Page 82 of Taken By The Wolves
We sit near the window, light from the sky spilling across the stone floor. When she places her hands over her belly, pain tugs at my heart that I’m never going to experience the same maternal satisfaction. I swallow thickly, then find my voice.
“Do you think what happened to Aura was something Gregory planned?” I ask. Even as I say the words, sickness tightens my belly. “Was it an accident, or did he target her?”
Goldie stills. “If history has proved nothing else, it’s that men will go to terrible lengths for power and control. From what I heard, Gregory claimed Aura violently. It’s not unheard of, but…”
“It was particularly violent?”
Goldie’s mouth twists. “Hunter saw her while he was patrolling the outer borders after the claim. He thought she looked terrified. She was with Gregory and he had his hand on the back of her neck, pushing her forward.
“Doesn’t sound like a mate bond.”
“Even a forced bond should have inspired Gregory to treat Aura well. The connection is deep and should go both ways.”
I twist my hands in my lap. “Do you think there could be something special about Aura? Something Gregory recognized.”
“There was nothing obviously different about her,” Goldie says, her eyes flicking upwards, searching through her memories.
“Nothing that we would see,” I say. “But a wolf?” I chew the inside of my cheek.
“Maybe. What about Nixon and Reed? Did they mention anything?”
“No.” I press my knuckles to my lips. “What if Gregory knew? What if he forced the bond with Aura not because of who she was, but what she might carry?”
Goldie’s eyes darken and everything in me chills. “And if he knew what that child could be, then he’ll stop at nothing to take her back.”
Goldie puts a hand on mine, firm and warm. “Then it’s a good thing she has you all to keep her safe.”
I exhale. The fear doesn’t leave me, but it sharpens intoresolve.
Outside the window, Evan slams the back of a truck closed. Reed shouts something to Finn and disappears inside to grab more supplies, and in the center of it all, Nixon stands tall, speaking to Hunter again, side by side as brothers bound by a common cause.
41
NIXON
The bears are coming.
It’s a scene I never thought I’d witness but here I am, loading gear and supplies into trucks alongside men I’d have considered my enemies an hour ago. Bear shifters are dropping their lives to fight a wolf we count as a shared threat. It’s humbling, in a way I can’t articulate, how easily little Ahya can dissolve years of bitterness and turn hardheaded shifters into protectors.
She’s our future, and she’s becoming theirs, too.
I shake hands with Hunter and Connor, as the weight of alliance settles between us.
My family has gathered around our vehicle. “Gregory will have scouts,” Reed says, wiping sweat from his brow, his eyes scanning the tree line. “He may know we’re here already. Or, if he doesn’t, he will the second we pull up with a giant convoy.”
“That’s the point,” I remind him, clapping him on the shoulder. “We want him to know. We want him tounderstand what he’s up against. We want him to come.”
Reed’s jaw is tight. He turns to Scarlet. “Are you and Ahya okay?”
Scarlet, who has been quiet since our arrival at the bear compound shrugs. “Ahya’s fine. I’m… worried.”
“And that’s natural.” I step closer, brushing her hand with mine. “Don’t worry. You’ll be protected.”
She glances from me to Reed and then to Finn, who’s leaning against the truck, arms folded, gaze intense. “And you three?”
“We’ll fight.” I grin sharply to hide the dread curling low in my gut. We’re wolves. We know how to tear flesh from bones. We know how to outpace, outthink, and outlast. But this isn’t a regular wolf pack. Gregory’s pack is feral, guided by no moral compass. They act like creatures with nothing to lose.
And that makes them dangerous and unpredictable.
