Page 64 of Blade's Battle
“Blade, you know me!”
His lips parted as he snarled at her. His eyes were dead pools of mud, no recognition in them at all. Without warning, he flipped her onto her stomach and pulled her hips up. He tossed up the back of her dress and tore off her panties. His face, his tongue was there, sniffing and licking at her folds. Anna couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped her.
Then he was gone. She saw a flash of brown and tan fur racing into the woods. A howl, deep and pained, sounded not too far away. With shaky limbs, Anna rose and pushed her dress down. Her legs gave way, and she crashed to her knees, unable to rise.
She didn’t know how long she sat there, or why exactly. Without anyone around, she was vulnerable to hunters, to Drake’s men, to Blade. No, not Blade, his wolf. His feral wolf. And that’s when she realized what she was waiting for. For her Blade to return to her. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—accept the idea that he wasn’t coming back, even though in her head, she knew Blade had waited too long. No one had realized how close to going feral he was, not even him.
* * *
“Anna? Hon, how are you?”
Anna stared through the opening in the treetops above to the cloud-covered moon overhead. The area was so dark. Tired, thirsty, and hopelessly lost, she had stopped walking hours ago. That’s when she remembered the basic rule of staying in one spot, so searchers could find her.
More voices drifted her way now. None of them belonged to Blade. Two wolves, a white and a tan, approached the tree where she had propped herself up to rest, hoping and waiting for Blade to return. Blade, not his wolf. God, what if he’d turned feral, and she never saw him again?
The tan wolf howled, while the other shifted. She almost turned to the voices, to see who was talking, except her eyes wandered off to thick of the woods. Blade was out there, alone, and probably scared out of his mind. Oh, how she wanted to hold him, to tell him to hold on longer, until she found a way to stop the feral process.
“My fault,” she said, as someone tried to press a canteen of water to her lips. Her lips were dry, and her throat was parched, but she couldn’t drink. Not until they found Blade.
“Shock,” one voice said. He had a slight southern accent. His name started with a ‘P’, but she couldn’t remember. Perry, Percy? She’d ask Blade the shifter’s name later, back at his cabin, where he could wrap his arms around her and let the gentle beat of his heart lull her to sleep.
“She’s all scratched up too,” someone said, dabbing something cool on her arms and face.
Another voice now, from the black shifter who had taken Blade from her a week ago. He lifted a pair of shredded panties from the ground nearby. “Fuck.”
She shuddered. She wasn’t sure what sound came out of her, except something had, given how the black shifter shoved the panties behind him and another shifter tossed a blanket over her shoulders. That alone was weird because it was a hot fall night. Then again, she was shivering.
“Definitely shock.”
Why they kept talking about her as if she weren’t there was beyond her, but it was getting really annoying. Not as annoying as the fact that they were all standing around instead of searching for Blade.
“Blade.” There, she’d finally gotten his name out. Now his pack would find and bring him home where they could help him. They had to help him. They wouldn’t let him go feral, would they?
No,shewas the one who would help him.
A hand landed on her shoulder. “We know, hon. Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you again.”
Hurt?No, not her Blade. His wolf. Correction, hisferalwolf, but not Blade. She needed to get to a lab, resume her research immediately. She shouldn’t be sitting here wasting time when Blade could go feral—if he hadn’t already.
Anna tried to rise, but her legs gave way. A pair of strong arms grabbed hold of her and kept her from falling.
“That’s it, hon. Lean on me all you want. I have you.” There was that southern accent again.
“I couldn’t stop him.”
“I know.” He started walking her through the woods.
“I didn’t know how close to going feral he was.”
“No one knew.” There was a sadness in his voice, a pain she had heard before from one of the other shifters who’d been talking really low. She hadn’t made out the words, only the pain in his voice.
There were howls in the distance, and she froze. He squeezed her shoulder gently. “Nothing to worry about. Just the patrols talking to one another, coordinating the hunt. Let’s focus on you for a bit, okay?”
“Hunt?”
“Callen and Frank are hunting.” His voice choked up, and then he cleared his throat. “They’re hunting Blade. Once they find him, they’ll put him down.”
Chapter Eleven
