Page 40 of Wanted by the Wolves (The Last Shifters #2)

Chapter 39

Dex

I quickly make my way out of the greenhouse, my dick pounding with the need to get back to my mate. This is the last damn thing, then we’re locking down.

The guys should be back anytime from their daily check, and it’s getting late enough that the moon will call the shots soon. I can feel the surging in my blood unlike any other moon I’ve experienced.

Briggs likes to think it’s because I’m shy that I’ve never entered the rutting moon with the others, but that isn’t it. I’ve never felt the call. Not like this. Not even the first time I found her huddled in that awful bathroom in a cloud of perfume.

She’s mine now, and my wolf wants to be unleashed.

Halfway across the courtyard, my wolf snaps, trying to take control. I wrench him back, but it’s a close thing, my fangs sprouting.My wolf is desperate, his thoughts jumbled. Fear slides down my neck, making my claws push through my skin.

That’s when I realize it isn’t only the rising moon and our omega mate making my wolf wild. There’s the slightest trace of another alpha on the breeze.

Not pack.

I tear through the cabin and into our nest. The sight that greets me makes me lose my shit. My warning growl is so loud it shakes the walls.

Nova is laid out between the bathroom and the bedroom door, limp and dripping wet. Hovering over her is the Alpha King, his body covered in ash and his hands clamped on chains connected to the metal around Nova’s neck.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

“What did you do to her?” I shout, more wolf than man.

“Nothing yet. But don’t worry. What I have planned is what she’s made for.”

Motherfucker.

I lunge, tackling him and pinning him beneath me. The first punch is brutal, breaking his nose. It’s not enough. I keep going, landing several blows to his face.

Still not enough.

The ghost-like fucker laughs, blood spitting from his nose. “Always watch your back, hunter.”

Before I can process his words or snap his neck, magic slices through me, paralyzing my muscles. My mind races as my body falls, crushing the alpha. I can’t move, but I try to thrash and lash out even as I feel a collar slam shut around my neck.

They can’t get her. They won’t.

I’ve promised her she’s safe with me, and these assholes aren’t gonna make me break my word.I send my desperation through my littermate bond and feel Briggs’s fear in response. The two sensations feed one another, a loop of rising dread.

The Alpha King shoves me off him, and another burst of magic must come to his aid because my muscles spasm and lock, my vision going hazy with dancing spots of pain.

His minion healer, dressed in dark robes and adorned in ash, stands over me with a twisted smile. “Come on, beast.”

It takes both him and the king to get me off the floor. My muscles refuse to cooperate for any of us, but at least it slows them down.

Another wolf enters her nest, and a few more crowd behind him. I want to howl my dissent, to throw them all out of her sacred space and tear out their necks. But the wolf’s dark magic and the wolfsbane keep my alpha caged.

“The others aren’t here,” the third man says, keeping his eyes downcast and bearing his neck to the alpha.

“Well, find them!” the king shouts.His face is smeared in blood, distorting the pale grey ash. I want to wipe the snarling smile from his mouth and paint the rest of him red for daring to put his hands anywhere near her.

“But the healer—” the man objects.

“Kill them both. Drain his magic first.” The King turns on his healer, lifting a cruel brow. “Get the beast to the tent. I think he deserves to watch.”

A sound of pure darkness leaks from the deranged-looking healer, and he licks his fangs. “Let him have our leftovers when she’s been bred by us all, too loose to use.” His dead gaze lands on me. “Maybe then you’ll understand your place in our new world, hunter.”

The healer is young, maybe not even twenty, but that doesn’t matter. He’s lost whether he’s feral or not.

The king picks up Nova off the floor, his movements too rough for my sweet wolf. She deserves a pack that loves her, and that’s what she has. These alphas don’t know the first thing about loving or caring for her. It breaks a piece of me, watching them take her and being helpless to do what I promised.

My sadness mixes with my outrage, but no matter how much I rage, my body remains stiff and unmoving.

I’ve failed her.

Something is wrapped over my head, and another burst of magic sends me into darkness.

My last thought is a vow to Odin for vengeance.