Page 15 of Never Tamed (Bad Wolves #3)

She pulls slightly back and I let her. “Don’t worry about Torin. He’s a big boy even when he throws a tantrum,” I add. “He’s not stupid enough to go far.”

“He has a lot on his mind,” Noble assures her. “He’s never experienced anything like this before, and it’s a lot of emotion really fast. I’m sure it’s fucking with him.”

“He’s terrified of losing you,” I say. “We all are.”

She nods. “I’m scared of losing you guys, too.”

“We shouldn’t be thinking like that, though.” Noble sits up straighter. “What we need to do first is figure out what the fuck happened to Dax out there and make sure it doesn’t happen again. He should be coming around soon. We don’t need him going psycho-wolf and attacking any of us.”

I glance over at my beta. He twitches, the snow melted around his body. “What happened before we got there, sweetheart?”

She shivers again. “Dax found me at the temple. We were walking back down the mountain, everything normal, and then something snapped. He kept talking about a girl—a Gracie—and rocking nothing in his arms.” She swallows. “It was like watching a possession.”

My stomach knots. “Gracie?”

Ren nods. “He kept saying ‘Don’t touch her! Get away from her!’ I think he thought he was holding a child, a baby, like he was remembering something.”

I glance at Noble. He’s frowning, jaw clenched tight.

“And then he attacked the trees,” Ren goes on. “He was seeing things I couldn’t, trying to kill them.” Ren turns to me. “Do you know who Gracie is?”

“No. It doesn’t ring any bells, but a lot of Dax is a mystery, even to me.” I’m coming up blank and I hate it. “When my father and I found him, he couldn’t remember anything about his life before. It was like he was born right then.”

Noble glances to the side and works his jaw to loosen it. “Sounds like trauma. He must’ve gone through something really, really bad to block it out.”

“So you think Gracie is someone or something from his past?” Ren asks.

“We can ask him when he wakes up,” I say. “See if he remembers anything.”

“It might end up triggering another episode,” Noble replies. “I’m not sure it’s the best idea.”

A groan comes from across the fire, and Dax pushes up to a seated position, rubbing the side of his face. “Fuuuuuckkk.”

“Ah, you’re awake,” Noble says with a laugh. “You must have heard us talking about you. How’s your face?”

Dax looks at Noble and narrows his eyes. His jaw’s already swollen from the hit. An hour or so and it will heal.

“Thanks for that,” he mutters. “But it’s the only one you’re ever gonna get, you hear me? You hit me again and you’re dead.”

Noble shoots him a shit-eating grin. He enjoyed socking Dax a little too much. “Worth it.”

Stretching his arms above his head like he just woke up from the best nap of his life, Dax’s joints crack and pop loudly. “What the hell did I miss?”

The three of us glance at each other. Too much to catch up on right now .

He looks like himself, but none of us want to poke the unstable wolf too hard. Not after what just happened.

His gaze sweeps the camp and lands on the charred fire pit. “Okay, why do you all look like someone died ?” He squints. “Wait. Where’s Steele?”

“Not dead,” comes the dry reply, just as Torin strides out of the trees, dragging the massive body of a buck behind him by its antlers. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

Dax jumps to his feet and his jaw actually drops, mouth hanging open. “Holy shit. You caught that ?”

“Better than seagulls, right?” Torin smirks. “Damn rats with wings. This is a better source of protein.”

“Way better,” Dax says, practically vibrating. He eyes the kill like it’s the best thing he’s seen in weeks. “Okay, I might’ve underestimated you, Steele. But I’m not fucking apologizing.”

Then he glances down and freezes.

His knuckles are crusted in dried blood.

My breath catches, half-expecting the questions to pour out of him. But Dax shrugs, nonchalant, and drags his tongue across the mess like it’s nothing new. For him, it probably isn’t.

“Perfect timing too,” he says with a wolfish grin. “I’m fucking starving.”

There’s a noticeable shift among us after we eat.

It’s not peace exactly, but it’s something close, as though we’ve clawed our way a few inches back from a ledge. The fire crackles strong now and the warmth spreads through the clearing.

Even the storm’s eased into a soft flurry and the wind has all but disappeared.

Noble stretches, testing the strength of his leg, then shifts into his copper wolf a second time. Torin follows a beat later, his larger form curling around the dug-out pit. Ren stands at the edge, watching them with tired eyes. Her cheeks are flushed from the cold, her hair wind-tangled.

Like this, she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

I can’t believe she’s mine. Ours , I correct automatically . And I actually don’t mind sharing. Which isn’t something I thought I could ever do. We’re stronger together in our own little pack.

Ren glances over at me like she’s following the train of my thoughts.

I’ll be right there , I send through the bond.

Nodding, she steps down between the wolves and tucks herself into their warmth without shifting.

I pause on the end of my own change and the skin on the back of my neck tightens. Something’s off. Something’s missing.

It takes half a second to realize Dax isn’t here. But when I turn, I find him not far off, standing near the creek, motionless except for the restless twitch of his fingers. He’s staring out into the woods while his eyes track something in the shadows.

Is he about to go feral again? My nerves prickle on my walk over to him.

He doesn’t flinch when I catch him in the shoulder. He only adjusts his weight and glances at me sideways. That’s when I see it.

Something fractured in him.

“Mathis.” His voice cracks. Because it’s just us now.

The way it’s always been.

“You okay?” I hold my breath and wait for the answer.

His jaw tightens. “Can you walk with me?”

I’ve never seen him like this, so fragile. Not like Dax at all. Like something or someone else.

It’s freaking me out.

Without waiting for an answer, he turns and heads toward the trees lining the creek, forcing me to follow.

The air is colder here, sharper, without the fire. The creek still trickles beside us, frosted over and glinting with sunlight. We walk for a while in silence until Dax suddenly stops near the water’s edge.

“You remember how you found me here? Practically in the water and half frozen?” he asks.

I stare at him and struggle to read his expression but he’s refusing to meet my eyes. “Yeah… When we were kids. You were stuck in your wolf form. It took us a long time to get you to shift back.”

“You said I couldn’t remember anything. Nothing. Like where I came from, my family, my pack. All I could remember—”

“Was your name.” My chest tightens. I don’t like where this is going. “Why? What’s going on?”

“Mathis, I—fuck. I remember,” he says, voice gravelly. “I finally remember something. I had a family. A sister… Gracie—”

Stopping suddenly, his head snaps toward me, and his gold eyes shine with raw emotion. With fear. With complete and utter grief. It takes me aback.

“Dax?”

“A family.” His voice cracks as he drops to his knees with his hands buried in his hair. His body shakes. “I had a family. And they’re all fucking dead.”