Page 85 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)

AUDREY

The world heaved in a writhing, frothing mass of dark water, and my lungs burned. What little breath I had was almost gone. Then something snagged my ankle, wrenching me against the torrent, and a strong arm wrapped around my chest.

Warmth billowed around my heart, strong and sure.

Knox.

Knox had jumped in after me… because of course if I died, he died or went insane. Not because he actually liked or was interested in me. Just like my nightmares had reminded me.

We crashed into the ravine wall, the impact shooting agony through my shoulder. Somehow he grabbed it with one hand and hauled us up enough for me to draw in a gasping, desperate breath before immediately coughing it and a whole bunch of water out.

Hold on tight, he snarled in my head, pulling me tight against his chest. I need both hands.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, hooked my ankles behind his back, and clung to him, my body trembling and exhausted and throbbing with pain.

With a growl, he dug his claws into the rock and hauled us up high enough that he could shove me over the edge.

Coughing and wheezing, I scrambled out of the water and collapsed on the hard ground, my body trembling from the effort, cold, and shock. The rain still pounded down in a painful torrent and the wind yanked on my wet hair and clothes.

Knox climbed up beside me, drew in a few deep breaths then picked me up, cradling me against his chest, and marched toward… I had no idea what. I could barely see anything more than dark mounds that, once we were close enough, turned out to be rocky outcroppings and boulders.

Somehow, he found us a sheltered crack that was barely wide and deep enough for the two of us if we huddled close together but would keep us out of the wind and rain. With a groan, he set me down and crouched in front of me.

“How badly are you hurt?” he asked, capturing my chin and turning my head to the side to look at what I could only assume was a cut at my temple.

My head throbbed, but it wasn’t a migraine, and save for a pain in my knee whenever I twitched and my lungs still complaining about the water I’d breathed in, I didn’t feel too bad. That and I wasn’t the one in immediate danger. Bishop and Cyrus were.

“I’m fine.” I tried to pull out of his grip but he held tight.

“You’re not fine. You’re bleeding and you almost drowned.” He pressed a finger against my temple, sending pain shooting through my skull, and I sucked in a sharp breath that turned into hacking coughs.

“I’m fine enough,” I choked out. “You have to go back and help Bishop and Cyrus.”

“My brothers can take care of themselves,” he replied, his voice gruff, and he turned his attention to the rip in my pants.

“It took all three of you to deal with the jackals last time,” I insisted.

I didn’t know how many there were this time, I hadn’t gotten much of a look over the ravine’s edge, but it seemed like every time Bishop or Cyrus killed one, two more had appeared. And while Knox hadn’t needed an elixir for the last fight, he’d still been seriously hurt. If this new pack was bigger than the last, Bishop or Cyrus could be killed. It wouldn’t matter if, as shifters, they were stronger than the jackals. There were only two of them and they were surrounded.

Knox made the rip in my pants bigger, revealing nothing more than a skinned knee.

“See? Fine. I can hide here and wait for all three of you to get back.” They had to come back.

Fear tightened my chest. It was selfish, but I didn’t want to lose Bishop. He was the first man to ever show any interest in me and a part of my soul wept at the thought of him dying… a part that felt far too similar to the part that was certain Knox was my mate.

“You have to go.” My pulse thu-thudded , picking up speed.

“I’m not leaving you.” Knox grabbed my arm and pulled me forward. Blood stained my shirt indicating that the cut on my shoulder that I couldn’t feel was worse than my skinned knee. Still, It wasn’t pouring down my body, so it couldn’t be that bad. I’d survive. Bishop and Cyrus might not.

I wrenched out of his grip and shoved him back. “They’re your brothers.”

“And they’re not my priority right now.”

“Well, they are mine.” My pulse thu-thudded again, harder, a pressure growing in my chest fueled by my worry.

Knox gritted his teeth. His power rolled off him, a great wave that stole my breath, but vanished a second later as if he’d changed his mind about forcing me to submit.

“Bishop is fine,” he said, his voice gruff but not angry.

“You don’t know that.”

How could he be so calm?

He, Bishop, and Cyrus had been all about protecting each other and they’d made it clear they’d sacrifice me to do so. I couldn’t imagine the mating bond would drastically change Knox’s priorities in such a short time.

“I’m not stupid enough to wander around by myself,” I told him, “and I’m not bleeding to death.”

“You hit your head. You need someone to keep you awake and I still don’t know how bad the cut on your shoulder is.” He held out his hands, silently asking for me to show him. “And I do know Bishop is fine. If he was seriously hurt, I’d feel it. Our twin bond is stronger than a mating bond.”

Stronger? What could be stronger than a bond that deepened the love and soul connection between two people?

If he knew when Bishop was seriously hurt, that meant he could feel what Bishop was feeling, something I couldn’t do with Knox — and something I hoped he couldn’t do with me because if he knew what I was feeling, he was an even worse man than I thought he was. That also meant Bishop could feel what Knox was feeling. Could he tell which were his feelings and which were his brother’s?

“No,” Knox said, tugging me forward and ripping my shirt a bit more to get a better look at my shoulder.

“No?”

“You’re thinking Bishop only cares for you because of our mating bond. That our twin bond is influencing him,” he said, taking off his shirt and ripping it into strips. “It isn’t.”

“How do you know?” I knew I shouldn’t have asked, but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted real love. Not love influenced by a bond I couldn’t control.

“We’ve sealed our bond and the pressure is gone. The need to be with you isn’t anywhere as powerful as it was before. If it had been influencing Bishop, his feelings for you would have changed. They haven’t. Turn around.”

I blinked at him, the order such a sudden change in the topic that I needed a second for it to register.

He motioned turning around with his finger and I turned, not worrying about whether I remained sheltered from the rain while I did so. I was already soaked and wasn’t going to get dry anytime soon. Getting wetter now wouldn’t matter.

“Bishop is still going to court you and I’m not going to stop him.” He wrapped a strip of his shirt around my shoulder and another high around my chest.

“I’ll also try with us,” he said, his voice soft and gruff. “But I can’t be a proper mate. That’s why I was trying so hard to break our bond.”

“You don’t even know what I want in a mate.”

“I’m barely a brother and I’m not a friend,” he replied, pulling me into his arms, placing a folded-up strip of shirt against my bleeding temple, and inching us as deep into the crack as he could get so we were both out of the rain. “I doubt I can be a mate.”

Heat from his body sank into me and warmth radiated around my heart. I wanted to argue with him about making assumptions and not bothering to talk to me, but I was too exhausted to fight.

I’d never been good at standing up for myself. It was always easier to give in. I still didn’t want to let him off the hook for hurting me, but I could fight with him later.

Silence didn’t necessarily mean submission, it just meant I was biding my time.

I huffed a soft laugh and leaned into his warmth, resting my cheek against his bare chest. Biding my time made it sound like I knew what I was doing when really I was groping around in the dark like I always did.