Page 24 of Howling Night

“You shut up, too,” the big man said, confidently walking closer to me. He looked me up and down. “What to do. What to do.”

“Kellan, no,” Paul said, shaking his head.

The big man’s eyes went wide. “Oh, Paul. That was a big mistake.”

“Shit! Fuck!” Paul ran his hands through his hair. “Please, don’t do this.”

I froze as Kellan took a step toward me. My breath caught as his fingers reached for my throat. When he made contact with my skin, his hand was surprisingly warm despite the cool night air. He wrapped them around my neck, not squeezing hard — not yet — but with enough pressure to make his intentions perfectly clear.

“Please,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.

His amber eyes locked with mine, something primal lurking behind them. I could feel my pulse hammering against his palm as he held me there, seemingly considering my fate.

The distant rumble of an engine broke through the tense silence. Headlights appeared around the bend, growing brighter as the vehicle approached. Kellan’s head snapped toward the sound, his nostrils flaring like the wolf he’d been moments before.

His fingers loosened and fell away from my throat. I gasped, drawing in a desperate breath as he stepped back.

Kellan’s eyes brightened for a moment as the headlights reflected in them. “We’ll finish this later. Until we meet again.”

Before I could respond, he turned and sprinted into the tree line, his pale body jerking awkwardly as he disappeared into the shadows with unnatural speed. Paul gave me one last panicked look before following him into the darkness. The other wolves that had surrounded me were already gone, as if they had never been there at all.

I stood frozen in the middle of the road, my hand at my throat, as the approaching vehicle’s headlights washed over me. Ryder’s truck came to a screeching halt.

The passenger window rolled down. “Get in.”

ChapterEleven

I stumbled toward Ryder’s truck, my legs barely supporting me. My hands trembled so badly that I could barely grip the door handle when I reached it. The door swung open to reveal the cab packed with two large men with Ryder, their broad shoulders taking up every inch of available space.

The man at the end reached out his hand to me, and I took it. He pulled me up, and I awkwardly perched myself sideways on his leg, my back pressed uncomfortably against the window.

He was a burly guy with a red beard and a full head of hair combed back. I made myself as small as possible, which wasn’t easy in the cramped space.

“Sorry,” I said to the guy.

“No worries,” he said with a nod. “I’m Trevor. A friend of Ryder’s, and this is Gage.”

Ryder glanced over at me, his jaw tight and his hands still on the steering wheel. “What the hell were you doing walking down this road at night? It’s like you’re trying to get yourself hit by a car?”

I swallowed hard, still feeling phantom pressure around my throat where Kellan’s fingers had been. “My car broke down about a mile back. My phone’s dead. I didn’t have much choice.”

“That was your SUV back there?” Ryder asked, glancing in the rearview mirror.

I nodded, pushing strands of hair from my face with shaking fingers.

Without warning, he made a sharp U-turn, causing me to slam harder against the door and then into the chest of the man I was sitting on.

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“Barely felt anything,” Trevor said, keeping his eyes forward.

“We’ll take a look,” Ryder said, accelerating back the way he’d come from. When we reached my vehicle, Ryder pulled over and put the truck in park. “What happened exactly?”

“It just... died while I was driving. Wouldn’t start again,” I said, my mind still working to figure out what the hell just happened.

He studied me for a long moment in the dashboard lights before bumping his elbow into Gage. “Go check it out. See if you can get it running.”

“Keys?” Gage asked, holding out his hand.

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