Page 41 of Betrayed Wolf Mate

I had to get out. It was no longer just about me. I couldn’t let people die because of what I’d done.

Breathe,I told myself.Breathe.Calm down.

That was able to soften the swirling tempest screaming in my brain. Enough to gather a couple of coherent thoughts, which helped calm it even further. After what felt like hours, but may have only been minutes, I was able to think rationally again and start to come up with a plan.

I was handcuffed to a pipe in a closet. I’d heard a lock click when Akron had left, meaning he must have locked me in. I still had the collar locked on my neck, leaving me only barely able to sense my wolf. I couldn’t hear anyone moving around past the door, but assuming I wasn’t being guarded or watched was a luxury I couldn’t afford.

My mind went back to that time when Sam had shown me different ways to get out of situations where my hands were bound. I remembered how he had shown me how he had gotten out of handcuffs when he’d been stuck behind enemy lines. I had no idea how to dislocate my thumb or any other part of my body, but I remembered the other tips he had given me. About where to find the weak points, where to apply pressure. There were things I could do to get out of here. I wasn’t entirely helpless.

My eyes adjusted quickly to the dark. My wolf might have been muted, but that hadn’t affected my senses. I looked around, focusing on things that were nearby, but the closet was infuriatingly empty. There was nothing I could use, no paper clip or anything else that could pick the lock. So, that idea was off the table.

I twisted my wrists, trying to run my fingers along the links to feel the metal.

But as I did, my mind kept shifting to Sam. He had been the one to teach me these things. He had almost insisted on it.

“I want to make sure you never feel like things are beyond your control.”

I had appreciated it at the time, if for no other reason than I had wanted as many options to protect myself as possible. But as I started searching to see what type of cuffs these were, it suddenly hit me that it was far more than that. Sam hadn’t told me I didn’t need to worry about it, or that I shouldn’t learn these things, or that it wasn’t my place. He’d simply sat down and given me a thorough lesson. No one had ever done that for me before. No one had taken me seriously or expected me to want to do anything more than what I was told. Sam had given me exactly what I wanted.

In fact, since he had come back into my life, he’d done nothing but embrace my independence. He might have been protective and looking out for me, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t thought I could handle myself. He’d just wanted to be there for me. There was a difference between those things. The last time he had made a decision for me, it had been when he’d left me with that pack.

He wasn’t the same man anymore. He’d shown me that time and again.

I’d just been too stupid to realize it.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Sam had meant more to me than I’d realized, or more than I’d ever wanted to admit. He was mine, and only mine. And I was his. I’d never believed in fated mates, but maybe there was more truth to the concept than I’d realized. Because the more I thought about it, the more I became convinced that was what Sam was to me. But whether or not that was true did nothing to change the fact that I loved him. I’d always loved him, and I would do anything to get back to him. I wasn’t going to let Akron win.

I sucked in a breath as my nail caught on the minuscule gap in the link. There it was. My way out.

It wasn’t going to be easy, not with how I was sitting and the fact that I couldn’t see. I readjusted myself. Then, with as much strength as I could handle, I jerked my arms forward as far as they would go.

Metal clanged against metal as the chain slammed into the pipe. Nothing happened. I tried again, this time with more force. I paused, heart pounding, as I heard footsteps outside. I stopped moving, waiting, hoping that I wasn’t making too much noise.

The footsteps stopped just outside the door, then resumed. I waited for a long moment before trying again. There was no helping the noise. I just had to go for it.

Trying to remember exactly what Sam had shown me—and sort of regretting not taking him up on the offer of actually trying to break those handcuffs because I’d been too preoccupied with other thoughts—I adjusted my position against the pipe.

I saw a bolt jutting out of the pipe. I’d use that. With as much force as I could muster, I jerked my arms forward, lettingthe metal clang against metal, sending an unpleasant ringing through my ears. But I couldn’t care less as long as it got results.

The first time, unfortunately, didn’t work. But I couldn’t give up, so I tried again. And again. And again. Finally, just when I was about to give up, there was a sharpching,and my arms flew out in front of me. Chains dangled from the handcuffs still attached to both wrists, but they were no longer attached to one another. I gasped in relief, and my hands began to tremble as I stared at them. I was free.

Well, sort of. I still had to get out of the closet and away from the town. And my wolf was still muted. But I had gotten past the first step, and I already knew what the next one would be. So, I focused on getting past the locked door.

The thing about this place was that it was a mansion. It wasn’t a demon’s stronghold or even a pack house, which would have been sturdier and designed to withstand shifters. This was just a normal house. Which meant the door was just a normal door.

I tapped on it experimentally. It was definitely wood. I couldn’t sense anything inherently magical about it. If that was the case, then I could probably simply break through it. Assuming there wasn’t anyone on the other side.

Pressing my ear against the door, I strained, trying to listen for anything happening outside. There was nothing—no footsteps, no voices, no breathing. Still, I waited longer than was necessary to make sure I was right.

When I was absolutely certain there was no one behind the door, I rammed my shoulder into it. The door splintered. The second time I slammed into the wood, it cracked. The third time, the door shattered entirely, and I stumbled through, my feet stepping on splinters and rough wood.

I nearly whooped in excitement but managed to keep quiet. I was out! If there were any guards in the building—or worse, Akron—they definitely would have heard it. I had to run before someone came and found me.

I started running, not daring to look behind me, certain I would see someone chasing me the moment I did. As I wandered through the unfamiliar maze of corridors, I ran through options of how I could get out of the house.

I couldn’t go through the front door. I would need a window.

As I began to search, I started realizing just how stupid I was being. What was I going to do when I got out? The shifters or the underlings would be able to grab me at a moment’s notice. I was not going to be able to outrun them.

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