only a moment to place himself between them and Layla before they attacked again.

When he felt fangs meet the tip of his tail again, they were gentle. Layla tugged on him, urging him away from the fight.

He didn’t listen. He had never fled a fight in his life, and he wasn’t about to start now, not in front of her. She would never let him live it down if he did.

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