Page 74 of Wolf Crowned

I threw a cross hook, taking advantage of the element of surprise.

I brought my other hand up, uppercutting him in the chin. He stumbled back. I round house kicked, hitting him in the side of the head. He tripped over his feet and stumbled backward, his hands flying to his face.

I pressed forward, but didn’t get far. A wolf snarled, lunged at him, and dragged him to the ground. The wolf bared its teeth and bit at him.

I turned back to the girl. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

She pressed her back against the side of the house. She mumbled under her breath, her eyes wide as tears glided down her cheeks.

My stomach twisted as I got a good look at her.

She couldn’t be older than twelve or thirteen. What the hell had that jerk wanted with her? Scratch that. I didn’t want to know.

I held my hands up and approached slowly. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Her eyes focused on me and her bottom lip trembled.“I just want to go home. Please.” Her voice broke, and she sobbed.

I bit my lip to keep from crying, too. “Me too. What’s your name?”

She inhaled a strangled breath. “Mya.” Her gaze flitted around like she was still searching for an escape route.

I inched closer, careful to keep my arms lifted. “Mya, I’m going to help you get out of here, but I need you to do what I say. Can you do that?”

She swallowed hard and nodded.

I put my hand on her shoulder and pulled her to my chest, hugging her. “Good. It’s going to be okay. We are going to get you out of here.” I squeezed her tight, wishing I could stop her shaking.

She said something I couldn’t understand, her voice muffled against my shirt.

I pulled back and got to her level. “I need you to walk along the edge of the path. Stick close to the houses on this side.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but I continued before she could. “Follow the path. Go past the main pack house and keep running. There’s a group from my pack that’s helping get people into cars to evacuate them.”

She looked at me with a wide terrified eyes.

I gave her a small shake. “Mya, you can do this. You just got to be brave for me. Can you do that?”

She blinked a few times. “Okay.”

I brushed some of her tears away. “Good. You go. You run, you’ll see them in the forest just after the house ready to help get you to a car. My team is all wearing these black shirts.” I tugged on mine for emphasis.

I pointed to where some of the people were helping to assist by that hideous fountain. “See him over there. He’s helping. His name is Joshua. He’ll make sure you get there safely.”

She let out a strangled cry and wrapped her arms around me. “Thank you.”

I rubbed her back only for a moment before pushing her away. “I need to keep helping my pack get others out. You’re going to run to Joshua, right?”

She bobbed her head up and down while wiping her nose with her arm.

“Good.” I gave her a small smile and then gave her a soft push toward where she needed to go.

I kept my gaze on her for a few moments, watching as she made a mad dash for the fountain. She was going to make it. I smiled to myself.

My attention went back to the fight. It was impossible to tell who was winning. I thought about Lincoln again. Was he safe? Where was he?

I scanned over the fighting in search of him while also looking for anywhere else I could jump in and help. I didn’t find Lincoln. But I did find someone else. Alpha Dane was marching straight for me.

I stood rooted in my spot. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Our eyes locked. I sucked in a breath and let it out, but it didn’t calm my hammering heart.

---