Page 35 of Possessive Mate

“Fine then,” Eddie snapped. “Be my guest, if you think you can climb back up there holding her.”

“No need,” Hanson said, shaking his head and Elena bit back laughter at the disgruntled look on her brother’s face. “I noticed a few loose planks on my way to the shed. I’m sure you should be able to pull them off.”

As if he took that as a challenge, Eddie grunted and hurried off in a huff to do just that in the direction that Hanson inclined his head.

Weakly, Elena whispered, “Can the two of you please stop bickering?”

Hanson gave her another quick and comforting squeeze. She leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes, still too weak to keep them open. The warmth of his body was so welcome as she realized she was shivering.

“Don’t worry,” Hanson whispered as she heard the harsh sound of Eddie kicking planks off the back of the barn. “I’ve got you.”

Elena shivered in another way then. Not out of pain or exhaustion or the sheer bone-numbing cold that was wracking her whole body, but with a shiver of delight in his words. She would be happy if she never left his arms again.

“Come on, hurry,” Eddie hissed, and Elena felt herself being manhandled through the gap he had made in the barn. The warmth of the sun on her skin was welcome. Having thought she was not going to escape that place, the elements on her skin were like being welcomed home.

Just barely, she managed to open one eye and was just in time to have her heart sink.

“Looks like we’ve got company,” Hanson growled as both he and Elena looked over Eddie’s shoulder, where he was busy watching them closely.

“Fuck!” Eddie snarled as he whirled to see what they had seen, the wolves creeping out of the trees only a few meters away. “Why can’t things ever be simple?”

“Eddie!” Hanson snapped so suddenly that it made Elena jump as Eddie whipped back around to face them.

Before she knew it, she was jostled into her brother's arms and Hanson growled, “Get her the hell out of here!”

“No!” Elena screamed, and a bolt of energy rushed through her. She tried to reach for Hanson. She tried to throw herself back into his arms, but Eddie had a vice-like grip on her.

Quick as a flash, he turned and started to run in the only open direction.

“Eddie! No! Don’t leave him!” Elena cried, even as she heard the snarling of the enemy wolves. Looking desperately over Eddie’s shoulder, she saw them converging on the shifting Hanson. “No!”

She couldn’t lose another mate. She couldn’t go through that soul-crushing, heart-breaking pain again. It would be too much for her to bear this time around.

The weight of realization crushed down on her. Hanson was her mate. You only get one, and yet she had already had and lost Jason. How was this even possible? It didn’t really matter. She felt it right down in her gut, in her heart and her head. Hanson was hers, and she was his. There was no doubt about that.

And yet, she could only watch hopelessly as Hanson went down beneath three massive wolves, his own wolf fighting with tooth and claw to keep them off.

Elena tried to fight. She desperately tried to shift, to head back and join him in his impossible battle, but she was too weak. She couldn’t so much as elongate a claw.

“Eddie, please! You have to go back!” Elena cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. “You can’t leave him! We can’t leave him like this! They’ll tear him apart!”

But if he heard her, Eddie did not listen. He simply tightened his grip and quickened his pace. The sound of Hanson’s howling rang in her ears, telling her he had very little chance of surviving this.

Now, she had only the child growing in her belly. And somehow, that made everything even harder to bear.

Chapter 17 - Hanson

There was no way in hell Hanson was going to let these assholes get their hands on Elena again. After seeing the state she had been in inside the barn, he would give his life to keep her from ending up back there again. And that was exactly what he was prepared to do as he faced down the three werewolves who came down on him like a wave, one after the other.

He fought hard, biting and clawing, ducking and dodging until the first managed to pin him down. The second grabbed his tail in its jaws, biting down so hard he felt the tip go numb.

You fucker! Hanson snarled, trying to rip his tail free. Then the third was on top of him. A huge paw lashed at the side of his face. It caused his head to whip sideways so fast that all he felt was blinding pain in his temple as he hit the floor hard, rolling even with the others pinning him down.

The next thing he knew, there was nothing but blackness.

When he awoke again, there was no sun shining above him. There was only darkness, pain and the scent of her.

For just a second, Hanson believed that all was well, that somehow he had ended up back in Nightstar with his pack all around him. But then, as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized the scent was stale. Elena hadn’t been here for a while now.

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