Page 19 of Auctioned Wolf Bride

This wasn’t helpful. Shaking my head to clear it, I started walking down the hall, sensing the rest of the women creeping behind me. Every creak of the floorboard sounded like an alarm in my head. My breathing shallowed, and my ears pricked as we snuck down the corridor. We were close to the entrance, the door in sight. We just needed to clear this hall and—

“Oh no,” a voice whispered behind me.

A sinister wobbling sound, followed by a loud crash, reverberated through the hall. My head whipped around. Broken shards of ceramic that had once been a vase stood at one of the girl’s feet. She looked up with alarm, mouth opening to apologize.

Another woman clamped her hand over the frightened girl’s mouth before she could speak. We all waited, barely breathing, to see if the house stirred.

Silence.

A silent breath of relief rippled through the cluster of women. We kept going. We were nearly there.

A creak echoed through the house. I froze, my heart pounding.

More creaks. Soft murmurs. My head slowly moved upward to look at the ceiling. I followed the creaking sounds, tracking the footsteps, dread growing as they neared the stairway. Shit.

Damien’s scent wafted from upstairs, growing stronger. Silence be damned, we needed to get out.

I raced to the door, flinging it open before standing to the side, motioning the first of the women through the doorway.

“Run,” I hissed, ushering the girls out of the house. “Get to the woods.”

I stayed where I was, unwilling to leave until everyone got out. The footsteps above us seemed to speed up. They were close to the stairwell, at which point we’d be in full view of whoever was coming.

The line thinned, the last of the women trickling out, urged forward by Tannen covering the rear. His eyes found mine, and he froze for the briefest of seconds, his mouth turning into a thin, furious line. He turned his attention back to the last of the girls, who had a slight limp as she staggered out the door.

The instant the last girl was out. Tannen rounded on me, his eyes flashing with anger. “What are you doing?” he hissed. “Get out of here.”

“I was making sure everyone got out safely,” I said.

“He’s right on our tail,” he snarled. “You didn’t need to put yourself in danger.”

“I wasn’t going to just run,” I fired back.

A low growl vibrated in Tannen’s throat. “We’ll talk about this later,” he said. “Let’s get—”

The footsteps above us reached the landing above and stopped. We both turned, though we already knew what we would see.

Damien loomed above us on the staircase.

Time seemed to stand still as he stared at both of us, his mouth partially open as if about to ask a question. Then his eyes drifted backward toward the still-open door, narrowing as realization flooded through him.

His head whipped around toward us in disbelief. His eyes locked on me, and his face contorted in rage. “You,” he snarled. He stepped forward, every inch of him radiating hatred. “You’re going to regret this, you little bitch.”

Tannen grabbed my arm and jerked me out of the house, steering me toward the trees, his hand not leaving my bicep as we ran, sprinting into the woods.

The cluster of women lurked just inside the woods, several of whom had already shifted. Behind us, angry yells and shouting filled the air, growing closer. We didn’t have much time before they found us.

“Right,” Tannen panted, looking between me and the rest of the girls. “You ride one of the girls and take them to Brixton. I’ll try and start another trail, lead them away from you guys.”

“I can’t,” I protested. “You heard him. He’s blaming me for all this as much as he is you. The girls have a better chance of getting away if we can get Damien and the others to chase us.”

He growled.

“You know I’m right and that we’re running out of time,” I said.

“You’re deliberately putting yourself in danger,” he snarled.

Behind us, yells and cries of alarm filled the air. Tannen’s head whipped around, and he snarled in frustration. He turned back to me.

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