Smacking the surface of the water with my hands, I catch a scent in the air that makes me grin as I stand in the waist deep water. Kylan. Keeping my back toward him, I smile and tip my head to the sun. I let my eyes fall closed and sigh.
When I run my fingers across my wet skin, the moan that escapes is real. I’m so worked up and touch starved, that the sensation has me teetering on the edge. I need my Alphas.
My pheromones spike, sending a heady wave of my desire into the air, and I hear a masculine groan, as Ky gets closer to me.
“Unless you’re going to touch me, don’t get any closer, Ky. I’m so needy right now, and I couldn’t take it if you reject me,” I say, feeling like the last five days have been building to this moment.
“Fuck, Goldie, why didn’t you tell me?” Ky whispers, and my eyes pop open, finding him close enough to touch as he kneels on the riverbank.
“You couldn’t scent me?” I ask, because maybe I haven’t been sending them subtle fuck me signals after all.
“I could, but to be honest, your scent hasn’t changed much since you arrived. Maybe a little today.” He swallows thickly, and I huff.
“Oh.” I pout. I know I do, but I don’t know how else to respond. “I want you, Kylan,” I say, deciding it should have been more direct before. “I need you… I need you inside me,” I add, making it very clear what I want.
“Cillian and Aldair will be back soon,” he murmurs, frowning, and I can see the look of fear in his eyes as he follows the droplets dripping down the curves of my naked body. There’s desire swimming in their depths too.
“What about you? You don’t want to touch me?” I ask, not moving. I don’t want him to do anything he doesn’t want to. But fuck, I really, really want this.
“I do, it’s just–” his words end with a growl, his amber eyes seeming to glow. My heart rate kicks up, and the scent around him changes. Thickening. My heart races, and my instincts scream at me to run. RUN, CHASE, KNOT… “Fuck, Goldie, I… I can’t–” and then he’s jumping up and running into the treeline behind the river, and my mind clouds.
RUN, RUN, RUN…mate, mate, MATE!
Two more scents fill me then, and I look around. The other Alphas must be close… I didn’t hear them come through the cottage. Were they already out here? Hunting, maybe.
I shake my head. Crawling up onto the bank of the river, on the forest side, I turn my head to scan the trees.
I’m not supposed to chase. They chase me…
A large, dark form appears between the trees, easier to spot this time than five days ago.
Monster. The guttural sound I release is instinctual. Something in my soul knows what my mind doesn’t fully understand yet. Something my heart has been trying to tell me all along.
“Mine,” I growl, dropping to a crouch as the sun sinks lower behind the mountains. The darkness covers us, it doesn't scare me like it once did. The scariest thing in the depths of this forest are the three Alphas currently watching me. Hunting me.
I do the one thing you’re never supposed to do when face to face with a predator. I turn my back to them, and run.
Chapter Nineteen
Goldie
“Goldie!” Aldair barks, the sound sending a tremor of need rushing through me, but I keep running. If they want me, they’ll have to catch me.
I know what they are now. The pieces all fall together in my mind, and I know what will happen when they catch me.
My senses feel heightened, like I’m stronger, faster. My vision in the darkened forest is better than when I ran from my village. My hearing has improved.
“I can’t fight it!” I hear Ky groan, their pounding footsteps growing louder as they hunt me.
“Don’t fight it. Can’t you scent her? She wants this,” Cillian tells his brother, sounding ecstatic.
“We’re monsters!” Ky snaps, the bark of anger and pain in his voice has me letting out a whine. I want to turn and jump into those monstrous arms of his, but if they want to claim me, they have to earn it.
“Don’t leave me again!” I shout back at them, the frustration of the last few days hitting me, as my instincts guide me through the trees.
“She’s faster. Stronger,” I hear Cillian chuckle. “Oh, Goldie, when I catch you…” His words trail off, sending a thrill through me.
“If I let you catch me!” I yell, swerving left, toward the cottage, but a new scent fills my lungs, and I swerve right. Damp earth and clean air. There’s a cave… somewhere dark, cool… protected…