Page 15 of Pack Captive

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that something was different about this one. The way it looked at me...it didn't have the usual look of blind rage and hunger.

I didn’t want to know what that meant. The shadow wolvesalwayskilled any other wolf they came across.

I clutched the rock tightly and began sawing desperately at the ropes, no longer trying to stay quiet.

My breath was coming faster, my heart pounding in my throat. It was only feet away, stalking towards me, its head ducked low to the ground as more rumbles emanated from its chest.

I should never have come out here alone. It seemed my choice was between captivity or death. There were no other options left.

My form shivered as my primal instincts urged me to shift, the only way I would be able to fight this creature off. My soft human form was defenseless.

It slunk closer, and I desperately tried to snap the ropes, my arm muscles screaming with the effort.

Despite how easily the rock had sliced through the ropes, the last bits of cord still held together.

I was obviously incapacitated and not getting out anytime soon.

The wolf took that as its cue, lunging at me with its jaws spread wide open. I fell to the side, the roots of the tree scraping my arms and back.

I bit back a shriek as the creature’s rotten-smelling form crashed into me, driving me into the sharp rocks at the base of the tree, but the expected pain of sharp teeth never came.

Instead, it wrapped its jaws around the ropes tying my arms and hooked its teeth into the harsh material.

The change in this wolf was so shocking, I almost allowed the thing to drag me away.

It only got several feet from the trees before my senses came back to me, and I thrashed around, letting out a wild scream that they’d hopefully hear back at camp.

The Fenris wolf snarled, dragging me even faster. Rocks gouged through my thin clothes, leaving long scratches down my body.

I managed to flip myself around as it pulled me down a shallow hill, and smashed my foot towards its flank.

My heel skated off its side, and the wolf let out a sharp bark of displeasure, pulling even harder and yanking me away from the stand of trees.

I hadn’t come all this way just to die out here at the hands of an enemy, especially after being humiliated by the Azuran Alpha.

Nor had I wanted to use up what power remained of the last full moon ritual, but the wolf left me no choice. I pulled on the power resting in my veins, alarmed at how little was left, lighting up my runes with a glow like starlight.

It wasn’t as powerful as I needed—its light was dim compared to how it had felt back in the valley—but it was enough to make the wolf pause.

That split-second hesitation was all I needed. I heard the sound of paws pounding on the ground, and several wolves came spilling over the ridge.

The Alpha came first, his teeth flashing white in the moonlight, runes lit up brighter than I’d ever seen on a Warrior before.

They made mine look like a flickering, dying candle flame next to his sun.

Even Calian was glowing brightly, his fur standing up in a thick ridge of hackles. He raced towards me, plowing into the shadow wolf and standing over me, guarding me with his own body.

The Alpha circled the Fenris spy, trapping him between the two Azurans.

The wolf finally released me, ears pressed flat against his head, bloodied eyes flickering from one wolf to the other.

He knew he wasn't going to get out of here alive.

But he could take me out with him.

Alpha Ryden seemed to sense his intentions before he even managed to get his teeth into my throat.

Laying on the ground, I saw my death lunging towards me, and then the Alpha’s jaws clamping around the shadow wolf’s throat. He moved like lightning, faster than anything I’d ever seen before.

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