Page 46 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)

AUDREY

I wrenched the snake from around my neck before it could strangle me, panic making me slam it against the ground again and again until its strange, glowing red blood had splattered me, Knox, and the ground.

My breath sawed in my chest from exertion and fear, and I had no idea how we were going to survive this or even just escape.

“What the fuck?” Cyrus roared, suddenly right beside me.

He yanked the snakes off me then swiped his claws through three more, splattering me with more blood.

I wrenched another snake off Knox and bashed it against a snake on the ground, killing both of them. My back, arms, and legs stung where they’d bitten me, and while the snakes weren’t enormous, they weren’t small either, and my arms were starting to get tired from all the swatting and yanking and swinging.

“How many are there?” Bishop asked, rushing up to us and boxing me in between the three of them.

“No, fucking clue,” Cyrus growled. “I’ve killed at least a dozen but it doesn’t look like I’ve made a dent.”

Someone howled, and I glanced through the writhing swarm. Three of the four hunt team members were halfway between us and the temple, biting and clawing at snakes, while the fourth lay on the ground. Blood — our colored blood, not the snakes — rushed around her, and I jerked to my feet.

I couldn’t really fight, but maybe I could do something to save her.

“Stay,” Cyrus barked, his command slamming into me before I could go.

“She’ll die.”

“You’ll die and my brother will be fucked,” he snarled back as a snake on the ground shot out and dug its fangs into his calf.

I stomped on the snake with a stomach-churning crunch. “Your brother will be free.”

“You don’t know that,” he said, tearing through two more.

Across the courtyard, Deacon and Whil bolted out of the temple followed by more snakes. She shot a golf ball-sized blast of golden light at a snake, and it fell to the ground, but two more took its place.

There are too many, Cyrus said in my head. Deacon, you and your team get Whil out of the forest.

“I haven’t finished my investigation,” she yelled back as she and Deacon reached the three remaining hunt team members, and they all fought their way closer to us.

Send a hunt team in to investigate before you come back and don’t return without at least two teams.

“And when the window is open, don’t let anyone from my realm see you,” I said, stomping on another snake.

Cyrus shot me a dark look that said once we were safe he was getting answers whether he had to compel them out of me or not.

Deacon, you, Nova, and Finn decide if the town can spare two teams, Cyrus added, slashing a snake out of the air just before it bit me. If not, don’t come back. Knox, get Audrey out of here.

Get on my back, Knox said, surprising me that he’d allow me to touch him let alone ride him. He was big, bigger than all the wolves in my old pack, almost the size of a pony, but still?—

“I’m too heavy. I’ll slow you down,” I said. “I can run.”

Get. On. My. Back. His command seized me and I scrambled onto his back before I could stop myself.

“Stop commanding me.” His power made me lean over him and grab fistfuls of fur, enveloping me in his rich smoky scent.

Then do what I say when I say it. He leaped forward, his muscles bunching underneath me, his movement smooth and powerful as if he wasn’t carrying me.

He barreled through the snake swarm, past the crumbling buildings, and into the forest. The snakes flew after us, hissing and snapping. One bit my thigh, but Knox bashed us against a tree, knocking the thing off and sending throbbing pain through my leg.

He leaped and wove his way through the trees and underbrush. Leaves and branches sliced at my cheeks, and I buried my face against his neck to protect it, fully wrapping myself in his scent.

Home. He was where I belonged. We were meant to be together. Always.

I struggled to concentrate beyond the warmth in my soul at our physical contact and the heat between my thighs at the knowledge that I was straddling him. It didn’t matter that he was in his wolf form at the moment. He could shift into a man and be completely naked and ready in an instant.

Behind us, Cyrus and Bishop crashed through the underbrush, racing after us in their human forms, but they weren’t fast enough to keep up and Knox quickly outpaced them, awakening a gnawing worry within me.

There were just the two of them and there were so many snakes, and I didn’t know if they’d be able to outrun them. Of course, they could sacrifice their clothes and shift, but that thought didn’t make the worry disappear.

“We have to go back for them,” I said, tightening my grip in his fur as if that would alert him to how much we had to go back. “We can’t leave them behind.”

They can take care of themselves, he said, not slowing . You can’t.

“Knox, please.”

No.

“Knox—” Damn it. I hated that he was right. I could jump off and run back to Cyrus and Bishop, but I wouldn’t be any help, and that was only if I could find them. And only if Knox didn’t command me back onto him.

“They’re your brothers.”

He didn’t reply, just kept running. The hiss and rush of air from the swarming snakes died off, but he didn’t slow or hesitate until we crashed out of the underbrush onto a trail similar to the one we’d taken into the forest.

My emotions churned, a complicated hot mess that I just couldn’t seem to control. My body screamed at me to have sex with Knox, now now now, but I also felt warm and safe and comfortable just like I had when Bishop had held me, while my stomach was heavy and aching with worry for Bishop and Cyrus along with the fear that Sterling and Royce would be able to reach me even now.

And on top of all of that, I was angry.

Angry that I couldn’t escape those psychopaths, that I’d been wrong about being safe on this side of the rip, and that I’d been useless in that fight.

Knox rounded a curve in the trail and slowed down to a fast walk. Up ahead lay the way out, a brilliant opening, framed by the forest’s dense, dark branches and mist.

What the hell were you thinking talking to them? Knox demanded, finally deciding to speak to me again as we crossed the threshold into the too-bright light of late afternoon.

I’d been thinking that I wanted to prove to Sterling that even if I didn’t have any power, I was strong and a survivor. I’d never fought back before. I’d always kept out of sight as best I could and taken what he’d given when he found me. I’d thought for once I was safe and I could tell him how I really felt.

Boy, had I been wrong.

And jeez, I can’t believe you thought that asshole was your mate, Knox added, his mental voice thick with disgust, as if everything was my fault because I was too stupid to know the truth.

“Don’t you dare!” I shoved off his back, stumbled, my sore legs unsteady, then found my balance and glared at him.

His dark eyes captured mine and my soul wept that we’d lost physical contact while my body flip-flopped between empty and cold, achy and hot, and angry.

“They’re the ones who manipulated me. They enspelled me. I’m sorry the magic they used on me forced us into a mating bond, but don’t you dare blame me for what happened.” I wasn’t stupid. I’d just been hopeful. So God damned, foolishly hopeful.

Royce had made me believe that there was someone out there who could love me, made me think I was worth loving. That, more than anything, was the cruelest thing he and Sterling had done to me. I hadn’t realized how much I’d suppressed my hope, or how much hope I’d still had.

Shame and anger burned over my cheeks and forehead. In a matter of minutes, he’d given me everything I hadn’t even known I’d been praying for.

It had happened too fast for me to fully process what was going on. I’d only known that a spark I’d kept hidden had suddenly burst into a flame and I wanted what the fated mating call promised.

Then he’d ripped it all away.

I’m not blaming you , Knox said, his voice still harsh and angry. It’s just obvious he isn’t your type.

“Oh, and you know my type?” I shot back. Not that I’d been given a choice. No one had been interested in me and the magic they’d used had convinced me we’d been fated for each other. “You’ve barely spoken to me, you want nothing to do with me, but you know my type?” Understanding hit me like a punch to the gut. “Right. He’s powerful. Someone like me could never be with someone powerful like him.”

Actually, I hadn’t thought you were into assholes. He turned away, looking across the rugged, rocky landscape ahead of us clearly ending our conversation.

I glared at him as if I could will him into feeling all the frustration and turmoil and heartache I felt. I wanted to scream, fight, bash more snakes on the ground, something, anything to relieve the pressure building inside me. My insides twisted and everything felt too tight and too hot and too much.

I jerked a few steps toward the forest, needing to take action, even if it was just moving.

You’re waiting here, Knox snarled.

“I know that,” I snapped back, heaving myself around and marching away from him.

And you’re not going far. A hint of his power fluttered over me and I ground my teeth, refusing to submit.

I stomped back toward the forest, getting a few steps farther before he growled at me, then marched away again.

Do something. Do something, my mind hissed at me over and over again. Be useful.

I raked my gaze around me, searching for something to prove my usefulness. Great chunks of rock jutted from a sloping, jagged landscape covered with moss and dense bushes, and in the distance were more forests. It looked more like we were higher up the mountains than lower and the only explanation for that was that Cyrus’s pack’s town wasn’t in the foothills but a valley.

Except I hadn’t seen any mountains on the horizon, which only reminded me that my realm’s logic didn’t necessarily apply here. And while I would guess that the river cutting through Darkweald Forest flowed through these rocks, I couldn’t assume it was. Not to mention all this rock could have made it turn away from its north-south direction before we’d even left Darkweald.

Fine. I couldn’t fill our canteens. Not that I’d be able to know if the water was safe. And while I could gather twigs from the nearby bushes, they wouldn’t be nearly enough for a fire — and I doubted Knox would even let me go to the forest’s edge to gather wood. I also couldn’t tell if there were any good spots around for us to camp. Again, not that we’d stay this close to the forest and those snakes.

I turned back to Knox. A small pool of blood lay on the ground by his back paw and even though his fur was black, I could still see the sticky gloss of blood on his upper back thigh, shoulder, and snout.

Damn it. I’d forgotten my pack back at the ruins and I didn’t even have supplies for first aid. Of course, given that he wasn’t seriously bleeding, he could easily shift and heal himself which meant even if I had our supplies, I’d still be useless… and he’d be naked.

Oh, God.

I wrenched away from him again, making him growl.

For the love of— Stop. Pacing. His command jerked me to a stop. I’m trying to listen for them.

I sagged to the ground and closed my eyes. If I couldn’t do anything and wasn’t permitted to pace, I might as well listen, too. Not that my hearing was as good as Knox’s, but it gave me something to focus on.