Page 7 of The Wolf Prince’s Mate (Marked Beneath the Moon #2)

seven

NOVA

“I need a break, Hunter.” I leaned my head back against the seat of my car, squeezing my eyes shut as I spoke into the phone. It was dark out, but I was supposed to be at my next meeting in ten minutes. “I can’t keep doing this.”

The fact that I’d swallowed my discomfort enough to call him said just how much I was struggling.

“What happened?” His voice was neutral, which was frustrating. He and I had reached a truce of sorts, and we had become kind of like coworkers who only spoke when absolutely necessary.

It had been three weeks of meetings, with a small break in the middle for Thanksgiving. I spent the holiday with Aspen, Sydney, the Savages, and Fletcher. It had been nice. I was just in over my head.

There were four guys I’d been out with five times each, and there was nothing wrong with any of them. Hell, I kind of liked them. We were friendly. They made me feel sexy.

I just didn’t have any desire to touch, kiss, or screw them.

Silas had agreed to be my backup if I absolutely couldn’t find anyone else after a few months, but he hadn’t seemed thrilled about it. I’d known when I left the meeting that I would never resort to mating with him.

We were friends, but he wanted me about as much as Hunter did.

“Nothing happened,” I bit out.

He waited.

I heaved a sigh. “Kody tried to kiss me.”

He kept waiting.

“I couldn’t do it. I’m dating all these guys, and I feel like I’m on the bachelorette, and I’m just—it feels wrong.”

“Is your wolf feeling connected to mine?” Hunter’s voice was lower.

More gravelly.

I knew what answer the beast inside him was looking for, but that wasn’t even almost the case.

“No. My wolf is as quiet as ever. She’s afraid of most of them, but that’s not a surprise. She’d come around if I picked someone. I’m just not attracted to any of them, and I don’t know why.”

A long moment passed.

“Maybe you just need to… get back in the saddle. Ignore the discomfort and do it. It’s been a long time.”

“It’s been three weeks,” I snapped, my body flushing with the memories.

I couldn’t get them out of my head.

I was still thinking about Clay. Dreaming about Clay. Wanting Clay.

It was ridiculous. We were friends, but I barely knew the guy. I’d only seen him a few times since heat, and things were completely normal when I did. I was supposed to be tattooing him in a few days, and I was dreading it so badly, I was already considering faking sick.

“It’s different during heat. You might not even be attracted to each other without the pheromones.”

That was true for Clay, even if it wasn’t the case for me.

But even if he was attracted to me, nothing could happen between us. He would probably never take a mate because of his beast, and I had to pick one to end Hunter’s wolf’s obsession with me.

“I’m aware,” I said. “I’ll try one more time with Kody, but if I can’t…”

“We’re nowhere near the end of my list of potential mates,” Hunter said calmly. “If you try and can’t get anywhere with the four promising ones right now, we’ll clear the slate and keep going with new men.”

“Alright. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I’m the one with the obsessive wolf. If it takes longer, it takes longer, and we’ll figure something out.”

“Okay. I have to go.”

“Maybe try starting small. With hand holding or something.”

“Probably a good call. Thanks.”

“Yeah. Good luck.” Hunter hung up, and I stared down at the screen.

That conversation had been surprisingly pleasant. Maybe we were moving on from coworkers who avoided each other to just plain coworkers.

I let out a quick breath before sliding out of my car and making my way into the bar.

The date went fine. I held Ryan’s hand while we talked and had drinks.

It didn’t necessarily feel right, but it didn’t feel wrong either, and the conversation had flowed naturally. Things were comfortable between us. And comfort was definitely important.

I didn’t feel any sparks, but sparks were overrated.

I didn’t feel any attraction, either, and attraction wasn’t overrated. But I hoped that would develop in time.

My four-man security crew was a few yards further away than usual, with all of the men arguing about the sports game that had been playing in the bar.

Charlie would’ve knocked their heads in for arguing rather than watching me, but he was taking a well-deserved night off. I’d basically forced him to. He was working even more than I was.

There hadn’t been a peep from my stalker since Hunter reevaluated the pack’s security, so I was confident I’d be fine. The guys could argue all they wanted.

I reached the door of my car and waved at the group, calling out, “See you at the Lodge.”

One of them waved back, and I ducked into my car, starting the engine. They got in their Jeep as I pulled out of the parking lot, and the second guy waved when I passed him.

I was bobbing my head with the music, five minutes down the highway, when my always-terrified wolf whimpered .

That was different.

She was usually scared, but not to that extent.

Frowning, I sniffed the air for something that could’ve upset her.

It definitely wasn’t heat. I’d been cold all day. It was supposed to be starting in the next couple of days, but after what happened last time, I was watching closely for signs.

Hunter and I had been avoiding the topic of what to do when heat started again.

I was pretty sure I was going to end up spending it on the floor of his mansion’s basement, but that was fine.

I’d survive.

A hint of an unfamiliar scent in my car deepened my frown.

Had I put something unusual inside?

What could I have possibly?—

A pair of hands wrapped around my throat, and I choked on my scream as they cut off my air supply.

“Hello, little wolf,” a low, masculine voice rumbled as dominance washed over me, making me tremble.

Terror and horror had me grabbing at the hands, trying to rip them off my skin, but they didn’t budge.

“Hold the wheel,” the man commanded, hitting me with a wave of dominance strong enough to make my wolf silent with fear.

She wasn’t strong.

She wasn’t brave.

She was soft. Small. Sweet.

I had to fight for both of us.

But I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing the steering wheel and righting the car, pulling back into my lane.

My panic-hazed eyes lifted to the rearview mirror, searching desperately for the Jeep that should’ve been behind me, but I didn’t see it.

They’d been distracted, talking about the game. I was too far ahead of them.

I saw my stalker’s arm over my shoulder as his hand gripped my throat. There was ink on it that was vaguely familiar, but that didn’t register.

My body jerked and shuddered as spots blurred my vision, and I reached back to yank desperately at the hands on my throat.

They finally released me, and I gasped for air, taking in deep lungfuls as I grabbed the wheel again, trying to process what was happening.

My stalker was in my car. Alone with me. If he wanted to kill me, he could do it, and I couldn’t put up a fight. He was an Alpha, and whatever my wolf’s rank was, she was the opposite of that.

His hand stroked the side of my hair before dragging down my face, and my stomach churned. “Do you have any idea how hard I’ve had to work to get to you, little slut? The king and his brothers think you belong to them, but we both know the truth. You’re mine.”

I couldn’t call the Savages. Reaching for my phone or the car’s touch screen would push my stalker to hurt me again.

I’d never mind-linked with Hunter or Clay, and I didn’t know how it worked. I’d felt a small connection to Enzo since he added me to his pack a year earlier, but I’d never tried to use it to talk to him or his brothers.

I was going to have to figure it out. Fast.

“There’s a dirt road up here on the left,” the man said, his hand sliding back down my face to wrap around my throat again. “Turn onto it, or I’ll have to remind you whose you are again.”

I couldn’t stop my wolf’s whine from escaping, and the man gave a low chuckle.

“My little wolf isn’t dominant, is she?”

He squeezed my throat lightly again.

Tears burned my eyes.

He was going to kill me—or make me wish I was dead.

“Here, little one. Turn now.”

I slowed down enough to turn, and did so. The dirt road was slanted, leading higher up a small mountain. I could disappear up there, and no one would ever find me.

Enzo was my only option. My guards were gone, and the security cameras on the highways had massive gaps. Hunter wouldn’t be able to find me that way, and even the Savages couldn’t track my vehicle without cameras.

I forced myself to focus on the soft, static strand of electricity that connected me to the Alpha, and tried to follow it.

My stalker’s hand stroked my throat, and bile flooded my mouth when his fingers slid over my collarbone, touching me like he owned me. Fear ripped my mind away from the connection to Enzo.

My chest was rising and falling rapidly, panic making my eyes dilate and my thoughts tangle.

“Turn right here,” the man purred.

I turned again, taking us higher.

The drop-off to my left was getting larger and steeper.

I didn’t know who he was or what power he possessed, but he had to be a strong alpha. He had to have connections. He wouldn’t have found that opening in the Savage’s defenses if he didn’t. Charlie’s day off hadn’t been planned in advance.

I forced my mind back to the strand, focusing on following it to Enzo again.

The car bounced and bottomed out a few times as we went over potholes. My stalker’s hand flexed over my throat every time, cutting off my air and reminding me that he had all of the power. That he was in control.

Tears streamed down my cheeks.

A particularly hard bump had him choking me again, and my body bucked and rocked as I screamed silently.

I couldn’t get away from him.

I couldn’t save myself.

I needed help.

Forcing my mind down the strand again, harder and faster, I finally felt the massive wave of electricity that I knew had to be Enzo.

“HELP ME!” I screamed into his mind, and immediately felt his attention.

“What happened?” he demanded.

I gasped for air as my stalker released me again, my entire body trembling. I was pretty sure I’d pissed myself, and my stalker was laughing.

I couldn’t form words, so I shoved images at the Alpha. My guards walking away. The man’s hands around my throat. The turn he’d made me take off the highway.

Enzo snarled something into my mind, but I was panting and shaking too hard to register the words.

“Take the next left,” my stalker said, and I turned again.

Still climbing higher, and still on the edge of the mountain.

“Now say goodbye to your Alpha,” the man taunted, before he slashed his claws over my throat.

Blood flowed down my skin, but even through the pain, I knew what he’d just done when I felt the string between Enzo and I snap. It was replaced with a much smaller, fainter one—a connection to the man behind me.

I was officially part of his pack.

The cuts on my throat healed instantly, but I knew there would be scars there. Far worse ones than the dainty little marks Aspen wore from Enzo’s claim.

My stalker stroked my face again, and another wave of tears broke through.

One thing had been clear for a long time:

He was a smart man. He didn’t take risks. He never left a trace, and he never got caught.

He had waited to take me from Enzo’s pack on purpose, so he knew I could’ve talked to Enzo.

He probably wanted me to talk to Enzo.

And if he did, he must’ve wanted Enzo to go to that turn. He wanted the Crimson Pack to look for me where we’d been earlier.

Which meant he was going to take me somewhere different. Or make me take him somewhere different. He hadn’t stalked me for years and gone to the effort of separating me from the Savages just to kill me or start a fight with the Alpha.

He wanted to take me.

To keep me.

And I couldn’t let that happen.

My body was still shaking. I was still panting.

My mind was still reeling.

But there was only one way I knew of to stop the man from forcing me to take him further. It was risky—but I’d rather risk my life trying to save myself than let him do whatever he wanted to me.

My gaze flicked back to the steep drop-off on my right.

I could see the highway down there.

If I got really lucky, I’d survive, and the Savages would find me.

If I didn’t… well, at least I’d go down with the only kind of fight I could manage.

With one last breath out, I jerked the steering wheel to the side.

And sent us rolling down the mountain.