Page 82 of Rejected Mate

“Sure, just let me—” I took off running.

I almost made it past the first guard, but Scarface was fast. His arms closed around me like a steel cage.

“What do you think you’re doing, you filthy animal?”

He squeezed harder. I could barely draw breath. Still, I fought and kicked.

“Cuff her,” Scarface said, grunting with the effort to contain me.

The other guard pulled out metal cuffs and wrestled my wrists into them. When I kicked, he pulled out leg shackles and snapped them around my ankles. When I screamed, he stuffed a rag in my mouth and threw a bag on my head. They had come prepared for a fight, it seemed.

In the dark, I screamed against the filthy rag, but it was no use. I felt them carry me down the hallway and down the stairs. They were rough against the corners, bashing me into walls and door frames until I was sure I would be black and blue with bruises. Still, I screamed.

When the night air hit my skin, I knew we were outside the castle. A few more steps and a car door opened. They tossed me roughly inside, and I crashed against the seat before hitting my head on the opposite door.

“Have a nice trip,dog!” Scarface laughed.

Then the door slammed.

I was alone.

That was when the tears came.

It was over. I’d failed. There was nothing I could do.

I sobbed, nearly choking on my gag. Hot tears traced down my face and collected on the bag over my head. More slipped down my neck and trailed over my chest where they felt warm.

But the heat there was more than a few tears could create.

What was that burning against my skin? It was in the center of my breast bone.

My necklace.

The Alpha necklace.

That was when I realized I wasn’t in the castle anymore, and they only used regular cuffs. Their nasty spells had no hold of me anymore.

Could it work?

Closing my eyes, I searched for the whirlwind of magic…

And found it waiting.

I commanded my body to shift.

It heeded.

The cuffs and shackles snapped as my wolf strength tore apart the metal. The bag ripped from my head as my clothes tore in two, my wolf emerging. I spit the gag out, reveling in the feel of freedom and power.

I was a wolf, goddammit. And it was time to show these vamps what this dog could do.

I reared back and dove toward the car door, smashing against it. Glass shattered and fell around me, but I was free. I climbed out of the broken window. The glass cut me, but my body quickly repaired itself.

My paws crunched on gravel as I stood in the driveway and shook the glass out of my fur.

“What the hell?” The two vampire guards stared at me with open mouths. The shocked looks on their stupid faces were nearly enough revenge.

Nearly.

---