Page 52 of Wolf Unleashed
ALYSSA
Alyssa couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t leave Rafe and Tiernan behind to be experimented on, but her chance of breaching the building and freeing them was dismally low. Not that she wanted to leave any of the shifters behind. She had planned on going to the DSA and leading them back to the WSSO’s compound, but now she worried that the WSSO would bug out before she returned with the DSA. They’d disappear with their prisoners, or even kill them. She needed a better plan.
Alyssa slid the crude wood shiv she’d fashioned from a back panel of the armoire under her pillow. She banged on the door. “Hey, Cooper. You were right. I need to take the edge off. Want to help me?” she said through the door.
Nothing. The asshole was playing hard to get.
“Ah, come on. No one has to know. You won’t get in trouble. I’m not looking to blackmail you. I’m so fucking bored in here. Help a girl out, will ya?”
Still nothing. Damn. She was sure he’d take the bait. Still too revved up to sleep, Alyssa headed into the shower. While the warm water relaxed stiff muscles, her mind kept returning to Tiernan and Rafe. Did her dad know who he had in that last group of shifters? She wouldn’t put it past him to use them against her. Her father said he loved her, but he didn’t know the meaning of the word.
Allyssa tossed the robe onto the hook on the back of the bathroom door and shimmied into the flannel nightgown. As she laid down in bed, another plan started forming in her head. It meant pushing her dad, revealing what she knew about her mom, which could get her killed. Her dad only had so much patience and if she pushed too hard… Fuck, she didn’t know what he’d do. When it came down to it, she didn’t understand anything about him.
As her eyes grew too heavy to keep open, a hand clamped over her mouth. Her heart raced, and a scream caught in her throat, muffled as the hand silenced her. Her attacker yanked the covers off and flipped her onto her stomach.
Rough hands pushed her nightgown up as his body pressed her into the mattress, trapping her. Alyssa forced the panic down and slid her hand under her pillow, gripping her shiv. Hot breath struck her neck as she swung behind her. He caught her wrist, keeping her from slicing him.
“Not nice, angel. Especially since you said you wanted a release.”
“Maddox?”
His hand curved over her bare ass and squeezed gently. “It depends. Are you seeking other males to take the edge off?”
“I said that to lure the guard in here so I could knock him out or kill him if I had to. Hence the knife, you ass.”
“Still calling me names. You’re not being very respectful of your mate. Your blood-bonded mate.”
“Maddox,” she repeated, her voice shaking. “How did you get in here?”
“The room was easy enough. The guard outside gladly gave me the code, hoping I wouldn’t slice his throat.”
She almost asked if he did anyway, but she held the question to herself. Maddox wasn’t indecisive in the least. He acted quickly, without hesitation, and she wouldn’t condemn him for doing what was necessary, especially since she’d have done the same.
He turned her over and hovered above her, his face no longer as confident as he sounded a moment ago. Concern etched deep lines at the corners of his eyes while her eyes ran down his torso. He was naked, which meant he’d shifted recently.
Alyssa reached up and let her fingertips glide over his cheek, over a scar on his neck that hadn’t been there the last time she’d seen him.
“It’s me, angel,” he reassured with a softness she felt through her entire body. The bond that had gone dark days ago snapped to life. Warmth, lust, fear, and love swept through her so unexpectedly she couldn’t breathe.
The thud of her knife falling to the floor sound so loud to her, nearly drowning out Maddox’s words. His mouth was moving, but she couldn’t understand the words. All of her senses were heightened. Inside, her wolf rose, roaring her pleasure and her discontent.
Trapped. Her wolf felt trapped, abandoned, and full of rage.
“Breathe, angel. Just focus on my face, my voice.” Maddox said as he pulled her into his lap and stroked her hair down her back. “The bond can be overwhelming. It strengthens with time.”
“Bond. . .was gone,” she forced the words out as she listened to his heart beating in his chest. Strong and steady. His hands caressed her back, calming her and allowing her to breathe at last. But inside, her wolf paced.
“I shut the bond down. It was necessary. I couldn’t function feeling your panic and fear. It became too overwhelming. I had to be able to think like a soldier, not a mate.”
“I thought. . . I feared you were dead. First Tiernan, then you.” She released a stifled cry.
“Tiernan’s dead?” he asked, his face moving from shock to anger.
She shook her head. “I thought he was. But he’s not.”
Maddox’s body relaxed. “That explains the panic and fear I felt from you.”
She pushed out of his arms. Now that the shock had abated, she slapped his shoulder. “I thought you were dead, too. Don’t ever do that to me again!”
