Page 43 of Alpha's Hated Mate

I look over my shoulder to see that Aydan has paused, looking down at something. “What is it?” I whisper.

He reaches down and picks up what looks like a piece of black fabric.

“What is . . . that . . . ?”

Aydan’s face deepens into a frown as he beams his flashlight on it. Embroidered to the fabric is the logo of the Moonhelm security team, stained in dried blood.

I scan the ground with my flashlight. Scraps of the security uniforms torn to shreds litter the ground around us. I cover my mouth, holding back a gasp.

“What could have done this to the security team?” Aydan asks out loud.

I steel myself as he puts the piece of fabric back down. “Maybe we should head back and tell the dean. Who knows what we’re dealing with?” That’s when I notice that Nadia’s not behind him. “Wait, where’s Nadia?”

He looks over his shoulder, panic in his eyes. “She was right behind me,” he says. Then in a hoarse whisper he calls out to her in the darkness. “Nadia? Nadia?”

Just great. She probably got distracted by a weird flower or something. “She can’t be far behind us,” I say. “Maybe she just needs to catch up.”

He’s watching the path behind us with anticipation . . . and it occurs to me that I’ve been here before. Just a few yards away, I spot the boulder that she had been standing next to when I followed Nadia into the woods before. My stomach tightens as an unnamed fear grabs me.

“Aydan,” I whisper. “I have a bad feeling. We should go back.”

“Yeah, we need to find her and get—”

We both stop. A strong, foul, yet vaguely familiar scent grabs us both. Sulfur, fur, wood, and flowers . . . andScarlets?

Before either of us can react, the ground rumbles, and the trees around us come crashing down. Emerging from the darkness is the head of a wolf so large that it blocks out the moon. It snarls with its great snout, teeth bared as its growls shake the ground. Blood-red eyes slowly scan the area . . .it’s looking for us.

I reach back for Aydan, unable to take my eyes off the beast. He takes my arm as we both hide in the brush.

Enormous doesn’t describe this thing—at least twelve, maybe sixteen feet tall. It could fit inside Shatterstone with its head touching the ceiling. As it moves slowly toward us, sniffing the air, giant paws crunching the branches (I hope they’re branches) under its feet, I look back at Aydan.Let’s go, he mouths.

We start to move back, taking careful steps away from the beast. I can’t take my eyes off the thing. Is this a Scarlet? It certainly smells like one under the pungent scent of sulfur and dirt. But I’ve never seen a wolf, Scarlet or otherwise, that wasthis big.

Whatever it is, we need to get the fuck out of its way and fast. We get several steps away from it before it stops suddenly and whirls its massive head in our direction. We both freeze. My heart is pounding so loud in my ears that I swear it can hear me.

It rears its head back, lifting its nose to the moon . . . and it howls. The sound is a horrifying blend of Lycan voices screaming and shaking the trees above us. I wince, covering my ears. Aydan practically pounces on me, covering my ears with me. “Don’t listen,” he says in a hoarse whisper.

The sound is so loud, even muffled. It vibrates through my body and makes my wolf pace inside me.Oh, no . . . this was just how it happened before!

The urge to change is overwhelming. I grit my teeth to hold back my wolf, but it feels like I’m standing in a storm. I don’t know how long I can . . .

And then it stops. The wolf inside me falls away as if it’s passed out from exhaustion, and I almost want to follow it. Something about that sound has drained me. My legs shake—”Look out!”

Suddenly, Aydan pushes me hard into the darkness. The beast crashes into the brush where we were just hiding, snapping its oversized jaws. We tumble into the dirt together.

“Run!” Aydan shouts at me, but I can’t move. My muscles aren’t responding. I’m struggling to get to my feet, but it’s just not working. Aydan changes into his wolf. His body morphs quickly into a strong, beautiful white wolf with blue and green eyes. He turns toward the monster and snarls, ready to fight him.

He’s got to be insane. I can’t let him do this . . . but I can’t move!

Aydan leaps at the monster, claws and teeth connecting with its shoulder. The monster roars out in pain, then snaps at Aydan once, twice. The third time it connects, digging its teeth into his side.

No!I watch helplessly as it wrenches Aydan off its body, and with a twist of its head, it tosses him through the wood. He careens over my head, crashing somewhere beyond me. I manage to get to my feet, but I stumble and fall back into the brush. I have to get away . . .

The ground shakes as two giant paws crash down on either side of me and hot sulfuric breath creeps down on my back.

And suddenly, I’m yanked up by my clothes. Everything moves in slow motion as I’m carried through the night air. The air becomes thick with electricity and . . .

Everything goes black.

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