Page 30 of Hunted By Wolves and Shadow
Her hood had fallen back and red hair whipped around her face while Mist billowed in front of her, pushed by her panicked strides.
Run, Emi. Run to the cottage. Run to safety.
Run from me.
Then my heightened senses picked up an unfamiliar scent ahead, sudden and strong. My legs drove faster despite my best efforts to hold back. Control was slipping. Protective instincts raged at me to hunt the threat. I didn’t recognize the scent, but I could imagine another beast like the fenriswulf, prowling ahead. The drive pounded through me, wiping the last of my human thoughts.
Eliminate the threat.
I was in full hunt, catching up to Emi with every stride. She hadn’t sensed the new presence and ran blindly on. Emi was so focused on fleeing from me, hunted by a wolf and the horrifying shadows all around us, that she didn’t spot the protruding root across her path. The Mist opened to a clear patch of trail, but she only had enough time to cry out as she tripped.
She crashed hard, skidding on the packed dirt. Then the new scent intensified and a figure emerged from behind a tree. A man. But where had he come from? How was he here?
I didn’t have time to make out his features. Emi shouted, and before another heartbeat thundered in my chest, the man grabbed her and pulled her with him.
Then, they disappeared.
Chapter 14
Emi
Wolf not only rejected me, he physically shoved me away. That was a new low, even for me.What kind of clouded bellend kisses the man she hates? Me, apparently. Deranged by confusion over the past days of discoveries, disarmed by his muscles and those damned freckles, I’d let the tension get the best of me.
It meant nothing, just a misdirected release of frustrations. So why did it hurt that Wolf looked as horrified as I felt when I pulled away? Shame twisted me up. Of course he didn’t want me. I didn’t want him! We might have strange chemistry, but I was his enemy as much as he was mine.
I fled, only to find a looming tower of Mist that crashed between us. Wolf shouted at me to run, but the strain in his voice had me looking back.
As a foggy bank shifted, the sight that greeted me stopped me dead.
There on the path stood a huge wolf. Red and tawny fur, powerful legs ending in massive paws, a broad chest and strong shoulders, and right there at the front…long, sharp teeth. Therewas no sign of the man I’d left behind when I ran. The wolf’s tail fell still as I was caught between the hammering need to escape and a mad desire to draw closer. Silver eyes gleamed, spearing me through the gloom.
He was…majestic. He stole the breath from my lungs. And yes, I knew this wolf was male. I knew it washim.
“W—Wolf?”
Run, Emi.
It felt like a voice shouted the command in my head, and this time, I obeyed.
My racing footsteps joined the pounding in my ears. Mist billowed and caught at my skirts. I risked a glance over my shoulder and glimpsed a silver stare that was fixed on me like I was the wolf’s next meal.Run, Emi.
I sprinted from the cottage. There was nothing for me here but humiliation, heartbreak, and death.
I barely felt the impact of the hard ground as I went sprawling over a root in my panic. Movement ahead sent my heart slamming into my ribs.Not another monster!I didn’t want to die today.
The figure in front of me resolved as the Mist cleared into a small opening.
“Emi?”
Not a monster. A man!
Thank the invisible stars. His features solidified, and I was startled to find them familiar. It was Grandma Ruby’s trader, the one who brought her supplies. Where had he come from?
“Locke!” Oh, sunbeams and saviors, now we both needed to flee. “He’s coming. Run,” I urged as I scrambled forward.
“Who?”
“Wolf.” I pointed a shaking hand.
