Page 13 of Out of Peril

Approaching Nate's cage made my anxiety rise even more. The hair on my neck stood up and a sort of chill ran through my body.

Suddenly, I noticed the cage right next to his. We'd been a bit indulgent to lessen our own guilt by giving Nate the largest we could find. But this one was every bit as big and spacious as his. That's when I noticed a small, beautiful woman and two young kids who couldn't have been more than six years of age.

There was something captivating about the woman, and I couldn't stop staring as something inside me began to stir.

“A mother and her two pups?” I asked. “Are they to be sold together?”

“Something like that,” one of her keepers said.

“Are they all witches?” Taylor asked.

“Yes.”

I removed my sunglasses and really looked at her. She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes on, and I instantly grew angry over her situation. I knew I had to save her. Screw everyone else here, this woman and her children needed our help. They needed my protection. Something feral roared within me.

Mine, my wolf growled, causing my steps to falter by the fierceness and knowledge of who she was to me.

She gasped and stepped back as she stared back at me. The look in her eyes told me she knew who I was to her too. Then she pulled the children to cover her like a shield. Against me? My wolf roared angrily at the thought.

At first I thought that roar had escaped me, though I was desperately trying to keep my composure.

A mate? I had a mate?

The sound hadn't resonated from me though, but from her, causing everyone to take a step back.

“Can you show us your powers?” Taylor asked as if everything was perfectly normal and my whole world hadn't just shifted on its axis.

“She needs more room,” the little boy with her said, but I didn't miss the way he smiled up at her and winked.

“Open the door and let her out,” I surprised myself by saying.

I couldn’t stand there a second longer and see my mate locked up in a goddamn cage. I was seconds from sprouting fur and losing it.

“You heard him. Do it!” Taylor demanded.

There was no way she could know who this woman was. She probably just assumed that I was deciding on this one because she knows I have a soft spot for children.

The door slowly opened and my breath caught in my throat as she stepped forward.

“Grab the brats,” one of the men said.

The startled look on her face and the anger that transformed her was a sight I would never forget. With a loud roar, she shifted, but not into any animal I'd ever seen. She had the lower half of a cheetah, wings of black feathers that spanned at least ten feet wide, two extra arms like Eagle's claws, and the face of a wolf. My wolf, I realized.

What the hell had they done to her?

“I give you the beast!” one of the men yelled proudly.

Taylor's jaw dropped open. In all these years working with Westin Force, I'd only ever heard of such a strange creature once. And I'd certainly never seen anything quite like her.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Taylor said, echoing my thoughts exactly.

I couldn't look away as I stared up at her.

In the blink of an eye, chaos erupted. She'd grabbed the kids and had taken flight as people ran screaming. Weapons were fired trying to stop her. This only angered me further.

Mate! my wolf howled.

I'd never really let myself believe I'd find her, though I knew a part of me was always searching for her. Now I had, and I was about to lose her forever.

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