Page 26 of Pack Kasen, Part 3 (Caught #3)
AREN
T rodden earth is the only sign someone has encroached on pack land.
That and the tang of an enemy scent.
Juniper and sage. My lip curls, and a snarl erupts from my chest.
Cristofer was here, and recently.
He entered our territory, and, according to Joy and Emilio, left again.
Why ?
My wolf senses a trap, but I don’t see one.
It’s there.
I’m missing something.
What?
Finan is sniffing something on the ground.
Joy and Emilio are feet away, heads down, tracking the scent off pack land.
Cruz and Silas are even farther away, keeping watch for Cristofer.
He showed up at one of our neighbors’ properties, and I had been so sure that he would lure us there to attack us. It’s why I left my enforcers at the house.
Behind me are forests, in front of me is a field, and a dusty road.
That’s it.
What was he doing here on one of our farthest borders?
Finan lifts his head, light green eyes holding mine for a moment before he drops his gaze again, in a come-and-look-at-this motion.
I approach him with my ears pulled back. Alert. This hasn’t stopped feeling like an ambush since we arrived.
There are no tall trees to hide behind here, just wide-open fields and the road that leads into and out of town.
I’ve been expecting the soft twang of a crossbow bolt since we shifted and ran here.
Nothing.
Finan digs something up from the ground.
A bolt from a crossbow.
A warning or a threat?
It reminds me of the one I saw on the ground beside Kat in the old mine.
It’s hard to kill a shifter, but that piece of metal had nearly taken my mate from me.
I’m about to shift to my human form and suggest we head back to the house when a howl rings out in the distance.
Female.
Unfamiliar.
Kat .
I haven’t heard her howl before, but it’s her.
Trouble.
Come now.
This wasn’t a trap for me . It was a trap for her.
I growl at my enforcers as I put my head down, and I move .
A long time ago, I was too late, getting to my pack in time to watch my parents die.
I won’t be late again.
Not again.
I leave my enforcers behind.
The wind tugs at my fur. The sound of the wind fills my ears as I run.
My wolf has never been so focused before.
I’m breathing hard and fast when the house comes into view.
I pick up Cristofer’s scent.
Blood.
Pain.
Wes is bleeding.
Troy is bleeding. Badly . Enough to worry me.
The faintest tang of Kat’s blood tickles my nose. She’s hurt. Not badly, but even one drop of blood is a killing offense.
Then I see it.
Cristofer’s dead body.
The cabin door hangs open, and the feral is outside.
Troy is on the ground, not moving.
Marisa, bloodied and bleeding, struggles to get up.
And my mate is charging a feral with no hope in hell of surviving.
Panic is a fist that squeezes my heart.
Not Kat.
I put on a burst of speed.
I fly.
She is not dying.
Not Kat.
The feral senses my presence. He turns as I dig deep within myself and summon the third form—the only one that can save my mate.
I slam into him.
Bone cracks. His not mine. The copper tang of blood tickles my nose. Mine.
He hits the side of the cabin, and I’m on two feet, half wolf, half man, with clawed hands and a mouth full of wolf teeth.
I fall on him.
Cleaving, hacking, and biting.
Blood, fury, and rage consume me.
Not Kat.
Never Kat.
She is mine .