Page 106 of Rogue Wolf

She looked at his male beauty. To her it shone, even when he was so beaten up.

She…she could’ve lost him. Just the sight of him filled a hollow within her she hadn’t realized existed.

Is this part of the bond between us?

As they moved towards the exit, Tamaska stretched her senses into that bond. It was strong. And now she knew Kodiak was all right, it was a warm, unbreakable glow. Did that sensation mean that a growing, all-consuming emptiness would threaten to consume her if something bad ever happened to him?

She swallowed hard.

“I reckon you’re getting it,” said Ash, walking alongside Tamaska.

“What?”

“The bond thing,” said Ash.

“How did you know?”

Ash shrugged. “I just did. Maybe you’ve become part of the pack already.”

A small smile wanted to break free. From Ash, that sounded like high praise. And she hoped the shifter was right. Being part of the pack would be being part of a family.

And it would mean she’d be able to be with Kodiak.

If he still wanted her.

But she hoped he did. From the bond, it seemed like they were all right, or would be.

She wanted, she realized, it all.

This new life felt like hers, despite being so different from her human life. Although it had rocked her to the core and totally torn apart all she’d ever known, she ached to be part of that new, parallel life, the one bursting with wolf shifters and vampires.

Okay, maybe not the vampires.

“Hang in there,” said Ash, stepping away. “And lose the silver, yeah? It’s giving me a headache.”

‘I don’t know what to do with it,” said Tamaska. She pulled it out of her pocket, and every nearby shifter immediately moved away from her. “If I throw it, what if the vampires get it?

Ash threw her hands up. “Argh!”

Tamaska couldn’t believe something so mundane and flimsy could be such a powerful weapon against the wolf shifters. She made a mental note to toss her silver earrings later. As a matter of practicality, her love for silver was now over.

Get rid of it,” Ash said. “Now.”

Startled, she threw the chain down, then let it slide across the floor.

“I don’t think you should’ve done that,” said Channing.

Tamaska didn’t even get to ask why before a vampire dropped down from the upstairs balcony and snatched the chain.

“Fuck,” said Tamaska. Right after she’d said that about the stupid chain. She’d thought the fight was over—she’d been banking on it.

“The fight’s never over,” Ash said before changing into wolf form. “Sorry about making you chuck the chain.”

Tamaska watched in horror as two more vampires closed in, baring their teeth and hissing.

“If I can’t have you, Tamaska, then I’ll kill you and your friends,” announced Amdis from the safety of the balcony.

“Coward,” Tamaska yelled back at him. She moved out of Roan and Onai’s way as they hurried over to help Kodiak walk. “It’s because I’ve got the opal, isn’t it?”