Page 22 of Never Submit

I’m too pissed off to keep my voice from echoing the feelings.

“You’re really going to make me say it?” he asks.

I straighten and pause. “You bet your ass.” An apology is a long time coming.

“For being cruel to you when it comes to your mate bond.” He sounds like he’d rather eat dirt than say those words. “I can…Ican’timagine how it feels.”

I want to needle him, the way I’ve always done. Like when he got engaged to Catarina, and I used to tease him about how she looked like she was always smelling something bad, despite the skintight dresses and the makeup.

It’s not my place to question him, though. Not my place to make any of the important decisions for him. It’s his, and it’s a burden I wouldn't want to shoulder anyway.

“Keep it in mind the next time you want to throw a tantrum,” I say at last. “Because I’m not always going to fall in line easily.”

“I don’t expect youto,” he says gruffly. “That’s why you’re my friend. You’re the only one who’s honest with me.”

I’ve got to change the subject. “What do you think? About them needing help?”

Torin pauses, groaning in the back of his throat, before he says, “I think it might be the only chance we’ve got to truly get the upper hand on Mathis, and we’d be foolish not to take it.”

“A double cross?” I clarify.

“A means to an end until we get what we want.” When I glance at him in the rearview mirror, he has his head tipped back and his eyes closed. “We’re going to play games with the devil. And see which one of us comes out with the Moonstone at the end.”

Chapter 6

Ren

My feet fly across the snow-frozen earth.

I tear through the woods, panic propelling me down the steep mountain slopes. Every breath is ragged, every step a frantic attempt to put distance between myself and Andras’s wolves, for my life.

They’re behind me. Their growls and snarls are like the relentless march of death itself.

The sights and sounds of the forest aren’t calming anymore. I barely feel the chill as my feet pound with every step, crunching over dead leaves and sticks and stones.

My senses are in overdrive.

They bombard me from all sides, making my temples pound. The smells of the crisp, chilled air, the trees, the animals who flee as danger approaches, coupled with the sounds of my frantic heart and the beasts behind me…

It’s almost too much to sort through.

I pump my arms for speed, but a mournful howl says it won't be enough. The enemy is closing in.

My next step is uneven, and my ankle rolls, sending me tumbling to the side.

Arms windmilling, my speed and the incline of the earth send me hurtling forward, and the world spins.

I hit the snow hard and my shoulder takes the brunt of the fall. Wincing, I groan, the entire side of my body scraping against the unforgiving forest floor.

Pain ricochets through me and tears well in my eyes. Once the momentum stops, I scramble back to my feet, driven by sheer desperation.

Pain is for later. It’s for someone who isn’t trying to escape their kidnapper.

Someone who doesn’t have rabid wolves on their tail.

Vicious snarls echo through the trees, and I’m off and running again, forced to ignore the way my body aches and pincheseverywhere.

My head swings left and catches a flash of movement. There.

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