Page 89 of Diners, Damsels & Wolves

Her arms were sore beyond reckoning. She couldn’t move her fingers; they were heavy and sluggish. She tried to wiggle, to relieve the discomfort. Everything hurt.

She had to get out, she couldn’t be there any longer. She had to leave! Now!

The urgency of this need crashed into her, and she started to panic, pulling and yanking. Her swollen face started to cry. Her restraints wouldn’t budge.

“Alister!” An angry voice thundered next to her. “The whore is trying to escape. You’re supposed to be keeping her in check.”

She struggled harder. She had to leave, she had to—

Screams tore from her burning throat.

The heavy numbness in her arm was replaced by a terrible force. Under her screams, a snap sounded. Her arm ran with something thick and warm, but it was nothing compared to the white-hot fire erupting over her limb. Screams gave way to cries. Eventually, it hurt too much to move her face. She fell slack.

If she were lucky, the fire would kill her soon. She would welcome death if it meant the pain would stop. The fires consuming her skin would be snuffed out, and she could no longer feel the shattered pieces of her heart shredding her from the inside.

Rachel, her only family, being within arm’s reach and yet so unobtainable. Seeing Rachel every day and yet never being in her presence.

Being utterly alone in her suffering, knowing she’d walked away from the one man who’d ever made her feel whole. The only man she’d ever truly loved. What had she done?

She wasn’t going to make it out of this alive. She was never going to be able to find him and make it right. He would live the rest of his life thinking she’d run from him because of what he was. That wasn’t it at all.

She’d been frightened, not by him, but by his eyes. Seeing them on the lawn, all she could think about was that terrible night in the parking lot. The monster who’d attacked her had the same eyes.

When the creatures glowing yellow eyes settled on her at the mansion, they were knowing, intelligent, and soft. Why hadn’t she noticed it? Her panic clouded the truth. They were not the eyes of a killer, but a protector.

She would never get the chance to say ‘thank you.’

She would never get the chance to say ‘I love you.’

Despair grew heavy in her chest. She just wanted the pain to end.

Twenty Six

Thomas

An hour after leaving Maria and Sara, the pack prowled through the trees surrounding the area on the map. Tom warned them to rely on their hearing rather than smell. Spreading out, they searched for a hunting lodge or campsite.

“Hey,” Michael thought. “I hear talking.”

“Hold position.” Tom rushed to his location. Being Alpha, his hearing was better than anyone else’s in his pack.

With Michael in his sights, he stopped to listen. There were at least five of them outside, but he needed to be positive they were the bears and not a random group of humans. He and Michael crept closer.

“Hey, Kev, you got any more beer?”

“No, you drank it all.”

“Bullshit!”

“Well, fuck-face over here drank all the whisky.”

“How much longer are we gonna sit in these damn trees doing nothing?”

“Until I say so! In a few hours, Kev will go to the wolf Alpha’s house and lure him out here with a scent trail.”

“Well damn, Elija, I need a good fuck and none of you are pretty enough to be my type.”

“Then go into town or go visit the bitch inside.”