Page 72 of Pack Captive

I thought he was going to turn around and pace the other way, but instead Merikh moved like lightning.

He pinned me against the wall, his sharp-toothed smile only inches from my ear. "You no longer notice the weight of the bracelet. And one day, you forget they ever put it on you...but you can never leave it behind."

Only a day ago, I’d thought that exact thing myself. I’d forgotten the damn shackle in the heat of the moment with Ryden.

Anger coursed through me that I’d shared a sentiment with a Fenris spy.

"It's not your problem," I snapped. I couldn't move at all, not without touching Merikh...and despite everything I knew about him, my primal instincts were all over him.

He smelled mouthwatering, and his body heat was begging for me to cuddle up against him.

If I'd thought my attraction to my captor Alpha was bad, this was a hundred times worse.

"But it is my problem. Because you—" he tilted my chin up to face him. "You freed me. And one good turn deserves another."

"And then what?" I asked. "After you free me, you hunt me down and kill me after I skip off thinking everything is fine? You're a Fenris wolf, Merikh. I don'twantyour help."

His expression shivered, and ice went down my spine. He looked like a man torn, a vicious rage fighting to push out from behind his face.

"You could help me by leaving me alone," I said quietly.

Then I realized he'd dug his claws into the stone walls. Dust and chunks of rock crumbled away beneath his fingertips.

My breath caught. That strength was unnatural.

"But I can't leave you alone," he said. "Because I need you. And as long as I can touch you...I can be free."

Merikh's green eyes blazed as he bent down and kissed me. His lips were soft and warm, and my pulse shot up when he made a small sound and tilted his head.

This time the darkness was easier to push back. I felt it creeping into my mind and sent my power blazing back through him.

Merikh broke the kiss with a gasp, raising a hand to touch his lips.

"Free," he whispered. "Get the fuck out of my head."

I had no idea who he was talking to, but it couldn't have been to me, because he wrapped a possessive arm around my waist, holding me closer.

A howl from below split the air.

"They know you’re here," I whispered, feeling like my chest was full of ice.

If they saw me with Merikh like this...they'd believe I'd willingly betrayed them.

"Oh, no. Your boyfriend is upset." Merikh didn't sound like he cared at all. He laughed as the wolves began racing away from the breach. "Time to go."

I tore my eyes away from the breach in time for Merikh to grab my face, kiss me again, then he released me.

He climbed over the railing, finding hand and toe grips in the palace walls that no sane person should be able to scale. "And before you ask, yes, I'll be back. After all, there's not much of a point of a maiden in a tower unless Prince Charming is around."

Merikh blew me a kiss and vanished.

After a shocked second, I crossed the balcony and looked down, but I couldn't see anything. The stone rails blocked the view.

But the wolves in the city were howling. The Warriors were running the streets in threes, and lights were flickering to life.

There was no way Merikh would escape that...I watched intently, and what seemed like hours later, an enormous wolf with glowing red runes went tearing through the city, howling happily.

He vanished through the breach, all the Claws on the hunt just behind him.

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