Page 15 of Alpha’s Hated Mate (Shifters of Clarion)

“ S affron. It’s me. It’s Aydan.”

She’s hunched before me, ready to pounce. Her eyes have gone bone white, and her snout is wrinkled in a fierce snarl as she stalks toward me. Whatever’s happened, she doesn’t recognize me right now.

I’m going to have to fight her, maybe even hurt her. I’ve never fought a Scarlet in wolf form before. I’ve heard it’s brutal.

She lunges and I sidestep her, but not before she takes a swipe at my leg, tearing the fabric from my ankle. Before I can recover, she’s pouncing, catching me on the shoulders and sending us both down to the cement.

I grab her by the throat as she snaps at my face, rage blazing behind those cold white eyes. Right now, she’s got all her weight on me, and I’m barely keeping her at bay.

Suddenly, she’s stopped. The anger drains out of her face, and she pulls away, looking toward the howling off in the distance. She backs away from me and stands on the edge of the stairs, then howls back into the night.

And that’s when I hear the sound of other wolves howling all around me. I sit up just in time to see streaks of red as Scarlet wolves from all over campus start to run toward the woods. Some of them run into each other and start to fight. Some start to attack bystanders that happen to be walking by.

And Saffron’s off. She leaps down the stairs and runs for the woods. No!

I change, taking my own wolf form, my body shifting into the animal I am inside. Ice white fur covers me as I run after her. I have to stop her. As an Alpha, my wolf is larger and stronger than other wolves. I have to keep her from escaping into those woods.

Stop! Saffron! I try to mind-link with her. I scream at her telepathically, trying to get her to stop. She keeps moving . . . and I notice that I hear nothing from her. No thoughts at all. She’s in a trance.

I get close enough to pounce, and I tackle her. We tumble over and over on the grass until she kicks me off and tries to get away. I scramble to my feet and jump on her back, bringing her to the ground.

Stop this! Now! I mind-link.

She twists and knocks me off. Then she faces me, snarling and snapping. GET AWAY! I hear her scream. Her inner voice sounds wrong. High and desperate and raw as if she’d been screaming for hours.

I take a swipe at her, and she dodges me, then lunges, pushing me down. I roll out of her way. I’ve got her attention, and I need to get her away from here.

I run, hoping beyond hope that she follows. I dare a look over my shoulder just in time to see her right on my ass, snapping at my tail.

YOUWONTSTOPMEYOUWONTSTOPMEYOUWONT . . .

It’s just screams. Her inner voice is raging at me in a terrifying chant. I keep running. I have to get her as far away from here as I can. But where? That fucking howling feels like it’s coming from everywhere.

I change direction and head for the dorms. If I can lock her in her room, maybe . . . maybe . . .

With her close behind me, her teeth tearing at the fur on my tail, I reach the dorm in seconds and leap up the stairs with her close behind. The stone door starts to open, but it’s not fast enough and I can’t stop— SMASH!

The door’s magic veneer shatters on impact, and what at first looked like stone bursts into shards of rainbow glass all around me as I crash into the lobby. Students scream as I barrel through, but I’ve got to keep moving. I don’t know what will happen if Saffron decides to turn on them.

She catches up to me and tackles me. We both slide across the lobby floor and into the stairs. Her jaws latch onto the back of my neck as I twist away from her. I roar out in pain, but I manage to escape her death grip.

Come on, I mind-link to her as I leap up the stairs. Catch me if you can .

She comes after me, and the two of us bolt down the halls and toward her room. I hit a sharp corner and change back to human, my bare feet suddenly slapping the marble floors as I reach her door. I swear, it better not be locked.

I turn the handle, and the door opens just as she rounds the corner into the hallway. I jump inside and she follows me, tackling me again. I grab her by the throat, and we roll around in the room, breaking chairs and tables. She kicks me in the torso, and I go flying into the wall, banging the back of my head. Stars circle my eyes, but I don’t have time to recover. She’s in my face, teeth bared.

Over her shoulder, I see the heads of students as they peek in to see what’s happening. “Close the door!” I shout at them.

Saffron turns her great head toward them, and I realize I have milliseconds before she goes after them, too. I wrap my arms around her neck and bear down on her with all my weight. She struggles, trying to throw me off her back, but I hold on and squeeze as tight as I can around her neck. Goddess, help me, please. I don’t want to hurt her . . .

She slows down, stumbling. Her growls are getting low. Finally she topples over in a dead faint. I loosen my grip and lay next to her, catching my breath as best as I can.

Fuck. I reach over and touch her fur, running my hand over her chest. She’s breathing. Good.

The howling is still happening outside, though. I get up and maneuver around the broken furniture to the door and lock it.

I don’t know if I can restrain her again if she wakes up, but I can’t let her out of this room. I have to protect her from whatever this is.

I slide down the door and take stock of my injuries. A bite on the back of my neck has left trails of blood down my chest and shoulders, scratches on my arms and legs. I suppose it could be worse. I hope the worst has passed.

And as I sit here, I watch as she slowly changes back to human form. She’s lying in the center of the room, unconscious and naked, her long red hair flaring out behind her like fire. I pray I don’t have to tie her down to the bed.

“Aydan . . . ?”

The sound of her voice wakes me. I spent most of the night trying to clean up the mess we made. I stacked the broken furniture in a pile in a corner of the room. For the other things that got trashed, I did my best to clear them out without actually leaving. Thankfully, her couch and bed were undamaged. I can’t say much for her desk, though. It’s completely ruined.

I slept on the couch with nothing but a blanket over me. I wasn’t about to leave her to find clothes. Not for a second. I put clothes on her, though. A nightshirt that I found in her dresser. She’s been running a fever all night, so I placed a washcloth on her head to keep her cool . . . I did that until I couldn’t keep my own eyes open.

I look over to see her sitting up and looking at me with big, terrified eyes. The sunlight streams in through the window and highlights her red hair . . . as well as the bruises on her face and neck. I sit up, and the pain of the untreated wound on my neck nearly brings me back down.

She gets up and rushes over to me. “Oh, no.” Her hands touch my neck, moving around to the nape. She leans over to get a better look, and as she touches it, I can already feel the scabs forming. “Don’t move.”

She gets up and rushes to the bathroom as I lay back on the couch. A few moments later, she comes back with a bowl and a washrag and starts cleaning my wound. I flinch from the cold sting of water, and she frowns. “I’m sorry. I’m . . . I’m so sorry.”

Her eyes start to tear up. I reach out to her, and she pushes me away, sniffling and wiping at her face. “Just let me get you cleaned up. Okay? Just . . . just let me do that.”

I let her, leaning forward as she cleans my wound. What a disaster. I don’t even want to know what awaits us on campus.