Page 40 of The Fated Hunter Wolf

Eve stepped in first, then Astrid followed over the threshold of the cabin.

“This way.” Eve led us down a hall that felt like it was longer than the size of the cabin.

In fact, it was.

We entered a tunnel and descended until we arrived in a space that looked half medieval castle, half torture chamber.

“Lay her on the bed.” Eve pointed to a corner where a four-poster bed was made up with lush fabrics. The softness of the mattress welcomed me as Astrid set me down. Eve sat beside me, fluffing the pillows and lifting my head to set an extra cushion underneath. I watched it all happen like I was having an out-of-body experience.

I could breathe again. My brain slowly caught up with the present. Questions flooded me.

A jolt ran through me when I remembered Rhys’s face after he declared the rejection. “Where is he? Where’s Rhys?”

“He ran into the forest,” Eve said, moving locks of hair from my sweaty forehead. “Don’t you worry about him right now. You almost died.”

My breath hitched. I almost died. The enforcer of the Crux pack, with a long list of wolves who still needed me, and I almost died well before my work was done.

Because of the bond rejection.

Shit.

“I see you’re realizing what happened,” Eve said as she placed her fingertips on my wrist. “Your heartbeat is out of control. Calm down, or we’re going to face a new crisis, and frankly, we have a lot to cover.”

Shit, shit, shit.

The shock of everything was drawing a dark curtain over my eyes. Eve’s voice wove into me just as my head started spinning.

“Don’t you pass out now.” She stood up from the bed. “You’re going to tell me exactly who you are, who I am, and why in thename of the Shadow Moon Goddess you made me think you hated me.”

The world went black.

17

RHYS

For days, the trees were a blur of green and black. My paws shredded the underbrush, trying to outrun the poison in my veins. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t stop. Couldn’t fucking breathe.

The forest twisted around me, branches clawing at my fur, but I welcomed the sting. Let them tear me apart. At least that pain made sense.

The howling between the trees—no, wait, that sound was coming from me. My wolf was screaming at the moon, at the stars, at the cruel bitch who called herself the Shadow Moon Goddess.

Too fast. Too loud. Every sound scraped against my skull. Every scent burned my nose raw. I barreled through a gap between two pines, bark ripping across my shoulders, and the pain was good. Real. At least one thing was real when everything else was falling apart.

Mud under my claws. The copper scent of blood still overwhelming—hers? Mine?

It didn’t matter anymore. Nothing did.

Hours and hours passed, probably days, as I tore through Orion territory and then beyond the safety of my pack’s lands,chasing nothing, running from everything. The man in me was buried deep, curled up and whimpering behind my ribs. My wolf was done playing nice.

The sun rose on another day.

My claws caught roots, and I went down hard, shoulder slamming into a fallen log. Pain exploded up my side, but I just rolled with it, snapping at the air, at shadows, at the ghost of her scent, which still clung to my fur.

I bit down on a root, and it cracked between my teeth. Dirt and dead leaves and the iron taste of my own blood.

You chose this.

The words hit me like a sledgehammer, and I let them. The rejection. The bond. I let it all churn in my gut, broken glass and battery acid.