Page 65 of Betrayed Mate

And Bruce had tried to make it sound as if she wasn't a prisoner.

If he’d been with me now, I'd have been very tempted to rip his throat out.

Briar lifted her head, and her bloodshot eyes widened. “Ember, save yourself!”

All three wolves turned in my direction—they were the Grimstone pack.

I let out a shaky breath. “They’re our fri–er–allies. You don't need to be alarmed.” Even in crisis, I couldn't allow myself to call them more than they ever needed to be. Briar was the one person I could trust.

Gage whimpered and pointed his nose at one thick metal handcuff that bound Briar to the bed.

Her hair was stringy and greasy like she hadn't washed since she'd gotten here. Her arms were stretched over her head but with enough give in the chain for her to move around slightly.

We needed to get those cuffs off. I examined the metal links that each was attached to. The headboard would be too awkward to carry with her hands bound to it like that. For the first time, reality hit me. We might not make it out alive. “I need the key or an axe or something.”

“Bobby pin.” Briar pointed where the bed rested against the wall. “I dropped a bobby pin down there when I was trying to get it out of my hair the other day.”

How the hell had she managed to get a bobby pin? But that was another question for another time. I pushed past Gage and Kendric and lowered myself to the gray vinyl floor.

Of course it had fallen against the wall near her head, meaning I had to crawl under the entire bed to reach it.

Rushed footsteps drew closer, along with the growls, snarls, and whimpers. The enemy was near, and I still didn’t have Briar free.

I inched forward on my stomach until I snagged the tiny bit of cold metal between my fingertips. As soon as I began crawling out, Briar started screaming bloody murder.

Hands grabbed both my ankles and yanked me from under the bed. As soon as I emerged from underneath, I was flipped over to find a very angry and sexy Ryker glaring down at me.

I forgot how to breathe.

“You better not run off from me like thateveragain,” he snapped, the gold in his eyes not hidden by the sheen.

Before I could respond, he reached down and snatched the bobby pin from me and moved to my sister.

“Don’t come near me,” she whimpered.

“He’s on our side,” I rasped, climbing back to my feet.

Briar’s jaw dropped. “But he’s the Grimstone alpha.”

“Who’s going to get you out of these cuffs, and my pack is going to make sure that both you and your sister make it to safety.” Ryker stretched out the bobby pin and got to work.

Briar scooted away, and I reached out to take the bobby pin from him, but my hands were shaking too hard. There was no way I’d be able to get her unlocked. There was only one option. “Trust him. We need to get you out of here.”

“Okay.” Briar bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes, allowing Ryker to get close to her without reacting.

I hurried to the door and peeked out to see what sort of hell we’d have to get through to escape. The fight was still going, and the stench of blood and that strange sensation from earlier both hung heavy in the air.

A wolf darted out of the tree line, and something like a shadowy outline ran after it, moving just as quickly. The shadow figure grabbed the wolf by the neck and lifted it high. The wolf snarled, snapping at the air, searching for the enemy as if he couldn’t find it, and then the shadow figure’s head lowered, and suddenly, the wolf’s throat was ripped out.

Blood poured from the wolf’s neck, and I gasped. What sort of magic were the Blackwoods using?

The shadow figure’s head snapped up, and though I couldn’t see its face or where it was looking, I didn’t have to. The hair on the nape of my neck rose, and my wolf surged forward.

“We have enemies incoming,” I muttered just as the shadow figure blurred toward me.

The three wolves hurried to my side, but the shadow was on me, a huge version of the iridescent sheen I’d noticed covering Ryker’s eyes at times. It struck a hand at my shoulder, and I pivoted back so that the hand caught only air.

The three Grimstone wolves materialized beside me, and the shadow figure kicked out its right leg, nailing Xander in the face.Xander’s head snapped back, and he whimpered as the shadow lifted Kendric by the neck.

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