Page 18 of Wolf Mate

A bloodcurdling scream escaped me, but even that was cut short. I didn’t have the energy to spur it on further.

“Don’t scream again,” he commanded, the crimson in his eyes spiraling hypnotically. “And you won’t remember finding me drinking from that woman or me chasing after you and feeding. All you’ll remember is that you had a good evening stroll.”

My brain hazed, and part of me wanted to concede to his demand, but another part fought back. He lowered his head to my neck, and I winced, bracing for the pain. Instead, he rubbed his nose against where my pulse pounded.

“You smell delectable.” His tongue darted out, leaving a trail of saliva behind. “Whatareyou?”

I had no clue what he meant, but his dragging this encounter out was deepening my fear. Maybe that was what he was going for.

“Mix that with the scent of your fear, and you may be my best meal yet.” He snickered, and the tips of his teeth grazed my skin but didn’t pierce it. I turned my head in the opposite direction, not wanting to see his face as he drank from me.

Something caught my eye.

Three sets of eyes glowed at me from past the tree I’d been tossed into moments ago.

The pair of eyes closest to me was a familiar crystal blue.

A sharp pain pierced my neck as the guy bit me, and those glowing blue eyes leaped around the tree, revealing a big fucking black wolf.

For a minute, the pain ebbed as awe and more fear warred inside me. The wolf lunged onto the guy’s back, and the fangs left my neck.

When the other two glowing-eyed beings moved out, I wasn’t shocked to see they were wolves as well.

The black wolf clawed at my attacker’s back, and the guy rolled off me and knocked the wolf into a tree across from us in a blur.

No wonder the biter had been able to attack me so fast.

The other two wolves were here, and I tensed, but their focus stayed on my attacker.

I clasped my neck, warm blood slipping through my fingers, and tried to sit up. The world spun around me, and I couldn’t tell up from down. Nausea churned in my stomach, and I deplored my luck. The one time my blood had sort of helped me, I couldn’t get away, and three random wolves had come to my rescue. Clearly, I was meant to die tonight whether from being drained of blood or as a meal for the wolves.

Wolves were very intelligent—smarter than most humans thought—and they understood cause and effect. So maybe they wanted to be the ones to kill me instead of this guy?

The thought caused me to shiver, but all I could do was sink back onto the forest floor. Fortunately, I landed on the dried needles and leaves the trees had shed.

My eyes closed, despite the sounds of skin tearing and a loud scream of agony. Everything inside me tensed, but sleep still overcame me.

At least, when it was my turn to die, I’d be unconscious and unable to feel the pain.

“Skylar.”A sexy and familiar rasp filtered into my consciousness.

I wanted the voice to keep talking … to say more. The sound sent all sorts of strong emotions surging through me, but I noticed one overlying emotion I’d never felt before, and I never wanted it to end.

It knotted my stomach and both scared and thrilled me.

Intrigue.

My shoulders moved as someone nudged me, and that deep voice spoke again. “We need you to wake up.”

Raffe.

Then the wordwehad my eyes bolting open.

Raffe was kneeling at my side with Adam, Keith, and some other man I didn’t know standing at my feet. The nameless guy stood between Adam and Keith, rubbing his hands together.

All four of them stared at me, and I sat up, needing to get away from prying eyes.

Realization warmed my chest. I’d texted him, and he’d come. I hadn’t expected that.

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