Page 9 of Wolf Unleashed
“Chill, Rafe, you sound like Dad. I’m twenty-five. Old enough to take care of myself.”
Rafe scrubbed his face. Alyssa pulled his hand away. “You’re always telling me I need to trust more. Maybe you should consider doing the same. Young doesn’t always equate to foolish.”
“It does in this case,” Rafe said.
“Rafe,” Gunnar called. “I scent Magnus and Jens heading this way. I suggest you take advantage of the opening on the border and go. Now. Freya and I will head them off and stall.”
“Fuck, I hate this.” Rafe kissed his sister’s cheek and hugged her one last time. Alyssa could see the strain on his face. He didn’t want to leave her or his pack.
“Let’s go.” Rafe grabbed Alyssa’s hand and veered off the trail into the woods.
“Thank you, Freya,” Alyssa whispered behind her.
“Take care of my brother. He’s the only one I have left, and the only shifter who still cares about me.”
“That’s not true,” Gunnar said.
Freya’s and Gunnar’s voices faded as Rafe led Alyssa and Tiernan deeper into the woods. She glanced over her shoulder. Tiernan hung back several feet, exceptionally quiet. Normally, she’d think he was simply in scout mode, paying attention to the signs of the forest, but something seemed to be bothering him since they’d left Rafe’s cabin.
“Are you okay, Tiernan?”
“Later,” he said. “No talking.”
She sighed and kept her eyes forward. Leaving in the middle of the night had somehow turned intoescapingin the middle of the night. She’d pin him down later and make him talk. Both of them, because they couldn’t continue with all these secrets between them. It would tear them apart in time, just like her mother’s secret had torn apart her family.
* * *
TIERNAN
Tiernan could smellthe approaching shifters. Three, no four. He hadn’t thought about Rafe’s pack as the enemy until he’d scented the fear rolling off Rafe back in the cabin. A shifter should never fear his own pack. If he did, then it meant something was horribly wrong.
“Stop!” a guard yelled.
“Keep going, Tiernan,” Rafe said. “We’re a mile from the border.”
“You’re outnumbered,” Tiernan objected, knowing Rafe planned to hold them off while Tiernan got Alyssa safely off Soren’s land.
“I can handle them long enough for you to get Alyssa out of here.”
“How many?” Alyssa said.
“Four.” Tiernan grabbed her hand.
“The odds are better if we stay.”
“They’re my pack, Artemis. I’m their heir. Do you think they’ll risk killing me?”
“I guess not. But I don’t like splitting up.”
“These are my woods. Or they were.”
“What does that mean?” Alyssa asked.
“Never mind. Get going. I may not have Tiernan’s tracking skills, but I know your scent better than I know my own. I’ll find you.”
Tiernan caught Rafe’s forced grin. “Let’s go, Alyssa,” he said, taking her hand in his. “I’m going to pick up the pace. You think you can keep up?”
“As long as you stay on two legs, I can do more than keep up.”
