Page 45 of Heart Broken Mate

Viper’s men didn’t look so confident now. Two of us, they could deal with. But eight cuts down the advantage they had over us before.

“Bonne sent a message,” another said. “He said you might be in trouble. Pack trouble, I see.”

He looked at me and acknowledged me with a nod.

“He says you two are a special package,” the last one said.

“We have to get out of here,” Luke said. “Can you hold them off?”

“Of course,” the first replied, and I watched as three of them formed a circle around Luke and me, and together we started towards the group. This time they were the ones that stepped back.

One of Luke’s werewolves moved forward, attacking the person closest to him. It was a swift move. One moment, his claws were retracted, the next, they were stuck into some poor bloke’s throat, and he was dead, creating a space for us to go through.

I could see that these people were well trained and they knew how to work well with each other. They got Luke and me out of the crowd while still keeping them contained. I could see Viper on the other side, looking at the people he came withget decimated and me and Luke escaping. There was close to nothing he could do about it.

We were soon left on our own and ran the rest of the way into the woods, where the real journey and the real hunting would continue. Just a day away from it, and I seemed to have missed the woods.

Chapter Twenty (Hayley)

“Come on,” Luke said, stretching his hands to me as he pulled me up the tree. I could hear them closing in. There were about three of them, ever relentless never stopping. We’ve been in the woods for about an hour now and haven’t stopped running. We had put some distance between us and the werewolves behind us, and Viper had left the hunting to them. That had gone worse than he thought it would. I wondered what would happen to Luke’s friends. We had put two different sets of people in danger. Bonne’s family and his friends.

My mind briefly snapped to Kris, and I wondered how he was doing. He had insisted on me staying back, but I pushed against that. I would have put him in danger if I had stayed, but I didn’t and then turned around and put two other sets of people in danger.

I grabbed onto the tree and Luke’s hand as he pulled me up, and I balanced on the thin branch. I had a good vantage point from up here, and the leaves were covering us, our scents masked. I looked down as the wolves gathered around the tree, wondering where we went. They were all hunters and not coordinated. That means they still hadn’t learned to work together. I wonder how long that will last. I held on to Luke as they circled the tree for a while, confused as to what had happened. They had heard us come to this area and then disappear.

Would any of them figure out what had happened? The three of them were sniffing the air hard, trying to get a sense of us. If theywere half the werewolf I am, they would get a scent. Even with the mask on, I can still smell Luke, but I think that has more to do with the connection between the two of us.

They all looked confused. Moving away and back to the tree. Their senses were messing with them. It was fun to watch for a while until one of them looked up, and his eyes lit up in joy. He’d found us.

“Fuck,” Luke said and jumped down. There was no point staying up there anymore. We couldn’t remain in the tree forever and needed to push forward. We might as well just get on with it. I watched as Luke jumped down, grabbing one of the werewolves and hitting him against the tree, causing the leaves on the tree to shake. The hit was heavy, and I heard a couple of bones crack. I jumped down next, landing right in front of the second, who swung at me immediately, but I moved out of the way before he could make an impact. He was a fast one. Jumping at me again, and I had to move back to keep some distance between us. But he was relentless. He jumped right back at me, his claws at the ready, his eyes glowing in the dark, and his sly smile spread across his lips. He was enjoying this, and he was powerful too. It looked like he was just as fast as me. I wondered if he was strong as well.

I looked behind me to find Luke fighting two of the hunters. He wasn’t having a good time with them either. The one he smacked against the tree, who seemed to have broken some bones, wasn’t even acting like he was hurt. He looked just as agile and eager.

There was something different about these people.

I moved back again as my assailant forged forwards again, and I hadn’t even had the chance to get an attack in. I stumbledagainst a tree and backed up against it. I wanted to use it as a lever to push myself toward my attacker, but he saw what I wanted to do before I did and moved out of the way. He turned back, grabbing me midair and smacking right into the same tree. I felt pain spread from my back to my whole body, immobilizing me for a moment as it took control of every functioning organ in me. They all seemed to stop for a while and time stopped with them.

My assailant growled and jumped right at me again. He wasn’t even taking a moment to breathe. He was jumping right at me, and I was looking into his eyes. There was something about them, cold and inhumane, that sent shivers down my spine.

What was he?

These are the kind of people Viper sent after me? People bare of all emotions.

I moved out of the way just before he smacked himself right into me, and then I turned around to attack him, but he was up again already and moved away from me. That speed was unnatural. He has to be doing something else.

He settled on his heels, grinning at me. I expected him to talk, but he had no words for me, just more attacks. I heard Luke yell behind me. He was having it just as tough as I was, and he was facing two of them. My own assailant prepared himself and jumped at me. I was ready and rooted myself to the ground, using my left leg as an anchor. I caught him mid-air, and he was trying to squirm out of my grip, but I held on strong. He struggled and fought, but I was rooted to the ground and used a large extent of strength to hit him against the tree closest to me. I heard bones break as he smacked against the tree, and then Iwatched as he stood up, cracked his knuckles, and then nodded at me. It was like I never even threw him against the tree. It sent shivers down my spine.

That wasn’t right. He didn’t look like he could feel pain at all.

I walked away from him and got closer to Luke. We stood side by side as three of them rounded us. There was no defeating them if we fought separately.

“What are they?” I asked. “It’s like they can’t feel pain at all.”

“They can’t,” Luke said. “Not until the drug in their system wears off. Then they would be useless. But they have enough to last hours. We can’t last hours. We have to beat them.”

“Drugs? What drugs?”

“Coke, meth, loads of stimulant. They use different things.”

---