Chapter 92

[ 1,392 words ]

Liam

The leaves press tight around us, thick enough to block the fading daylight.

The little knife stunt had made his reaction look real, even if it pissed him off.

Her scent slipped into me, spiking rage and hunger and leaving me on the precipice of the two.

I snarl in her ear, the sound directed more at myself than her.

Her breath puffs out in care, controlled movement, and the thought that she fears me gives me a dark sort of pleasure I instantly regret.

My wolf paces beneath my flesh, furious and restless beyond his cage.

I’m not sure what has him so agitated, but I can take a guess.

I squeeze her slender throat.

“I would start talking if I were you.”

The sound comes out rough, more wolf than man.

She doesn’t flinch away from my tone.

“I told you, I can get you out of here alive. If you let me.”

I tighten my grip on her neck.

“And I’m supposed to believe that?”

“You did a second ago.”

She right.

When she told me to step back into an area where the cameras couldn’t reach, I just acted without thought.

It was stupid.

Something that could have gotten me killed.

And yet…

No danger flared when listening to her command.

That reality alone has my hackles rising.

“What’s your point?” I grind out.

Her throat works on a hard swallow under my hand.

“Can you let me go now?”

“No. Not until you explain yourself.” And probably not then either.

I still am not sure yet.

“We came to get you.

Was that a trap?”

“Yes.” She confesses.

“But it was the only way for me to get to Aria.”

“How convenient.” My voice comes out lower, raspier than I’d like.

Frustration makes her body stiffen.

“Liam, if I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn’t have let you drag me in here.

I would’ve called for the others the second you grabbed me, not looked for a way for us to be alone.”

“Unless this is another trap,” I snarl.

“You’re wasting time,” she snaps.

“Do you want to save your sister and packmate or not?”

The anger in her voice surprises me.

“And how will you do that?” I say certain she sees my doubt in one human’s ability to turn the tide.

“I’m going to set you free.”

I still.

Every muscle in my body locks.

Her heart pounds so hard against her chest, I can feel it where her back is pressed to my front.

My wolf surges violently, battering against the barrier again and again.

I narrow my eyes.

“Why?”

She hesitates only a second.“Because I can’t choose the family I was born into,” she says quietly.

“But I can choose my fate.”

The words hit harder than they should.

“And?”

Her jaw tightens.

“And I won’t let them hurt Aria.”

There is no deception when she speaks.

There is fierce love and determination between the syllables of her name.

Still part of me, the part that knows the taste of betrayal like a babe knows his mother’s milk, is reluctant to give her trust.

But I don’t need to trust her, I just need to take the chance being handed to me.

“Prove it,” I say.

Slowly, she moves one hand downward.

A growl rips out of me instantly.

Hazel freezes.

“I’m getting the key. It’s in my pocket.”

I grunt, and she takes that as a signal to move.

I watch every inch of movement as she carefully reaches into the side pocket of her jacket.

The silver cuffs burn against my wrists while tension knots through me so tight it hurts.

One wrong move and I’ll break her neck.

Hazel pulls out a small silver key.“There,” she says quietly.

“See?”

I don’t answer.

She turns slowly.

I let her, not breaking contact with her skin.

“I need you to give me your hands.”

I hesitate.

Fuck it.

What could she really do?

I release her throat and hold out my arms.

With steady hands, she inserts the key in a hidden hole and clicks on the lock like thunder in the quiet space.

Power explodes back into me so quickly my head swims.

My wolf surges upward with enough force that my knees nearly buckle.

Heat floods my veins.

Strength tears through my muscles.

Every suppressed instinct crashes back into place all at once.

I suck in a harsh breath.

Rain.

Pine.

Wildflowers.

Mine.

The thought hits so suddenly, I almost choke on it.

The single word beats like a second heart in the silence.

No.

It can’t be.

Hazel takes a step back, and I make the single worst mistake of my life and look at her.

The moment I meet her green eyes, there is no use denying it.

She’s mine.

Wolf growls in agreement, and a wave of possessiveness pulses inside me.

The hunter is mine.

A flush creeps to her face, and she clears her throat.

“There.”

I stare at my freed wrists, flexing my hands while energy roars through my body.

The relief and shock are fighting to take over.

Then she says quietly, “Look, I’m not asking you to trust me. Just… acknowledge that your enemy wouldn’t make themselves vulnerable to you.”

I look up at her.

At my mate.

Fuck.

The realization crashes over me again, harder this time.

The strange pull toward her.

The way her scent affected me even before now, from the trace of it coming from the single strand of hair in the envelope.

My wolf practically preens under her undivided attention.

Ours.

I swallow hard and force my expression blank.

“What now?” I ask roughly.

The words seem to force her into action.

A serious expression comes across her face.

“This isn’t the only blind spot.

The cameras don’t cover everything.

There are a few places in the forest that they can’t reach.

We’re going to use the to get to your pack mate.”

“Alright,” I say, and her eyes widen like she can’t believe I would accommodate her so easily.

After a tense moment, I made a gesture toward the opening.

“Lead the way.”

With a small nod and another look back at me, she moves fast through the forest.

I follow her as she zigzags between trees, doubles back twice, cuts across streams and rocky patches.

I realize quickly she’s avoiding sensors.

Smart.

I follow exactly where she steps, denying myself the desire to look at her ass and the way of her hips as she moves.

The woods are alive around us.

With my shifter hearing back, I can pinpoint the groups of hunters as they move like ants through the trees.

Distant shouts echo through the night while searchlights sweep between branches.

“They’re tightening the perimeter,” I murmur.

“They must have caught on that you haven’t been back in view for some time. We have to move faster,” Hazel replies.

She quickens her pace, and I stay on her like a shadow.

After several minutes, voices enter my ears, and I stop her.

We crouch down looking beneath the thick brush, and I see three hunters standing in front of Felix.

He is hanging off a plank of wood stuck into the earth.

Blood streaks down his body, and his head lolls to the side as if it’s too heavy for him to hold up.

One of the hunter’s holds a re-stained knife in their hand.

Rage makes my vision go black.

I launched myself at the Hunter.

I’m too fast, and before the other can figure out what’s happening, the first is dead.

I turn to the second male and wrench the rifle he was holding from his grip, and drive my elbow into his throat.

Something crunches behind me.

The third hunter swings a silver blade toward me, but is jerked back.

Hazel appears behind him, and a silver chain wraps around his throat as she twists, strangling him.

The hunter drops to his knees, but she doesn’t let go until he stops moving.

Watching her kill a hunter shouldn’t make me hard, but here we are.

Felix groans, and I quickly move and rip him down.

He’s shaky on his feet, and Hazel unlocks his shackles.

He blinks, seeming more lucid as the second goes by.

His natural shifter healing burned away whatever they drugged him with.

For a second, everything goes still except the heavy breathing of Felix coming around.

Then he locks eyes with Hazel.

“What the hell?”

“No time,” I tell him.

“Short story. She’s on our side.”

Felix gives me a look that tells me I’m going to be explaining myself soon.

But in true Felix fashion, he goes along with it.

He is stronger on his feet when he straightens.

“Okay I’m ready.”

Suddenly alarms blare through the forest.

Red lights flash between the trees.

Hazel gives a wicked smile.

Across the clearing I hear locks popping.

“We have to run. Right now,” she says, moving towards the far right.

“How did you get the gates open?” I say, running behind her with Felix on my tail.

“Man on the inside.” She shot back.

My wolf says I can trust her.

She’s my mate and I guess I have to start somewhere.

I just hope I’m not making a mistake by doing it.

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