Page 47 of Savage Hunter

Wolfe.

Is he hurt? Blood is never a good sign. I scan the treeline but find nothing. I mentally reach for him like I do in my dreams. Why, I don’t know. That kind of stuff can’t work in the real world, and yet I can’t help but feel the tether of his energy reach for me too.

I can’t see him but I know he’s out there somewhere.

There’s that metallic twang again. I throw my legs over the side of the hammock.

Blood, but whose?

My heart crawls into my throat and my stomach pitches forward. I breathe through my mouth and try to force my brain to think of anything other than the coppery warm smell burning a hole into my senses.

Moonlight shifts and breaks and then the large, colorless form takes shape in the moonlight filling the expanse of my vision.

A shadow becomes a full-fleshed man and his expression says death is coming my way.

I try to scream but my suddenly dry throat closes.

He’s covered in black from head to toe, but it’s the gun in his hand that has me stumbling back and falling on my ass with a heavy thump.

Lightening rips the darkness in two, revealing eyes gleaming with Death’s energy.

I suck in a harsh breath and try to ignore the need to scream for help. I’m on my own here because I was stupid. I should have gone back to the compound where I am safe and no one could touch me.

“Your mother said I would find you here.”

My eyes grow wide and the heat flushing my body turns into ice. “No, damn it!” I howl.

I grip the sides of my head and tug at my hair. The pain grounds me and I center myself back in the moment. I will not let the mention of my mother send me into my memories. The hammer of a gun cocks back, the sound as loud as Wolfe’s betrayal in my heart and the past takes over.

“Wolfe,” I scream for him. “Wolfe, help me, please.” But he didn't come. White doors slam closed and his bleeding face slowly fades as they take me away.

No. No. No!I grant the roots of my hair and force myself into the present.

“She will be happy when I drag your ass back to the Primrose palace. She’s been looking for you ever since those Volkov fuckers sold you without her permission to that Savage prick.”

I force myself to focus on his words. I grit my teeth until they hurt all the way to their nerve endings. “How did you find me?”

“You really have to ask?”

Wolfe. It’s the only way. Splinters of what they left of my soul fall around my ruined heart.

He’s fooled everyone. The Savages welcomed him in and now he’s let the enemy inside our gates. I knew he wasn’t here because he was some do-gooder helping friends. I just knew it. He didn’t survive my mother’s guards. I grab at my chest and wince through the pain eating at my heart.

She turned him. That wicked tongue of hers and the power she wields turned Wolfe into the enemy. My stomach twists and the man at my side breathes out heavily through his nose.

He’s not out there looking to get to me. He’s out there leading the wolves in to slaughter us all.

My entire body trembles as I fight to get control over my emotions. Fire eats at my soul and not for the first time in my life I wish I had the heart of a killer.

I shuffle backward on my ass through dirt and sawdust from the construction. I roll, push to my knees and reach for whatever I can find. A rock, a large stick. Anything that can do some damage.

Pine needles stab at my forearms and old foliage cracks and crunches from the few dry weeks we’ve had lately. I bump into something and lock my fingers around the first thing I come in contact with.

It’s soft, warm and not at all what I expect. I drag it through the dirt and hold it up in the darkness. Leather? And it smells like Wolfe.

“Get the fuck back here.”

A heavy boot slams down on my ankle, and my throat finally unlocks. A scream that could rival a banshee peels from my lips. Bolts of pain shoot up my right leg. I try to roll but the asshole on pinning me down drops to the ground and puts cold metal to my temple.

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