Page 129 of A Wolfe in the Woods

I kept my breathing shallow, careful not to draw attention to myself, piecing together what I could from scraps of sound.

Jonathan.

So,Iwas the collateral. A hostage dressed up as a bargaining chip. My chest tightened painfully. I tried to move my wrists again, testing the knot. It didn’t give. Whoever had tied me up had done a professional job. I swallowed past the dryness in my throat and forced my breathing to slow.In. Out. In. Out.

Guilt came fast and vicious. If I hadn’t gone into that room, if I hadn’t looked where I wasn’t supposed to, if I’d trusted myinstincts instead of my curiosity…Jonathan wouldn’t be facing Erik alone.

What if he got hurt? Erik never played fair.

I swallowed hard, fighting the sting behind my eyes.

Footsteps approached. The men around me shifted.

One of them cleared his throat and greeted, “Fang.”

Fang answered, “Where is he?”

“The Circle…deal should be done soon,” the man answered.

There was a soft sound like fabric shifting, then footsteps coming closer before they stopped in front of me.

Then Fang’s voice hummed like a predator circling with interest. “And her?” His hand gripped my jaw, tilting my face, and a bite of cold fear chilled my blood. He inhaled slowly, like a wolf confirming prey.

I held perfectly still, terrified but not wanting to show it.

The man spoke again. “Orders were to keep her secured until?—”

“The deal is done?” Fang interrupted, a smile in his voice now. “Yeah, I know the plan.” Something in his tone shifted. Subtle. “But plans change.”

I felt it before I heard it. There was a palpable shift in tension before?—

“Wait!” someone cried.

The first growl tore through the night, deep and ravenous.

The sounds that followed crashed around me all at once—snarls, bone cracking, wet impacts. The first scream came so fast my brain didn’t register it until the second one joined it. Then something heavy landed on the ground close to me.

I froze, blind and helpless, heart slamming so hard it felt like it might shatter my ribs.

There was no way to shut the sounds out. Terror crawled up my spine. Another scream. Shorter. A gurgle. The smell of blood thickened, metallic and suffocating.

The screams ended. The silence that followed was worse.

Fingers slid under the blindfold for a moment. I flinched, unable to keep the small whimper from sounding, and the blindfold was ripped away. Light stabbed my eyes. Moonlight, harsh and silver.

I was sitting at the base of a granite outcrop that rose like a broken molar from the mountain. Above me, the slope angled up toward jagged ridges, black against the sky. Pines clustered below.

Three bodies lay on the ground behind Fang and his men who had shifted into Lycan forms. Erik’s men were on the ground. Bodies ripped to pieces, throats torn, limbs scattered, one with eyes still wide open. I didn’t look long, feeling nausea rise. I turned my head quickly away from the horror and retched, bile rising up my throat.

Fang stood, wearing a twisted smile. “Sorry you had to hear that.”

My wrists were suddenly free. The rope fell away as the rough fibers brushed my skin.

I stared up at him, shaking. “W-What did you do?Why?”

He crouched to my level, studying me. “I have different orders.”

My heart pounded. “But Erik?—”