Page 16 of Pack Captive

Then he bit down, the sound of shattering bone filling the night air.

Calian shifted, still crouched over me. His fingers fumbled at the ropes, which were torn both from my sawing and the shadow wolf’s teeth.

“You should have screamed for help earlier,” he said, scowling at me. “You don’t wait untilafterit tries to drag you off.”

I gave him the same look. “I wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't tied me up in the first place.”

Calian just grumbled under his breath, tugging at the ropes and ensuring they were still tightly bound. Of course the asshole wouldn’t untie me now, even though his restraints had proven to be a liability.

The Alpha was next to shift. He dropped the shadow wolf’s corpse and became a man as he strode towards me.

To my surprise, he didn't immediately launch into berating me the way Calian had. Instead, he smoothed my tangled mess of hair out of my face, kneeling next to me.

“You weren’t bitten,” he assured me, although he was checking me with both eyes and fingers, as though reassuring himself of the same thing. “But these scratches look bad.”

Goddess forbid they lose their new prize. I had to keep in mind that his only sympathy lay in his own people; it had nothing to do with me.

“He dragged me,” I said hoarsely, suddenly thirsty now that the wolf was dead. After all that screaming, I’d inhaled a good amount of dust kicked up from the ground. “If you freed me, I could’ve helped myself.”

Neither of them answered, though the Alpha’s gaze darkened as he took in the wounds on the back of my arms and shoulders.

He ran his fingertips over my bare skin, sending a shiver through me.

But the Second was still inspecting my ropes.

Calian gave me a sharp look, his dark eyes suspicious, but I gazed right back steadily. He probably could tell that the frayed strands of the rope had been cut with a sharp object, not just torn by the wolf's teeth.

I turned my gaze back to the Alpha, curious if he would accuse me of trying to escape.

It was strange, but I did have the sense that his concern was actually forme, even if I didn’t want to admit it.

I could have been the one to point out that binding someone against their will was not the way to treat them if you wanted them to appreciate anything they did for you.

“Let's get back to the camp.” Ryden put his hands under my shoulders and gently pulled me to my feet. “We'll wash this off, and make sure your wounds are cared for. This is no way to bring a Caller home.”

“But keeping me tied up is?” I muttered in frustration, but Ryden wasn't listening.

He gazed out at the wastelands, his brow furrowed, but as far as we could tell, there was nothing else out there.

But instead of just walking away and expecting me to follow, he slung a protective arm around my shoulders. A rogue butterfly fluttered wildly in my stomach before I crushed it out of existence.

None of that. These were not my wolves, and never would be.

But I couldn't help but notice that whenever he touched me, skin to skin, his runes lit up with the same bright, clear light I'd noticed back in the valley.

A brightness that made my dead Warriors seem like dim stars next to these wolves.

I couldn't help but wonder exactly what that meant for me.

5

Ryden

All of the wolves’eyes were on her as I led Ayla back to the tent I'd had my Guardians set up for her pack.

I couldn't help the feeling of pride that welled up inside me whenever I saw her, or the respect in my Warriors’ gazes.

She was everything I've been searching for, her power coursing through my veins in a way I had never felt before.

---