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Wyatt

T ake the lead.

I nudge her forward with my head, trying to hide the agony radiating from the knife wound in my back. The poison is spreading, making my limbs heavy and my head foggy. But Naomi can't know. If Naomi realises how bad it is, she'll forget all about the competition and force me to abandon the challenge.

I can't let that happen.

She pushes ahead, setting a pace I can just about maintain, with the wolfsbane suppressing my body’s attempts to drive it from my system. Every step seems to reopen the wound, sending fresh waves of agony through me, but I force my legs to keep moving. The medicine Jax gave me is keeping me conscious. For now, at least.

The forest around us is alive with sounds, competitors crashing through underbrush in the distance, birds startled into flight, with the occasional triumphant howl as someone gets caught. Behind us, there's an eerie silence that makes my hackles rise. Someone's moving through the forest with practiced stealth.

Someone who doesn't want to be heard. Someone who’s made a beeline in our direction the moment the horn sounded.

Brad.

I'd know that scent anywhere now. The memory of his knife sliding between my shoulder blades is still fresh. The sensation of silver penetrating my flesh burned into my mind. But with the memory comes a surge of rage that cuts through my pain, focusing my thoughts with crystal clarity.

He tried to kill me. He wants my mate.

He'll get neither.

Naomi slows enough, allowing me to draw alongside her. I can feel her anxiety through our bond, taste her fear in the air, not for herself, but for me. She doesn't know how right she is to worry, but she can feel it. Her wolf senses something else is wrong, but I'll be damned if I'm the reason she loses.

Her beautiful coat gleams in the filtered sunlight as she moves with effortless grace through the forest. My wolf admires her strength, her speed, the way she seems to float over the uneven terrain. She knows something is wrong. Her wolf is too perceptive not to sense it, but she doesn't know how right she is to worry.

I push fresh determination through our connection, smothering the pain and weakness that threatens to overwhelm me. I can't let her see how much this is costing me.

We increase our pace, racing through the trees with renewed urgency. The exertion sends fire through my veins as the silver and wolfsbane spreads faster with every heartbeat. My vision tunnels, narrowing to just the path ahead.

The forest becomes a blur of green and brown, my focus narrowing to the path ahead and Naomi's graceful form. Every muscle in my body screams for rest, for surrender, but I refuse to yield. The thought of giving up flashes through my mind, unbidden, but I banish it immediately.

As long as necessary. As long as it takes to get her safely to that finish line, so she has somewhere safe for herself and her sister. A home. Protection. A future.

Even if that future doesn't include me.

My paws grow heavier, and my movements are less fluid with each passing minute, but we're making progress.

The sound of running water reaches my ears, a creek cutting through the heart of the forest. Its swift current glitters in the sunlight, a natural barrier that might slow our pursuers. Naomi spots it too, angling toward it without hesitation. Her instincts are good, her wolf's natural intelligence shining through. She could win this. She could actually pull this off.

Pride swells within me, momentarily overshadowing the pain. My mate is magnificent, strong, clever, and utterly capable. She doesn't need me to protect her, she just needs me to stay alive long enough for her to claim what's rightfully hers.

The creek stretches before us, not wide, but deep enough that the water flows swiftly and clear over smoothed stones. The opposite bank rises slightly higher than where we stand, requiring a leap to cross cleanly. For a healthy wolf, it would be nothing, a simple jump, barely worth a second thought.

But Naomi's eyes tell me she sees what I'm trying to hide. Her gaze moves from the creek to me, measuring the distance against my obvious weakness. Doubt clouds her eyes, and concern washes through our bond.

I raise my head higher, forcing my tail up from where it's begun to droop, and project as much confidence as I can muster. I can do this. It's just water. One simple jump.

But I see the doubt in her eyes.

Can he make it?

With a stubborn jerk of my muzzle, I insist I can do it, pushing confidence through our connection, even as my legs shake beneath me.

She goes first, gathering herself and leaping across in a single fluid motion, landing lightly on the opposite bank. She turns immediately, watching as I prepare to follow.

I back up several paces, gathering what remains of my strength. My legs tremble beneath me, and the wound between my shoulder blades throbs with renewed agony. The wolfsbane courses through my system, fighting against every attempt my body makes to heal itself. But I just need one more push. One more burst of strength.

When I launch myself forward, determination carries me halfway across the creek. For a split second, I think I might make it, but then my hind leg buckles, pain exploding up my spine as poison-weakened muscles fail. Instead of completing the leap, I crash into the water with a splash that seems to echo through the entire forest. The cold shock steals my breath, water filling my nose and mouth as I struggle to regain my footing on the slippery creek bed.

Fuck.

The icy water shocks my system, temporarily clearing my head. I struggle to my feet, forcing my way up the bank, back to where I started. Water streams from my fur, but there's no hiding the tremor in my legs or the ragged heaving of my chest as I fight for breath.

We need to keep moving.

I gesture for her to go ahead. I’ll find an easier place to cross further upstream, and my obvious scent trail will lead Brad away from her.

But it’s too late.

A low, menacing growl cuts through the forest silence. From the trees, emerges an enormous wolf with sleek, silver-gray fur, his eyes cold and calculating, even in animal form.

Brad.

Time seems to slow as a large wolf steps from the trees on my side of the creek. Brad has found us.

He's been tracking us, following the scent of my blood, and now he's caught us at our most vulnerable, Naomi on one side of the creek, and me trapped on the other, weakened and failing.

I drag myself between Brad and Naomi, summoning every ounce of strength I have left to stand tall. My legs tremble with the effort, and my vision pulses at the edges, darkness threatening to close in. But I force my head high, my stance wide, presenting the illusion of strength I no longer possess.

Run, I urge silently, motioning with my muzzle toward the deeper forest beyond. Go. Get away from here.

But she doesn't move, frozen by indecision and fear. I can feel her love, her desperation, and her refusal to leave me. My kind, beautiful she-wolf. If we both get through this, I'm going to spend a lifetime simultaneously worshipping and cursing that stubbornness.

Brad takes a step forward, then another, his movements unhurried and confident. He knows he has me trapped, and that I'm in no condition to run or fight, much less win. His jaws part in what almost looks like a wolfish grin, and then within seconds, he stands before me in human form, utterly unconcerned with his nakedness. Despite the wilderness setting, he somehow looks immaculate, as if the very dirt of the forest floor wouldn't dare cling to him.

His physical appearance is striking, tall and lean, with sharp features and cold grey eyes that match his wolf's coat, but there's an emptiness behind those eyes, a void where compassion should be.

"Well." His voice carries easily across the water. "Isn't this cozy? The rogue and his little girlfriend, all alone in the woods." His smile widens, revealing too many teeth. "I have to say, Wyatt, I'm impressed. Most wolves would be dead by now."

I growl, low and threatening, not risking a shift back yet. In wolf form, I still have teeth and claws. Another change would use energy I don’t have. I need my wolf to keep healing me. The poison is spreading.

Brad laughs, the sound echoing unnaturally through the trees.

"Oh, don't bother with the big bad rogue act," he says, waving a dismissive hand. "We both know you're running on fumes." His gaze shifts to Naomi, and his expression changes in a way that makes my blood boil. The hunger in his eyes is naked, possessive, a look no wolf should ever direct at another's mate.

"And as for you, Naomi," he continues, his voice dropping to a silky purr that makes my hackles rise. "You're about to see the lengths I'm willing to go to for what I want. That's what a real alpha does. He takes what belongs to him."

I prowl forward to place myself more firmly between them, and my growl deepens to a snarl of pure rage.

Touch her and die. The message couldn't be clearer.

"Adorable." Brad sneers, not put off by my display. "But pointless. You're in no condition to protect her. You can barely stand." His eyes fix on Naomi again, his tongue darting out to wet his lips in a gesture so deliberately obscene that it makes my vision blur with fury. "And once I've dealt with you... well, a claim during a hunt seems like a fitting way to announce our mating, doesn't it?"

The implication is unmistakable. He intends to use the chaos and rules of the hunt as cover for what would, under any other circumstances, be considered a grievous crime amongst our kind. The thought sends a wave of pure rage through me, temporarily burning away the fog of poison and pain.

If I had any strength left to spare, I'd be shifting back now and tearing his throat out before he could even finish that sentence. The most I can manage now, however, is gathering myself for one last desperate fight.

Brad merely watches, amused, clearly believing himself untouchable.

"Go ahead," he taunts. "Run, Naomi. Do as your mate asks. It’ll make it more fun when I take you down."

Despite the poison dulling my senses, I catch it, the subtle shift of leaves, a whisper of movement almost too faint to detect. Someone else is approaching through the underbrush, moving with the practiced stealth of a predator. The wind and water masks the scent, impossible to identify in my weakened state.

But one thing is for certain: we're not alone.

Someone else has found us; either drawn by our confrontation or deliberately tracking us. My stomach drops when I realise they’re approaching from Naomi’s side of the creek. Friend or foe? The poison dulled my senses too much to tell.

"Have it your way," Brad's voice drops to a dangerous whisper as his body begins the shift back to wolf form. "Stay and watch me finish him. Then we'll see how cooperative you feel."

I brace myself for the inevitable, gathering what little strength I have left for one last stand. I may be dying, poisoned, and weak, but I'll use my last breath to keep him from her. My legs tremble with the effort of standing, my vision wavering at the edges as darkness threatens to close in.

The world in front of me waivers, and I blink hard against the spots dancing in front of my eyes. But I won't go down without a fight. Not while Naomi needs me.