Page 23 of Brutal Mate

Chapter 9 - Kane

A shift was just what Kane needed in order to clear his mind. Taking to the woods at the back of the house, he stripped off his clothes and hid them in the hollowed-out trunk of an old, dead tree, his favorite hiding place for his shifts.

With the glowing moon riding high overhead, he shifted, shaking off his human form in favor of his huge charcoal-black wolf.

It felt good to have the wind rushing through his fur as he started to run. Since taking over Nightstar, he and his packmates had far less time for runs of late, and it was beginning to get to him. Especially with everything going on.

Sometimes it was easier just to let the wolf take over and forget the problems of his human life for a while.

And that was just what he was trying to do when he heard the scream. It was a guttural scream, so filled with fear that Kane acted on instinct.

Turning in the direction of the sound, he raced forward with no thought for his own safety.

It was a woman. He was quite certain of that. And she had sounded petrified, in pain even.

When it came again, it was even more shrill. The scent of wolf hit his nostrils, causing him to slow.

Whatever he was running toward, it was a dangerous situation. Instinct continued to guide him, and he kept forward, his paws silent.

Holding his breath, he poked his long snout out between the branches of a bramble, ignoring the thorns that gripped and clawed at his coat.

His stomach twisted at the sight before him.

Pinned face down, her arms and legs spread like a starfish, was Miley. Atop her were two mean-looking wolves, one pinning her down hard while the other stood off to the side, snarling into her ear.

Her face was aimed toward him, but if she saw him, she did not react. Her pale green eyes shone with terror in the moonlight as she screamed again. This time she managed words. “Get off me! Let me go!”

That's when Kane noticed the man standing at the edge of the clearing. He looked oddly familiar, though Kane was certain he had never seen him before.

He laughed a sadistic laugh as he stepped closer to Miley and the two wolves. “Don't struggle. It will all be over soon.”

His tone was menacing, deadly even, and Kane couldn’t bear the way it made Miley struggle with terror.

His wolf took over entirely, and before he knew what he was doing, he had pounced at the nearest wolf, snarling.

Knocking one into the other, Kane barreled them off Miley and sent them reeling.

They each scrambled at the loose-leaf detritus in an attempt to get up as Kane attacked them with everything he had.

“No!” the man cried, and out of the corner of his eye, he watched Miley struggle onto shaking legs. She started to run almost the instant she found her footing. “Don't let her get away!”

When the man started to shift, likely to chase down his pray, Kane knew he had to be ruthless.

Grabbing the nearest wolf by the throat, he chomped down hard until he felt bone crunch between his teeth. He hated killing, but it was the only way. He had to protect Miley. He felt it in every inch of his bones.

She was the most important thing, the only important thing.

She is to be my wife, he reminded himself. Whether he wanted her to be or not, he could not stand idly by and watch three enemy wolves rip her to pieces. Besides, they were on Nightstar territory. He had every justification to kill them, even without their attacking her.

When the first fell limp at his forepaws, he turned on the second. Baring his teeth, dripping blood on the leaves at his feet, he growled a warning.

He would snap his neck, too, if necessary, though the first death had been warning enough to the second wolf, it seemed. He whimpered, lowered his head and shuffled away on his belly in the opposite direction of where Miley had run.

The man, now a third wolf, was not nearly so clever as the second. He was already headed in the same direction as Miley, gaining on her swiftly, and Kane knew he would have her in seconds if he did not intervene.

So he ran faster than he ever had before, paws pounding so hard on the forest floor that the thudding of them rang in his ears even over the pounding of his heartbeat.

Whether she knew it was him or not, Kane would see Miley safe if it was the very last thing she did.

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