Page 62 of The Wolf I Sworn To Hate

Mark had managed to rake Sawyer’s face and bit his shoulder before Sawyer ended him, so both men looked a little worse for wear.

“You guys look like hell. What took you so long?”

Sean laughed and tenderly touched her neck where Darren’s knife had cut her. “Are you okay? What did he do to you?”

“It was just a little cut. No big deal. I can talk and I didn’t bleed out, so I’m all good. A little worried about you, two, though. You’re both covered in blood.”

“Not all of it is ours,” Sean assured her. “They didn’t… didn’t do anything to you, did they?”

“No, we hadn’t been here very long. I remembered you said that shifters could communicate telepathically, even with humans. I hoped that you heard me.”

Nodding, Sean smiled at her. “Message received.”

Sean eyed Xyla. “Dogs aren’t meant to be ridden. Can you walk back? We’re about three miles from the resort.”

“Of course, I can. I’m fine. Angry, scared, relieved, and a mix of a million other things, but I’m not hurt.”

Sawyer broke in. “Great, everyone’s fine. I’m freezing to death. Let’s get back.”

The two men shifted back into wolf form and the three of them walked out of the shack into the brightly lit day. They left the door open so that the wild animals could take care of the shifters. None of them looked back.

24

Xyla

Xyla didn’t have the urge to look back as they walked away from the shack. She hated that the five men had been killed, but she understood that she, Sawyer, and Sean had done what they had to in order to survive.

I took a life. I killed a man I knew and liked. It just goes to show that not everyone is as they seem or what people think. I accused Sean of being bad because he was a shifter, but then I realized he was a hero. Darren, who seemed like such a nice man, was really the monster.

Reality set in and she trembled. The bear shifters were planning on hurting her and killing her. Tristan and Darren would have returned to the resort and volunteered to help look for her. They would have looked like the good guys. If it wasn’t for Sean and Sawyer, she wouldn’t have survived.

She didn’t say anything as they walked back to the resort. Xyla wasn’t sure how the telepathic thing worked anyway, so she didn’t know whether they could reply back to her telepathically. It might have only worked with Sean when she needed help because she was terrified and full of emotion. For all she knew,Sawyer and Sean could be having an ongoing conversation right now.

Honestly, Xyla was grateful for the silence. She had been kidnapped and threatened with a nightmare. She had been terrified and angry. She had been relieved when help arrived. Now, she was numb.How am I supposed to feel?

Xyla was so tired when the resort came into view. Walking three miles in the snow was extremely difficult. The snow was still deep and she had had to flounder through thigh-high snow a couple of times. Even the snow that only came up to her calves was hard to trudge through.

There was no way the wolves could have carried her in their animal form. They might have been able to help her navigate the trail back if they had clothes, but they certainly couldn’t have walked back naked.

Sawyer and Sean ducked inside their cabin to shift, but she didn’t wait for them. Xyla was positive that if she slowed down, she would drop.

She stumbled inside the resort. Edward, Macie, and Ellie rushed toward her.

Edward helped her take her coat off. “Are you okay? What happened? Where were you?”

“I’m okay. Let me get my boots off and sit down. I’m so tired.”

Franny bustled in and handed her a cup of coffee once Xyla managed to plop down on the couch. Xyla smiled her thanks to the woman.

Sawyer and Sean walked in and started to pull off their gear. She looked over at them and nodded. Elliot came out of the bedroom. He looked at the men and then back at her.

“Where in the hell have you been? What did he do to you?”

“Dad. Shut up. Sean and Sawyer saved my ass. That’s what he did to me.”

Elliot’s mouth snapped shut and his face turned red. Xyla had never spoken to him like that before.

“After breakfast, I walked back to our cabin to get one of the puzzles I had brought for Edward and me to do. Just as I got there, Darren ran up to me and told me that a hurt woman needed my help. I liked him and trusted him, so I followed him into the tree line. Tristan and three other guys were there. They basically kidnapped me and threatened to hurt me.” Xyla showed them the cut on her neck. “Darren cut me a little. Luckily for me, Sean and Sawyer showed up and saved me.”

---