Page 67 of Taken By The Wolves
33
FINN
The morning air is sharp in my lungs as I run, paws tearing into the soft earth, tongue lolling as I gasp. My body is trembling, my mind a whirl of new connections and sensations. Scarlet is ours.
She’s back at the cabin, curled up with Reed, still wearing our scent, still filled with our seed. Claimed.I’ve never felt so content.
But peace never lasts long in these woods.
The scent of pine and wet moss rolls around me, but underneath it is something sour and wrong. Nixon’s ahead of me, his massive dark gray form cutting through the brush like a shadow with purpose. We’ve run this trail a thousand times, but today, I sense something wrong.
The second I smell the other two wolves, upwind and circling like they think we won’t notice, I veer left, snarling. Nixon slows ahead, ears flicking. He smells it, too.
Gregory’s pack.
Shift,Nixon orders.
I shift mid-step, landing hard in my human skin, already pissed.
“Come out, or we’ll drag you out,” Nixon barks into the trees.
They appear seconds later. Jared and Malen, two of Gregory’s lapdogs, both naked and smug in that way only wolves from problematic packs tend to be.
Nixon cracks his neck as he stands to his full, imposing height. Calm, but ready. Always ready. I move closer, rolling my shoulders and tipping my chin high.
Jared raises a hand like we’re old friends. “Easy, boys. No need for teeth this early.”
“Speak,” Nixon says, voice low and hard.
“We’re delivering a message.” Malen’s eyes flick to me, then back to Nixon. “Gregory wants to see the baby.”
I step forward. “Too bad. He’s not getting near it.”
He doesn’t say ‘her’, and this way, he confirms nothing of their assumptions.
Jared shrugs like it’s no big deal. “He has a right. Unfinished business with Aura. That babygirlis technically part of his pack. Conceived by his mate.”
He emphasizes the word girl and my heart sinks.
I laugh, but it’s humorless. “He made his choice. He broke the bond with Aura. She left his pack and deserted the baby. Gregory has no claim.”
Nixon crosses his arms, his biceps going taut. “Tell Gregory this: the baby is part ofourfamily now. Claimed by this pack when it was left to die in the woods, and this pack protects its own.”
Malen’s nostrils flare. “You sure you want to mark this line in the sand, Nixon? You know what’ll happen.”
Nixon’s jaw pulses with tension, jerking his head towardthem as he spits through gritted teeth, “Let him try to challenge me.”
The air goes still.
The kind of stillness, laced with menace and dark intentions, that comes right before blood is spilled.
Then Jared shifts, fast and aggressive, his wolf form bristling and snarling. Malen follows suit, hackles up, posture threatening, but they don’t attack.
I don’t shift. I don’t need to.
I step forward, bare-chested and unbothered. “Run back to your master,” I yell, voice like steel. “Tell him if he sets foot in our territory, we’ll tear out his fucking throat.”
They don’t respond.
