Page 4 of Grace of a Wolf 1
"Don't you ever speak about my mate that way again," he snarls, his face inches from mine.
I can't breathe. My fingers claw at his hand, desperate to break his grip. Black spots dance at the edges of my vision as panic sets in.
Rafe wouldn't hurt me. He wouldn't. Hepromised.
But as the pressure increases, a terrifying thought crashes over me. What if this is it? What if he kills me right here, right now?
Just as my lungs start to burn, his grip loosens. He blinks, as if coming out of a trance. His fingers loosen, leaving me to crumple to the ground. Coughing. Gasping. Tears sting my eyes as I gulp in lungfuls of air, greedy for oxygen. For survival.
"We're over, Grace."
Three words. That's all it takes to shatter my world completely.
I look up, but can't see him. Not clearly, anyway. My vision's too blurry from the tears I'm desperately trying to hold in, and it's too dark. "Who is she?" The words are choked and hard to hear, but he understands immediately.
"My fated mate," he snaps, as if it should be obvious. As if it explains everything.
"So… that's it?" I struggle to my feet, legs shaking, trying my best to ignore the agony in my ankle. It throbs, refusing to play second fiddle to this insane melodrama. "You're just going to throw everything we had away? For someone you just met?"
Raphael's beautiful ocean-blue eyes are distant. Like he's looking right through me. "This is why humans don't belong in wolf packs. You don't understand. You can't."
The casual cruelty in his voice steals my breath all over again. He isn't the boy I fell in love with. He isn't my Rafe.
Not the one who assured me it was okay to be human.
That he'd take care of me forever.
That my lack of wolf didn't matter.
"Get home safe," he says, his tone devoid of any real concern. Then he shifts, fur rippling over skin, and disappears into the darkness.
I stand there, shivering and alone, as the sound of his retreating paws fades into the night. The forest suddenly feels impossibly vast.
How did everything go so wrong so fast?
Chapter two
Grace: Abandoned
How long do I stand there, eyes straining in the darkness that steadily grows?
Who knows. I sure don't.
The howls change; many are still hunting. Several have found their mates. Is Rafe howling out there, sharing a joyous run with his newfound mate?
That pretty little red wolf, the gorgeous woman within—she's everything I'm not.
My breath puffs out in wispy smoke, and my body's already long cold.
My teeth chatter as I wrap my arms around myself, finally roused out of my fugue state to ponder more immediate concerns. Like how to get home.
I've never been great at reading the stars. Alpha always warned me I should learn these basic skills; I don't have an internal compass, and I'm terrible at tracking. But I live with wolves, so I don't spend many nights outside alone. It's too dangerous.
The forest stretches endlessly, nothing but shadows and the rustling of leaves and howls in the distance.
At least no one seems to be around me. Hopefully it means I'm close to home. I pick a direction at random, praying it leads me out of this nightmare.
Who would do this to me, setting me up for such a cruel fate? The questions swirl in my mind, but answers are out of reach. Yes, there are occasional pranks when you live with wolves. There's some harassment. There's even a solid amount of bullying I endure in silence.
