Page 20 of Auctioned Wolf Bride

“Fine,” he said. “But only because we don’t have time to argue about it.” He turned to the girls. “Head northeast of here,” he told them. “It should be about half a day’s run to get to Brixton. If you keep straight, you should hit Brixton. You’ll be safe there. I’ll have some people come out and meet you.”

The girls nodded. Several more of them began shifting, turning into large wolves with variously colored fur.

“Thank you,” Rachel said before shifting. She jumped to the front of the pack, leading the way as the other wolves followed after her.

“Let’s get going—” I turned, blinking as I took in a massive wolf with dark brown fur and the same intense eyes as Tannen. I sucked in a breath. I had never seen Tannen’s wolf before, and I had to admit, he was gorgeous.

I shook my head, pushing those thoughts from my head. He crouched enough to let me clamber on his back. I grabbed the clothes he’d discarded on the ground and climbed aboard.

His fur was surprisingly soft as I gripped it. As a wolf, his scent was even stronger, almost dizzying. But before I could think about any of that, Tannen sprang forward, speeding through the trees as the sounds of other wolves filled the air.

It wasn’t long before the wind rushing through my ears drowned out the snarls behind us. The wind whipped my hairback, the chill of autumn making my eyes sting. Still, I grinned, barely able to contain a whoop of glee. I loved the feel of running through the woods. Not being able to do this was one of my only regrets about being an absent.

We kept running, Tannen brushing up against trees and brambles occasionally, leaving a trail for the shifters chasing us to follow. My chest hurt from the cold air, but not unpleasantly so. I felt like I could do this for hours. My wolf relished every minute of it, not only enjoying the brisk run but the proximity to Tannen. She liked being this close to him, feeling his muscles ripple beneath me as he continued to sprint.

Wondering what it would be like to feel those muscles on top of me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on the wind in my hair and the crisp breeze. I had to fight against the claiming bond as much as possible until we figured out how to fight it. But fuck, I wanted him. As bad an idea as I knew it was, I wanted him. And despite how much danger I knew we were in, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Finally, we slowed down, coming to a halt in the patch of woods. Tannen crouched down, letting me off, then took his pack in his mouth and darted into the brush. A minute later, a fully clothed Tannen emerged, not looking winded despite the breakneck speed.

“Are you all right?” he asked, and I nodded. “Good. We need to make a call.”

He pulled out his phone and dialed a number, pressing the speaker button so we could both hear.

“Tannen?” Mark’s voice filled the air.

“Hey,” Tannen replied. “Where’s Jameson?”

“He’s out at the moment. I’m manning the phone. What’s up?”

“We’ve got a situation,” he said. He gave a rough recap of the story, glossing over exactly how I was kidnapped.

“God, seriously?” Mark asked when Tannen was done.

“I’m not Klyte,” Tannen said. “I wouldn’t bullshit about this.”

“Yeah, of course.” Mark took a shaky breath. “Jeez, that’s rough. Okay, so we’ll set up a group and send them to this house or whatever. Stage a raid, and we’ll be done with it. You can lead it.”

“Can’t, actually,” he said. He shot me a look, something that looked somewhere between admiration and annoyance. “Thea and I broke out all the other girls. They’re heading your way. Anyway, we got caught. Thea and I are trying to draw them away from the others. We’re heading to one of the safe houses.”

“Which one?” Mark asked. When Tannen told him, he said, “Got it. All right. Get back here as soon as you can. I can tell Jameson what’s going on, and we’ll make a better plan once you get back. Sound good?”

“For the most part.” Tannen hesitated, glancing over at me, then away. “There is one more thing.”

“Name it.”

“Do you know anything about breaking claiming bonds?”

“Not really… why?”

“There was… more of a situation.” Tannen glanced at me as he continued speaking. “In order to get her out of there, Thea and I had to…”

“Oh…oh.” There was a pause as Mark processed this. Then, “Are you sure you want to come home? Because I’m pretty sure Astrid will kill you the second you get back.”

“It wasn’t our choice,” Tannen growled.

“I don’t know if she’ll give you enough time to explain.”

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