Page 4 of The Weakest Wolf

I can’t.

Not because I’m afraid he’d come after me, or that I have nowhere to go. My fury means that I will never leave. Not until I’ve finished a story that began a lifetime ago.

It started on the day that a girl watched an alpha rip her father’s throat out in front of her, and ended when he forced her mother out of the pack.

The girl hoped that when she was older, she would reunite with the mother who’d left her with a necklace and a promise that one day they’d find each other again. But, since this world has never been kind to lone wolves, least of all women, the mother didn’t survive long enough to keep her promise.

When the alpha told the girl that hunters had killed her mother, she swore to herself that she would never leave this pack until every last one of them had paid for sending her mother out to die.

“I think you've misunderstood,” I say, my voice steady.

When you live with predators, the only way you survive is to shove your fear down deep enough that they can’t see it. At twenty-four, I’ve had plenty of time to learn how.

Galen’s fingers glide through my long, dark hair, the action tugging at my scalp. Closing my eyes, I choke back a moan at the insistent pressure. Why does that feel so good?

Pull it together, Sierra. He’s the biggest threat you’ve ever faced in your life. Now is not the time to go stupid over a man.

“Do you, now?” he murmurs, leaning even more of his body against me.

When I feel what’s probing me in the lower back, arousal warms my body and I feel myself soften.

“Yes.” I make my voice hard.

His hands slide down my hair, skimming my sides before they settle on my hips. Without warning, he jerks me against his body. When he grinds his cock against my ass, I have no hope in hell of swallowing my moan. At least not in time.

He draws in a deep breath, and when he next speaks, his voice emerges as a low rumble. “I can smell what I’m doing to you, little wolf.”

“You aren’t doing anything to me. Let me go.”

When he doesn’t release me, I struggle. Not only to get away before this turns into something I’d only ever let happen in my dreams, but because my body is betraying me every second we stay this way.

As suddenly as he gripped me, his hands fall away, and he takes a step back, giving me much-needed space.

I’m fumbling for the door to slip out when again his voice stops me. “I hadn’t thought a submissive wolf would survive long in a pack like this.”

Terror, sheer blinding terror floods my body.

If I thought I was cold before, it’s nothing to the ice that chills me. My heart pounds so hard I can taste it in my throat. He will hear,stop. Control yourself. Breathe. Just breathe.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. So if you’ll excuse me—” A second later Galen has me pinned against the hallway wall.

My submissive wolf whines in terror.

But he won’t see her, no matter how hard he searches my gray eyes for her. I’ve buried her by mutual consent. If I let her out, I give him power over me.

A submissive wolf follows orders.

Always.

After my first shift at sixteen revealed what kind of wolf I was, we came to an agreement. She will always be submissive, but as a human, I didn’t have to be. I couldn’t afford to be weak when I needed to be strong enough to kill the pack that had destroyed my world.

She lends me enough of her strength that I can do things weaker shifters shouldn’t be able to. In return, I find any and every excuse to avoid pack runs that would expose me. I dodge any alpha who views me with suspicion. The rest, I charm until they turn their attention elsewhere. I protect my submissive wolf.

For eight long years, I’ve protected her.

“Two days.”

A little of my panic subsides. This is manageable. I’ve dealt with all the men responsible for my parent's death. All but two.

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