Page 25 of Beyond the Grasslands

The minute he stepped out from behind the trees in the buff, and stood between Janella and I, it became clear who he was. The damage to his eye almost made me laugh, but he was closer to my friend than he was to me and I couldn’t take the chance that he would retaliate on her instead of me.

“What are you doing here?” My shift had been effortless, but I didn’t like the idea of standing around in the nude in front of the asshole. He was a threat, plain and simple.

“I made you a promise, little Luna. Remember when I promised to hunt you down and give you a little payback for this?” He ran a finger over his cheek, just under his eye. “I’ve come to collect.”

Janella howled again and the rogue shifted instantly and lunged for her. Luckily, my he underestimated my friend’s speed. His focus on her, allowed me time to shift back and come up on his backside. Just as he swiped at Janella, I managed to wrap my jaws around his hind leg and rip. As he pulled forward and I pulled back and to the side, his flesh ripped and dangled from my teeth. His yelp rang out loud and clear. I could hear the wolves who were off in the distance. They were on the way, but judging by the distance of their answering call, it was impossible for them to get to us before it was too late.

There was no way I was going to lose my friend or myself to a rogue, so I charged again as he tried to backtrack and give himself a chance to heal. No way would that happen. I lunged again, but missed as he jumped back just in time. Janella came up behind him and we both worked to close ranks. It gave one of us the opportunity to distract while the other attacked, unfortunately he didn’t go for me that time, he chose to go after Janella again.

She hadn’t expected him to snap back at her and he managed to catch her front right paw with his teeth. I pounced, ready to leap on his back, but he shifted and side-stepped while keeping Janelle’s paw in his mouth. If he bit down or exerted the right pressure, she could lose it altogether, and I wanted to avoid that. There were a lot of shifters who could heal, but a missing limb wasn’t among them.

‘Drop all your weight now!’

Janella listened to my command and dropped to her belly just as another wolf sprang from behind the trees to my left. While I couldn’t identify him in his wolf form, he smelled of a male from the Grasslands Pack. He knocked the rogue away from Janella and then stood guard in front of her with his teeth bared in a clear sign of warning. The rogue tried to swing around and come back for me, but I was ready and lunged at him. I caught him just below his neck at his shoulder which made it too easy for the bastard to shake me loose.

Thorin’s pack mate tried to jump in again, but I could see that he was hesitant, probably because he worried that there were more rogues lying in wait for us. I snapped my teeth at the rogue to try to keep his interest on me, because the other wolf’s hesitancy would get him killed if the rogue decided to take him out first.

We heard a howl rip through the forest that was quickly followed by several others. Thorin and his pack were close. I could feel the hum of our tentative bond in the very marrow of my bones. I snapped again and emitted a loud growl of warning. When another, closer howl went up from Thorin, the rogue flipped around and ran off into the woods. I was torn on whether to follow or not, but by then, Thorin was there and he leaped over Janella and took off after the rogue.

Once I confirmed she was okay, I ran to catch up. There was no way we could allow the rogue to live. He would become anuisance for the pack and Janella and I would have a constant target on our backs. I took off after Thorin and the rogue without another thought.

As I raced through the trees, I dodged branches and leaped over obstacles without consciously registering that they were there. It was the most in-tune with my wolf that I’d ever been. We had one mission. Kill the rogue. It took me a few minutes to catch up, since Thorin and the rogue both had a head start on me, but when I finally found them in a clearing just outside the pack’s borders, my mate stood over the lifeless body of the wolf who had attacked us.

“Is this the one?” Thorin called out. He stood naked in the late afternoon sun with his skin shimmering in the light thanks to the sweat that slicked his body. Some of the moisture held a crimson tint too, and I wondered why he greeted me as a man instead of a wolf.

I shifted so that I could speak to him. “That’s him. Janella gave him that scar when we were on Mirage Island. He was the only one who ever got close enough to our hiding spot to try to yank me out.”

Thorin growled and kicked the corpse again, as if he could add more injury to the dead. “I didn’t want you to see my wolf in a frenzy again.”

“I’m not afraid of your wolf any longer, Thorin.”

“Since when?”

“Since about the second night he spent in my bed and slinked out of the room looking like he’d just been kicked by his master again.”

Thorin chuckled and then glared down at the rogue once more. “This rogue tried to take you from Mirage Island?”

“He did.”

“Janella caused that damage while trying to protect you?”

“She did.”

He nodded and then turned to me. Our eyes met and I could see that he was tormented by something. “You don’t need to see this.”

“Actually, I do. I followed to make sure he was dead. He made Janella and me a promise on that island. He swore he would find us again one day and-” I cut myself off because the threats that were made wasn’t something Thorin needed to hear.

“He threatened you?”

It was my turn to nod.

“Don’t ever hold back from me, Nika. If someone threatens you, I want to know about it. I don’t care if they’re already dead. Please, don’t keep things from me. I couldn’t take it if…” It was Thorin’s turn to cut himself off.

“That goes both ways.”

“Agreed, but the conversation we need to have should be done where others can’t listen in.” I understood immediately. There might still be a threat within the pack and we needed to use discretion when speaking about certain things, like the people Thorin held in his cells and what they were up to before they were caught.

“Alex and some others will come deal with the corpse.” Thorin kicked the rogue once more and then moved to wrap his arms around me. “I don’t know why, but there is no way in hell I want them to see you like this. You look stunning in the waning light of the day, my beautiful mate.”

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