Page 109 of Wolf's Mark

No.

It was close enough to what I heard to leave me in a new state of panic.

I knew in my gut the sound that I was hearing was similar to that night. Which meant…

There was no time to waste. I took off running, but the creature was on my tail. The horrible moment when your life flashed in front of your eyes occurred. I was a sitting duck.

Unless my personal predator found me.

My survival instincts took over and I allowed myself to scream. What good it would do I didn’t know, but I refused to die without fighting with everything I had.

Every awful thing I’d been through, every terrible situation with my ex and the brutal arguments flashed into my mind. I’d planned on giving him my forgiveness. Now I would never get around to it.

The silliness with my mother and her constant worry about me playing in the forest.

All the amazing emotions and dazzling electricity Jax had provided. I’d learned to live fully and completely.

If only for a little while.

And my sweet baby daughter. She’d grow up without a mother. My heart was broken, my mind still spinning as I ran. But there was no getting away from the monster.

Wolves were real.

They were dangerous.

This one would end my life and eat me.

Something told me I didn’t want my life to end without confronting the beast. I dropped to my knees, doing what I could to control my breathing as I searched for anything I could use as a club. Fate smiled on me for a few seconds, allowing me to wrap my hand around a solid piece of wood.

By that point, I’d run out of time. With one last effort to survive, I bolted in a perpendicular direction, racing as fast as I could.

I hadn’t realized I’d doubled back toward the driveway, the sparkling lights greeting me seconds later. I was almost relieved until I spun around in the other direction.

I’d seen the video countless times of the man rising from the dead. The blurry transformation had been all I needed to see in mixed horror and fascination that his body was increasing in size, his spine becoming twisted.

But the white lights wound around the dozens of trees provided a perfect and horrible revelation.

I could no longer hide behind science.

The high-pitched howl was still partially human, but with every second that passed, the creature continued to shift at a higher rate of speed. His metabolism was different than before, his human DNA cells being devoured alive.

Frozen and unable to breathe, I held out the thick limb, debating where I should hit him.

Electricity crackled in the air, a series of sudden vibrations skittering all the way to my toes.

I felt him.

I sensed him.

He’d found me.

Jax.

My mother had told me that every little girl needs a hero. I’d grown up thinking I didn’t need anyone. I’d still maintained that belief when I’d moved here. But the sight of the huge black wolf slowly making his way toward the misshapen monster challenged my earlier beliefs.

“Sedona.” His voice was low and husky, different than I’d heard only minutes before when he’d tried to provide assurance. Comfort.

Protection.

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