Page 70 of Wild Wolves

I stare at the horizon in shock. He lost me at mating. He did not just say what I think he said. He will only help if I let him mate with me? What the actual fuck?

I shove him with my shoulder, pushing him away enough that I can get to my feet. I’m not humoring any sort of deal like that. Just a thought...I’m not a thing to be bred. I’m a fucking person and there’s no way I’m going to bring a new life to this twisted world.

Ravi doesn’t get up from the ground, letting me go. I hug myself, shaking the thought from my mind. As much as I want to help the guys, I can’t agree to this. They would never agree to this either. There has to be another way.

“There is no other way. If you reject me, Eliana, my pack will not stand beside you. I will give Sean his way. You’ll be on your own for the night. I must ask that you reconsider.” His words swirl through my mind as he responds to my thoughts.

I peer at him from over my shoulder and raise my hand, flipping him off. I refuse to be manipulated like this. If his pack doesn’t stand beside me, then they’re against me. He’s against me. If he truly thought that I’m his mate, he would try to help me regardless.

With a thought, I wonder about Kellan. He did help me regardless of things. And if Ravi was right about his stance in his pack, about being an infraborne, then maybe I should think things a little differently.

“That’s not an ‘if,’ Ravi. I’m rejecting you. You can go fuck yourself.” My voice shakes with my words. This is it. He was a safety net, but the force of my will is too strong, and I ripped through it, and now I freefall. I need to find something else to grab onto. Either that, or I need to learn to fly.

I need the power of the moon. The power of the men who will be part of my pack.

It’s the only way.

Please, goddess. Don’t let us down.

I peek through the crack in the curtain, staring at the empty meadow with thick trees acting as a barrier. I expected Ravi to chase me, but he let me go.

“We can’t stay here. We need to figure out where else we can go. If we stay, someone will come for us and we’ll be trapped.” I bounce on my feet and close the curtain. Spinning around, I look at each of the guys. They look exhausted, frowning in pain, and as if they just want this all to be over. I can’t blame them. So do I.

“We don’t even know where we are. We could barricade the door,” Evander says, grabbing the small twin bed by the frame.

Chase stops him. “That’s not going to work. They will just wait it out.”

“Yeah, man. I don’t want to make it easy on these fuckers. Anywhere is better than here. If we’re about to go beastly, let’s go somewhere open where no one can sneak up on us.” Adam shuffles forward to me and peeks out the window next. “How much time did the asshole say we have?”

“Until the moon rises high in the sky.” I shift and look toward the others. “He warned that it’ll be painful and that whatever pack that bit us will call to us, which is something hard to ignore.”

Davian scrubs his hands over his cheeks. “I’d rather die. You didn’t hear them.”

My chest clenches at the fear shaking his voice. I close the space to him, holding open my arms until he gives in and hugs me. He inhales a breath of my hair, nuzzling his nose to the crook of my neck. “I won’t let that happen.”

“Neither will I. We’re going to get the fuck through this. Together.” Tristan slings his arms around both of us, sandwiching Davian in the middle.

“Make some room. I need your guys’ love too,” Adam says, engulfing me from behind.

I laugh as Chase and Evander join our hug, and we just stand together, savoring the closeness of our new bond born from the need to survive and cultivated by time and companionship.

Tears burn my eyes, and I blink them away. “I want to make a pact. Whatever happens, we will do whatever is necessary to stay together. They can’t win.”

“They won’t win,” Chase corrects, easing away to allow us to separate.

“Damn straight. Just imagine the real doggy piles we can create as fucking wolves. Fucking wolves!” Adam ruffles his fingers through his hair. “It sounds a lot cooler when it’s us turning rather than being hunted.”

“As long as you don’t sniff my ass,” Evander mutters.

I tip my head back and laugh harder, watching the two of them playfully punch each other’s arms. It helps ease the heaviness of what’s to come. Just talking about things gives me enough hope to think we might actually get through this. I don’t need Ravi. Nor do I need Kellan. All I need are these guys—my pack—who treat me as their equal but also with care.

“All right. The sun dipped into the horizon. Grab whatever you can carry. Anything can be a weapon with enough creativity.” Adam rubs his palms together, looking around the room. “Same goes for sex toys.” He winks at me with a huge-ass grin. The cute bastard. “And speaking of sex, want to help me break the bed, little badass?” Flicking his gaze to me, he wags his eyebrows. “We can practice for next time.”

“We have to be quick, and if I’m getting on that bed with you—” I snap my mouth shut at the sound of the howls echoing outside.

Davian rushes past me and into the bathroom. Glass shatters and he holds a few shards in a towel. “We’re out of time. Here. Grab something to hold these with until we can add them to branches. I want them to hurt.”

“We all do.” Evander uses a piece of glass to cut the towel enough to pull it into strips.

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