Page 24 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

A lance of hurt made my shoulders curl inward. “No,” I replied. Jared hadn’t told me about Devin, and now I knew that he did know. Why didn’t he tell me? Did I not have a right to know he was a wolf inside, too? It was easy to see it now, and I wasn’t sure how I hadn’t before.

There were so many times. So many times where I’d felt as though I was being watched and I’d shucked off the feeling. Now I knew it wasn’t paranoia. Devin had known I was living out in the blind in the woods. He followed me there.

Like Jared had.

Except, unlike Jared, Devin had dangerous intentions…and Jared only watched me to stop Devin from seeing those intentions through.

Why didn’t you tell me, Jared?

“Too bad…” Devin trailed off, flicking something from his fingers onto the stone floor. “I would’ve loved to have him hung for that.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Have him hung? Was he saying that if Jared had told me about Devin, he’d have been…what? Killed?

What the fuck was this world we were living in?

It wasn’t what I thought it was… “Guess I’ll just have to do it myself.”

I sprang forward in a knee-jerk reaction. “You won’t touch him!”

Hard breaths were escaping from between my clenched and bared teeth as I pulled on the metal binds, surprising myself with my reaction.

Devin’s expression soured. In a flash, he was on his feet, his face a breath from my own, but I didn’t flinch this time. I stared right back into his glowing green eyes with a defiance I didn’t know I possessed.

“You. Are. Mine.”

I spat in his face, realizing a millisecond too late that it was a colossal mistake.

A flurry of movement from the corner of my eye was the only warning before the back of his hand connected with my cheek, sending my head jerking to the left.

An explosion of stars burst in my eyes and the metallic tang of blood on my tongue made me want to gag.

“Fuck you!” I shouted, but the words came out discordant and broken. “I will never belong to you.”

Strong hands came around my shoulders with a bruising grip and shoved me back until my spine connected with the stone wall. I exhaled sharply and slumped to the floor when he released me, blinking rapidly to clear the wave of dizziness.

Devin was heaving with the effort of keeping himself contained. It reminded me of that night. How he’d kept clenching and unclenching his fists, breathing heavily as he shook his head over and over.

Like he couldn’t make up his mind whether he wanted to kiss me or kill me.

It was the uncertainty that made it the most terrifying. In one moment, I felt like it was over, that I could trust that he wouldn’t hurt me again, and then in the next second, the beast could return, and he would descend upon me with a renewed fury.

Had his eyes been glowing that night and I just didn’t notice?

Because they were glowing now.

Bright and vibrant in the dim. The clearest shade of green I’d ever seen.

“You are mine, Allie. I’ve known it from the first time I saw you. Right after your father died. He was weak, you know. So weak it was pathetic.”

I struggled to rise, lashing out with my legs to try to kick him. How dare he! I muttered a string of curses under my breath, whimpering against the stone.

“But you…”

He licked his lips, and suddenly his eyes were alight.

“You were so strong, Allie. You took his death in stride. You never let anyone see your pain, but I saw it. I saw you. The real you. I saw you working every day to make your own way. I saw you when you lied to your selfish aunt and uncle so they wouldn’t have to feel guilty for leaving you.

I followed you when you moved out into your father’s old blind in the woods.

And bit my tongue when you lied to everyone you knew about it…

even me.” He was shaking his head now, his hand coming up to rub his chin as he inhaled deep, expanding his chest. His eyes gleamed.

“Can’t you feel it?” he asked me after a momentary lull, kneeling several feet away so he was at eye-level with me. “We’re fated mates, Allie. And once you’ve completed your first shift, we’ll be together. Forever.”

I clutched my stomach, afraid I might hurl. “I-I don’t understand…”

Devin reached out to me and with no place left to move away, I turned my face into the stone.

His fingers gently stroked the side of my face unmarred by his knuckles.

I shuddered and my stomach heaved at the contact.

“You will,” he said softly and then his fingers vanished, and I sensed him moving away.

I opened my eyes again cautiously, wishing more than anything else that he would leave.

Just leave me in the dark and cold alone to rot away.

I’d prefer that than to live a life of servitude as his… as his what? His mate?

I didn’t know what the fuck that meant, but I didn’t think I wanted to.

He pointed up toward the ceiling. “This is a moon room,” he said, and his expression was placid, almost kind. It was scarier than when he looked angry.

“You see…when a changed wolf first shifts, their animal urges can be…uncontrollable. People can get hurt. Or worse, they could capture us on video. The witches don’t like that. It creates a big mess for them to clean up.”

With no other option, I shifted to lay my aching head back against the wall and wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly colder than I think I’d ever been in my entire life.

I listened even though I wished I could stuff my ears full of cotton and not hear any of it.

“So, my people—our people—created these. For the first year or so of moon-triggered shifts, we’ll keep you in here.

Until you can control yourself. That circle up there,” he said, eyes peering above where he stood.

I craned my neck to follow his gaze and found I could just make out the smallest crevice in the rock, forming a near perfect circle.

It was damp and therefor darker than the rest of the stone ceiling.

Water dropped from one side to splash against Devin’s face.

He wiped away the moisture, unperturbed.

“It opens to allow the moonlight inside. You’ll shift with or without it touching you, but it’s faster this way. ”

Devin pocketed my cell phone and I stifled a whimper. He went to the hidden doorway across the room and procured a plastic bag, moving in close to set it down next to me.

“And then we’ll start our own pack. Ryland thought he could kick me out without retribution…

he was wrong. We’ll build our own force.

” Devin shook as he began to pace, and I watched his fists curl until the knuckles turned white.

“A force bigger and stronger than his. He’ll see his mistake in forsaking me.

” His leg reared back, and he kicked the crate hard, sending it sailing into the wall.

The kerosene lantern careened into the air, but as the wooden box blew apart into small wood fragments, some of them hitting me in the shins and forearms, the lantern didn’t break.

Devin caught it before it could. He set it down with shaking fingers.

His outburst could’ve just cost us both our lives. If the kerosene had spilled and the flame had been exposed, we’d be burning right now. As it was, I only had a few more scrapes and cuts to add to my growing collection.

He turned numbly to the door, scooping up my pack and its spilled contents and shouldering it. “I’ll be back,” he said in a monotone voice. “Eat. Drink.”

I eyed the plastic bag, realizing it had the mark of a grocery store on it, but it wasn’t one I knew. It wasn’t a store in Forest Grove. My heart sank. Where the hell had he taken me?

“The full moon is in two days,” he said, vanishing into the shadows on the other end of the space. “That is when I’ll awaken your wolf.”