Page 77 of Wanted By the Wolves

“Watch as I take your queen,” the king shouts.

He looks deranged as he talks to the crowd, the sickness apparent in the blackness of his eyes.

“It’s time for you to bow for your King, troublemaker.” He pushes me to my knees in the snow, yanking on my chains until I’m forced to look up. The Alpha King traces my jaw and pinches my chin. “Your body and soul belong to your pack now. As it is meant to be.”

I hold his eyes, refusing to submit. He will never take me willingly. I have a pack. We belong to each other, and he can’t take that from me.

His lips curl into a snarl, and he opens his mouth to speak, but the words are lost.

A resounding bang followed by a blaze of light explodes within the circle of wolves.

Another blast, this time to the far right, is accompanied by sparks of shooting green magic. The crowd shouts, mayhem and chaos erupting as another bomb explodes inside the circle of wolves.

The king lets loose a rage-filled growl. He yanks on my chains, forcing me to fall face-first into the snow as he drags me behind him. “Get her in the tent,” he orders a wolf from the small group circled near the tent’s entrance.

I scramble to my hands and knees, fighting against the chains with a renewed sense of purpose. My other mates have come. I just have to fight long enough for them to get to us.

The king turns on the dark healer. “You guard my back, but I want their throats. She can watch their bodies bleed out while I claim her.”

Before the king and his healer disappear into the crowd, another shock wave rocks through the night. Only this time, it isn’t a bomb—it’s an explosion of magic.The power feels like a tsunami sending a crashing tide beating against my chest. It steals my breath and burns the skin on my back. The searing pain sends darkness creeping into my vision.

A deep grumble echoes through the clearing, shaking the ground. Dizzy and panting in pain, I twist to watch as Dex roars. My mate sprouts fur and claws, his clothes shredding as his body takes on his wolf. Only, it’s not his full wolf but something in-between. He’s both a two-legged man and a beast. A monstrous and terrifying sound erupts from his throat, the power of his wolf sending out another blast of magic.

Dex snarls, fighting his captivity, and the chains buckle under the strength of his beast. His eyes glow red withvengeance, and the skin on his chest is etched with a luminous blue rune.

It’s the symbol for mate. It’s my rune, activated by the connection between us.

I watch in awe as my mate—my avenger—tears through the clearing as if Odin himself is among us.

Chapter 44

Dex

“For what they have done to her, they will pay.”

The voice of the First Wolf echoes through my mind, his snarl becoming my own.

Yes, my wolf agrees, submitting to the power of the ancient alpha spirit as he shares my skin.

We will paint the snow red until she is safe.

Chapter 45

Briggs

I’m pretty fucking sure my brother is feral, possibly also possessed—maybe a god? I’m having trouble wrapping my head around it. But then, it’s not every day my brother turns into a full-on werewolf and breaks through wolfsbane chains.

Whatever Gage put in those tiny bombs is some crazy-ass shit because one went off, then magic just exploded. My mating rune appeared on my chest, matching the one glowing back at me on Gage. I can’t even process that because my brother is mowing down everything that breathes without mercy or thought, a trail of wolves in his wake as he charges the king.

I’m not saying it’s not badass, but my asshole is puckering. This is some fucked-up shit, even for me.

I keep the king’s wolves at bay, fighting them off while Gage blasts through the crowd toward our mate.Out of the corner of my eye, I see Nova gain control of her chains, whipping them around like a lasso before she strikes her captor.

That’s my badass omega.

My wolf howls, both in awe of my fierce mates and in frustration that these fuckers are making us fight when we should be bonding in her nest. When I get to her, I’m never letting her out of my sight again.

Green sparks shoot from Gage’s fingers, and the wolves closest to Nova fall to the ground.

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