Page 50 of Howl (The Black Mountain Pack 2)

Suddenly, the agony returned tenfold. Wincing, Loren ripped her mouth from his, sucking in air. “W-Wait—”

“It’s okay.” He stroked her again, igniting a trail of fire that lanced up her spine. Her hips arched off the mattress, her mind adrift.

“Loren.” Guttural and soft, his voice was her only anchor to the present. “Relax. I won’t hurt you.”

He wouldn’t…

The discomfort was entirely her own. A part of her didn’t like this. Those memories couldn’t be unearthed. They were dangerous. Excruciating.

“Just a little more,” he breathed against her parted lips. More gently than he had the right to be, he caught a sliver of skin between his teeth and nipped. It should have hurt, but it didn’t. If anything, her body craved the sharp sting. Wanted him to bite down harder. “A little more, then it’s over.”

Memories flickered through her head in a torrent. They were old. From when she was six. Eight? As one image sharpened in clarity, she gasped. The woman was a stranger, but one so familiar, Loren questioned how she could have forgotten her in the first place. Her mother—so beautiful it hurt, with mournful blue eyes and pink lips contorted in a faint smile. Her heart swelled with an adoration she must have pushed to the back of her consciousness.

Then, without warning, someone else replaced her. A man? He was older. She’d never seen him before, or she couldn’t remember.

Until now.

He was too close. She tried to run, but he pulled her back, gripping her arm. In the distance was a vaguely familiar living room with a simple couch and yellow walls. Her old house? She didn’t know. Wherever they were, it was forever scarred with terrifying memories.

Panic rose up within her as her heart pounded, threatening to hammer its way from her chest. She couldn’t remember! No! She couldn’t!

But her will wasn’t the force driving this recollection, and she could only watch in horror as it continued to unfold.

The unfamiliar man, wrenched her to face him as he crouched to her level. His eyes were so cold. A hue of blue like winter ice, devoid of all warmth. Humanity.

“You are never to access your lupine side.”A harsh voice echoed throughout her skull, radiating so much power she cowered internally.“Not even if your life is in danger. Not when you are afraid—”

“Please,”a woman cried. Her face appeared beyond the man’s shoulder, contorted with pain. Agony, the likes of which Loren couldn’t imagine.“She’s just a child. She doesn’t know. I never even told him—”

“Enough!”

It was only when she heard the scream resonate throughout the room that Loren realized it had come from her. She was crying. Sobbing openly and Bill stood paces from the bed, his expression horrified.

“I’m done,” he insisted, his hands raised before him in a gesture of surrender. “It’s over.”

“I can’t… I can’t.” She cradled her head, rocking back and forth, but already the pain was subsiding. All that remained was nauseating exhaustion. She couldn’t keep her eyes open. Couldn’t think.

We can’t remember.Her mind seemed to conspire to suppress those memories again, burying them deep down to never be accessed.

We can’t. Can’t…

Overwhelmed, she slumped onto the mattress, squeezing her eyes shut. Even as the tiredness took over, she was aware of him. Bill.

Rather than relieved, he seemed…furious. His anger lashed through whatever tenuous link existed between them. The wrath wasn’t directed at her—she knew that much.

It had flared the second he saw the face of the man from her memories. Her nightmares.

20

Well, his plan had backfired spectacularly.

If he had been confused about the origins of Loren Connors before, Bill was downright perplexed now. While he was no expert in recovering memories, they’d broken through, alright—and without fail, all the clues led to the same damn place. Black Mountain. Ironically, Lukka wasn’t the man in the center of this chaos.

Damn.Bill loathed to even consider the alternative suspect. While there were many things he regretted about leaving the pack behind, they could be boiled down to recent events. Lukka. Emma. Kyle.

Never did he think he would ever question the one man whose presence had been a constant positive influence throughout his life. What he saw… It had to be a mistake. Someone else had starred in Loren’s memory—nothim.

But how many random men sported those features and happened to be an Alpha who spent decades honing his skill?

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