Page 14 of The Beast's Betrayed Mate
She narrowed her eyes at him but refrained from commenting. A soft ripple of concern was moving through her, however. Was she as safe with him as she thought she was? Why had her instinct been to follow? Why was her first order of business always to keep others safe? What about keeping herself safe? She always did this. She always just threw herself in headfirst without actually thinking about the possible ramifications. In the moment she always felt so certain that she was doing the right thing and then…
Then she found herself in a darkening park with a wolf who was really a man who had once rejected her so harshly she hadn’t thought her heart would recover.
What?
His voice again. The question was simple enough. He must have read in her expression that her mindset was changing, that there was growing unease.
“I’m going,” she said.
Okay, fine.
She didn’t know if this was the right thing, but she wanted to run. It was as though logic was catching up with her and she knew there was a threat approaching. She couldn’t tell if it was Peter or the other wolf, but either way she needed to make herself scarce. Or at least get herself to a lit street. With cars. And people.
Something inside of her stubbornly wanted to linger.
“Will you be alright?” she asked despite the urgency within her to haul ass out of there.
His golden eyes met hers again, the wolf merely replying with another gentle growl affirmative.
Then his voice in her head grumbled,Go.
She thought she could sense something stirring in the shadows further down the path; thought she could hear a different sort of growl, one responding to his. And the hairs on her body all stood up at the sound of it.
Danger, screamed her gut.Run.
The alarm electrifying her veins made her take a few steps back, eyes resting on the formidable shape he cut, his dark fur once melding beautifully with the dark of night. He was focused on what was waiting down the walking path.
The other wolf, said her gut.Run. Now.
“Peter…” she said, every fiber of her yelling at her to get herself out of there, and still she couldn’t quite bear the thought of leaving him all alone.
He turned to her then, eyes burning on hers, and for the first time, he showed his teeth in a low growl that she immediately understood the meaning of—encouragement for her to move.
She took another step back, then turned on her heel and hurried toward the gate.
She could see the street just beyond. It was trafficked enough but running through the narrow alley and out the other side would mean more people on the sidewalks. So, that’s where she headed, glancing over her shoulder only once when she reached the gate, thinking she could see another pair of golden eyes glowing down the path.
Chapter 5 - Peter
The sound of Olive’s steps was receding. He didn’t watch her go; his focus was entirely on what waited for him down the path. He couldn’t tell if it was the wolf that was responsible for his current state. It seemed that the wolf within him wasn’t responding in any way that would tell him whether the other wolf was to be respected the way a creator might be.
Who are you?
There was no reply.
What do you want?
Nothing but the stare of those glowing eyes down the walking path, though the glow was faint as the wolf was a good few yards away and hidden in the shadows lining the path.
Is that what my eyes look like?Peter thought to himself, realizing that what he was looking at must be like a mirror version of what the other wolf was seeing.
He couldn’t tell the size of the other animal. Perhaps it was keeping back because he was larger, stronger. The wolf might be lacking a companion and might only have come as an answer to Peter’s howl. The wolf had called out with its statement of ‘here I am, I am here’ and it had brought Peter out of his apartment, to send his answer into the night sky—I’m here, too. But there hadn’t been any signal that the wolf might be hostile.
Until now, when it lowered its head. It was a movement that shouldn’t be as perceptible as it was through the shadows, but because of the sudden motion, Peter’s eyes adjusted to the dark, and the night became bright. It was as if a cloud that had been obscuring the moon had drifted away. Since there was no full moon, Peter realized it was the night vision of the wolf within and had to marvel at it.
He was momentarily distracted by the new view of the world at nighttime.
Then he heard a soft growl and realized that he might be out of his depth.
