Page 17 of Undesired Mate

“Helpless?”The wolf’s bitter laughter rings out in my head.“A witch, helpless? She ventured onto our land and should have known the penalty.”

“Since when is that the penalty?”I ask. I see him now, up ahead, his eyes glowing between a pair of slim pines. When he blinks, I lose sight of him, but regain it when his eyes open again.“You’vegone too long without facing the consequences, but I’m here to set things right.”

“You? You are practically a pup.”Let him insult and belittle me all he wants. I can almost taste the pungent terror behind his thoughts.

The moon emerges from behind a passing cloud, and now I see all of him. Large, heavily muscled, the moonlight gleaming off his fangs when he lifts a lip to snarl threateningly.“Who are you to come here and pass judgment?”he asks, facing me down.

“The witch you violated sent me. It is time you paid.”Lifting my lip, I snarl at him, drawing closer. Now I see the flecks of gray in his dark fur, running along his snout. A long, jagged scar runs from the top of his head down the left side of his face. The wound must have been catastrophic to leave a scar behind, since otherwise it would have healed without a hint it was ever there. Magic, maybe? Did he not learn his lesson about tangling with witches? Wasn’t it enough he was cast out of his pack?

He lifts his head, his golden eyes shining. I hear his growl in my head and in the air around me.“You can try,”he tells me,“but let me warn you. Others have tried and failed to kill me.”

Lowering my head, I growl, my hackles rising.“I’ll take my chances.”

He lunges first, throwing himself down the slope between us with his jaws snapping. My reflexes are sharp enough that I’m able to leap out of the way even with him catching me by surprise. I whirl to face him, waiting for him to come to a stop before I leap with my claws extended.

Our bodies crash together with a bone-jarring thud before we tumble further down the slope, both of us snapping at each otherwhile sharp rocks and twigs tear at our bodies. We’re locked together, struggling to strike the first real blow.

When my teeth find his throat, I sink them in, but not far enough before we crash against the trunk of a gnarled pine. The impact knocks the wind from my lungs and leaves me dazed, but only for a moment before I scramble upright.

He’s a little slower, and I take advantage of that, leaping onto his muscular back, slashing through his fur to reach his skin. I hear his pain, the screams of rage which fill my head while he bucks violently, but nothing will stop me. This is what he deserves. For what he did to Clara, for the life he damned her to live. He has no one to blame but himself.

A sudden burst of strength takes hold of him all at once, and I’m thrown from his back, landing on mine, but I’m up again in a heartbeat. He’s suffering, whimpering, trying to escape somewhere he can lick his wounds. Like I would let that happen.

This time when he tries to throw me off, I hold on tighter, sinking my sharp teeth into his neck. For Clara. All for Clara. Blood fills my mouth and coats my throat, and I revel in it because it’s for her.

Her wide, terror-filled eyes are in front of me, making me snap my jaws closed until my teeth meet. He howls, but the sound is quickly replaced by a whimper. High-pitched and full of pain. His blood soaks into my fur, but it’s the sense of satisfaction that matters more. Triumph floods my system as he drops to the ground in a limp, bloody heap.

While he whines and convulses as his life force flows from the gaping wound I left behind, I allow the shift to come over me. I want to watch him die through my human eyes, want him to lookup and see me watching, to see the disgust on my face. I want that to be the last thing he sees before he closes his eyes for good.

Right now, those eyes blink slowly while blood that looks black in the moonlight flows more weakly from his wound. “That’s for the daughter you created and damned to misery,” I whisper as he dies. “You’ve had it coming to you for a long time. Trust me on something: no matter how much pain you think you’re in now, it is nothing compared to the pain you forced her to suffer every day of her life.”

I can’t hear his wolf anymore. There’s nothing but silence as his eyes slide shut, and he releases one final, shuddering breath.

It’s over. He’s dead.

And Clara is free.

10

CLARA

What is takinghim so long?

If I don’t stop pacing around, I’m going to wear a hole in the floor. How long has it been since he left? He said he was able to find my father, but was that true? Was it really him? What if he’s not actually a lone wolf, after all? What if he’s got other shifters on his side? Levi could be walking into a trap, and there’s nothing I can do about it. There’s no way I can help him, no way to save him.

All I can do is walk around, feeling like fear is eating a hole in my stomach. What if he never comes back? How do I live the rest of my life without him to protect me?

I didn’t realize until now how much I’ve been depending on that idea. Having him to protect me. It’s not like he ever came out and told me he would be my protector from now on. He just… sort of took the job. Whatever exists between us, deep down inside, it’s compelling him to do all of this. I wish there was something I could do to help, rather than hanging aroundand feeling like a burden. The sort of burden that could get somebody killed.

But he’s strong, isn’t he? A shiver runs through me when I think about how strong he is. Powerful. There was a minute there, back at the cabin, where I worried he was going to lose his grip on my mother. I was afraid not for her, but for him. He doesn’t know her. He doesn’t know how cruel she can be. I doubt she could hurt him physically, but mentally? All it would’ve taken was hurting me in his presence. I have no idea how I’m so sure of that. I just am. And she would’ve done it if given the chance. I know that, too.

It’s the kind of thing I’ve been ashamed of all my life—but somehow, when I’m with Levi, there’s no shame. At least, not as much as I usually feel. I’m still not exactly proud of surviving eighteen years under the burden of her loathing, but there’s a part of me that believes he understands. I don’t have to be ashamed. That alone is freeing. I feel lighter than I did before we paid that visit, even if I’m currently worried half to death about Levi.

Where is he, damn it? Why is this taking so long? He didn’t even tell me how far away he was going. I don’t think he was trying to hide anything from me, not exactly. More like he thought he was being protective. It’s both sweet and a little pigheaded. I’m not a child. I can face facts. I’ve been facing facts all my life—and unlike now, when someone cares, my mother never saw any point in sugarcoating anything. She couldn’t even give me that little bit of kindness. From the time I was old enough to understand what rape was, she made it a point to tell me how brutal it was and how unwanted I was.

There are noises outside, but this time I know who’s making them. “Just keeping watch,” someone announces outside as theywalk past. I offer my thanks before they continue on, making leaves crunch under their feet. I’ve never been safer than I am tonight.

And I’ve never felt so completely vulnerable. What if he’s already dead somewhere? No, I would feel that… wouldn’t I? I don’t have the first clue. Like I needed another reason to resent my mother. She made sure I never learned a single thing about who I am, because she never wanted to admit who I am. It was easier for her to hate me and push me aside than it was to even begin to accept me.

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