Page 17 of Wolf Marked

The four men Filip had recruited for the trip dropped their bags in the snow and stretched their backs, twisting and turning until bones popped. They had made it to the cave in record time. Since it hadn’t taken long for Boden to load up his wagon and start his pack on their trek toward Svanna Rock, Erec and his group were able to sneak away and make it here before noon. They had plenty of time to relax, eat, and get some sleep before nightfall, when their real mission began.

“After we get the tents up, we can rest until the sun sets.” Erec scanned the faces of the men whose lives he was now responsible for. Two of them had helped Filip load one of the sleds earlier. Darek and Gunnar. And the others were Bec, a middle-aged man with a curled gray mustache, and Kalle, a boy no more than eighteen. They all stared at Erec with full attention.

He glanced over his shoulder to find Astrid trailing behind a few steps, her cheeks rosy from the cold. “No fire. We can’t risk being found, so the sooner the tents go up, the sooner everyone can go inside for warmth. I’ll take first watch. We’ll meet here as soon as the sky darkens.”

They nodded in unison and started sorting through their belongings.

Maybe he could do this. He had three days to rescue the survivors, meet the west-side pack at Svanna Rock, and prove to everyone, including himself, that he could do it all without anyone getting hurt. Erec rolled his neck, hoping to release some of the tension building in his muscles.

But that burst of confidence quickly vanished when he turned to see Astrid heading past the rocks before disappearing completely into the shady forest.

There she goes. Already.

He couldn’t believe Filip had allowed her to come, knowing how dangerous their mission would be. It wasn’t safe for a woman, especially one as small, stubborn, and reckless as Astrid. They hadn’t even been at their base for more than a minute and there she was straying from safety again. It could get her killed. Could get them all killed. Thinking about one of Jerrick’s dogs getting their claws on her, too, made his blood boil.

He left the men to set up their tents and marched after her. With every step, his common sense scolded him to just leave her alone. They’d met only a day ago, and if she wanted to do something foolish and get herself hurt, that was her choice. She should be allowed to spend her remaining few weeks how she wanted. But no matter how many times it repeated in his head, his feet kept moving him forward and his heart still pounded at the thought of something happening to her. It shouldn’t matter, but it did.

It did a lot.

He followed the curve of the cliff’s rocky foundation a little farther into the woods and found Astrid tossing her knapsack and walking staff on the ground. She glanced at him, her irritation clear on her face.

“I’m not going past these trees. I’m still close to the camp,” she said, bending down to unlatch the hooks of her bag. She rustled through its contents until she pulled out a silky black ribbon. “I just wanted to look for more food, so save the speech. I know what you’re going to say.”

Cocking his head to the side, he smirked. For some reason, her slight arrogance amused him. “You do?”

Astrid lifted herself up onto her toes to appear taller, and her tone lowered, mocking him. “‘It’s not safe to wander off, Astrid. You’ll get hurt, Astrid.’ On and on. I get it. I’ve heard it all before.”

When she pulled her rust-colored curls away from her face and tied them up with the ribbon, Erec’s body automatically tensed. In that single action, she appeared years older. Her green eyes seemed to give off a light of their own, two gorgeous, radiating orbs framed by dark lashes. Calling to him. He couldn’t look away; he was transfixed in the danger they reflected. His lungs wouldn’t work to take in another breath. Shadows clung to the sharp lines of her cheeks and curve of her neck, giving her a distinctly wild and seductive look. And in that moment, Erec realized that this wasn’t a young girl standing in front of him—someone who needed to be looked after and controlled. She was a huntress.

And he wanted her.

His fingers clenched and unclenched as an ache to run them over her scalp and tangle his hands in the strands of her ponytail, pulling her head back, shot through them. Her lips would part as she gasped from shock, and he would possess her then, kissing her hard.

“I know you didn’t want me to come,” Astrid said as she unbuttoned the clasps on her coat and swung it off her shoulders. She laid it over her bag. “But I don’t understand why.”

Erec almost couldn’t find his voice. It was trapped somewhere inside him with his dwindling self-control. His gaze roamed over her body. Her slender legs and thighs were wrapped in stockings, the clingy material leaving nothing to the imagination. And when she turned slightly to glance over her shoulder, he could see the perfect roundness of her bottom. A knitted vest and long-sleeved shirt covered her top from his wandering eyes, but it didn’t still the desire burning in the base of his stomach. He stepped closer to her.

“You told me you didn’t care what I did, that I could make my own choices, but I saw your anger when Filip said I could go,” she went on.

How could he explain to her all the conflicting thoughts racing through his mind when he couldn’t even make sense of it himself?

Her gaze dropped to her feet. “I don’t need another person telling me what to do.” Then, in one swift motion, she hooked her boot under the wooden staff on the ground, kicked it up into the air, and snatched it with her hand. “I can take care of myself.”

That surprised him. During their hike here, he wondered why Astrid had brought the six-foot stick along, since he’d never seen her with it before, but her quick, light movements hinted that she was more familiar with it than he’d first thought.

A thick mass of cloth and twine was wrapped around one end, and when she pulled it all away, there was a sharp, metal arrowhead fastened to the shaft. It wasn’t an innocent walking stick. It was a spear.

With a quick flick of her wrist, she twirled it around at a blurry speed, one hand to the other, until the tip pointed to the ground. A sexy, satisfied grin formed across her lips. She was comfortable with the weapon, he could tell. Had trained with it. Astrid wasn’t the woman Erec had thought. She was someone different entirely.

He had been drawn to her before, but now…now something was pulling him toward her with an invisible hand, and its hold was too strong to break free of. He wanted to get toknow this woman, but more importantly, he wanted to explore this mysterious dark side she had been hiding from him. Run his hands over the delicious curves of her body and see the wild side of her escape. And he was going to be the one to unleash that part of her.

But when he was about to close the distance between them, his common sense kicked back in, stopping him short. He walked to a nearby tree and leaned his elbow against the trunk, shaking his head clear. This was Astrid he was pining over, the alpha’s daughter. And he—he was no one. Just a rogue with no pack or even a set place to stay.

Erec glanced at the blue spiral markings wrapped around his shoulder and upper arm.But what about the curse? The love bond strong enough to break it?

This wasn’t love, though. It was hunger, desire, sex. Maybe it was to fill a little loneliness Erec was feeling, too, but it couldn’t be love. Besides, the sky spirits had to know that he was the worst choice for Astrid. What could he offer her? A scrap of food every few days? A cold, wet cave to sleep in? A life of running and hiding? No, it was foolish to think he could have her. In any way.

He was getting too distracted. He had a group of men to lead and a dozen survivors to rescue. He couldn’t lose his head now. Too many lives were counting on him.

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