Page 59 of The Wolf I Sworn To Hate

She looked around the dining room. “Where’s Sawyer and Sean?”

“They wanted to get some exercise this morning and said they would be back later.”

She sighed heavily. Xyla had wanted to talk to Sean this morning about how she felt. He might tell her that it was just sex and nothing more. She didn’t think he would, though. He kissed her and touched her like he had feelings for her as well.

What about Dad and Edward? Dad might try to stop me from ever seeing Edward if I pursue a relationship with Sean.

Feeling overwhelmed, Xyla finished her breakfast. “I’m going to our cabin and grab one of the jigsaw puzzles I brought for us to put together. Do you want to come with me?”

“No. William let me charge my game, so I’m going to play it for a while.”

“Okay. I’ll be back.”

She took her plate into the kitchen, pulled on her boots, and shrugged on her coat. Even though she wasn’t going far, she decided to put on her gloves, hat, and scarf, too. She might just sit in her cabin for a while and think.

Xyla was almost at the cabin entrance when Darren rushed up to her. “There’s a woman hurt on the other side of your cabin. She and her mate had been staying at the hunter’s cabin and were snowed in and were just now able to get out. Can you help me get her back to the main building?”

“Of course. Where is she?”

“Follow me.”

She rushed behind Darren as fast as she could. They get to the wood line and four bears popped out.

Her heart stopped and she couldn’t catch her breath. Her eyes widened with fear. “What the hell is this?”

Darren grinned evilly at her. “Tristan and I’ve been watching you for a long time, but you didn’t even notice we were there. You’ve been so focused on that red-haired bastard that you didn’t see us. We know you’re fucking that wolf shifter. Now, it’s our turn.”

“Darren, what are you doing? This isn’t you.” She hated the way her voice trembled.

“Oh, yes, it is me. We’ve just been biding our time.”

She screamed and Darren pounced. He put a knife to her throat and licked her face.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. The boys and I prefer the hard way. It’s much more fun. I wouldn’t cut you so you’d bleed out. Just enough to sever your vocal cords. Then, we’d take turns, fucking you and hurting you,” he whispered in her ear.

“Let me go,” she demanded, wincing as the knife nicked her neck a little.

“Not a chance. And don’t worry, no one at the resort heard your pitiful scream. You can fight us, but we’ll rip you apart right here, slowly and painfully. You have no idea what claws and teeth can do to a human body.”

“Darren, please…”

He backhanded her so hard that she was half afraid that he broke her jaw. “Shut up. Enough talk. Now, you have a choice. You can get on Tristan’s back and ride to the hunter’s lodge – we don’t want you all tired out before we get there – or we’ll tear you apart, bit by bit right here.”

She bit her bottom lip and looked back toward the resort. There was no way she could outrun the five of them. Going with them might give Sean enough time to realize she was missing and come after her.

Xyla slowly walked over to the large grizzly bear and climbed on his back. Darren quickly stripped, put his clothes in a bag, and shifted.

As they started walking deeper into the woods, Xyla remembered that Sean said shifters could communicate telepathically.

Sean, please save me. Tristan and Darren have kidnapped me and are taking me into the woods. Please help me.

23

Sean

Sawyer and Sean woke up early and decided to go for a run. They stopped on an overlook and looked down over the valley far below where there was a small town.

Speaking telepathically, Sawyer said, “It looks so far away, but I don’t think it’s that far.”

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