Wait, was he looking at her like that? He couldn’t be, but he was. Was he?

Holy shit, what if he was? Or worse, what if that wasn’t Liam?

No, it had to be. Had to. The color of fur was the same red brown color of his hair that she remembered from so long ago. The color the earth turned when she and Liam used to dig holes out in the woods, searching for worms for fishing, and they went down too deep.

That was him. That was Liam.

He just didn’t recognize her.

Jolie pushed herself to her feet. “Liam! It’s me!”

The wolf lunged. Dempsey pushed her out of the way, and Liam’s open mouth came down hard around his middle. Dempsey started to change even before Liam’s teeth could puncture his skin, and if he hadn’t changed his body, let himself get bigger, his fur coming out so he could protect himself against those fangs, it might not have forced Liam to release him, and Liam might have killed him.

He might have killed Jolie if Dempsey hadn’t pushed her out of the way, and Jolie landed on her hands, opening the wound on her hand even wider. She yelped before she rolled to her back, watching the two wolves battle it out.

Dempsey, the silver and black wolf, was definitely no match. Dustin shifted, getting in on the fight, but even he looked as if he was just there to help get Dempsey out of harm’s way before Liam could kill him.

Jolie couldn’t look away from it. She’d seen wolf fights before, and she’d seen a wolf fight to the death, when Renzo had killed the last alpha, and she could tell that this was exactly that. The two wolves were trying to kill each other.

And from the looks of things, Dempsey was the one on the losing team.

Holy shit. This was actually going to happen.

Dempsey was either going to get killed or majorly hurt, and if she wasn’t off this wolf’s territory, there was the very real chance that it would lock eyes with her and make her its next meal.

Liam or not, she was getting out of here.

“Come on!” A pair of hands grabbed her. It was Red. He yanked and pulled on her, trying to get her to run with him.

She did. She couldn’t look at the wolves fighting, and she didn’t want Liam to turn that rage onto her.

She ran with Red. At least she ran as fast as she could. Red had an iron tight grip on her cut hand. She felt him pulling at the skin as he dragged her along. He was already faster than she was by a long shot, and if he was terrified, and more than eager to get the hell out of here, then she didn’t have much to hope for either.

“Hurry up!” Red shouted back at her, damn near yanking her arm right off as he pulled her through the trees.

She was trying, but she’d been tired when Dempsey had caught up to her. Even with the adrenaline rush pulling her through, it was almost too much to handle. Her legs were weak and watery again. The way Red yanked her along didn’t help since she could never catch her footing.

“R-Red, slow down,” she puffed.

She definitely hadn’t been in the great shape she used to think she’d been in, and she was dying for the last of the water she kept in her purse.

Red didn’t slow down, and his grip on her hand burned to something so utterly painful she could hardly stand it. He was going to rip a good chunk of skin right off her hand and, even with the danger right behind her, she still felt it and it hurt!

Her foot caught. On what, she had no idea. The only thing she knew was the pain in her hand as her palm was yanked out of Red’s grip, and the sensation of going down hard on her knees.

Jolie cradled her hand, trying to get up. Red turned back for her. “Come on!”

He stopped short, his eyes flying wide at something behind her, and Jolie didn’t have to turn around to know what it was that had him frozen.

She trembled, a puff of air escaping her lungs, and in that moment, she didn’t care about the pain in her hand or the weakness in her legs. She just didn’t want to be left behind to be eaten.

“Please,” she said.

Red looked down at her, and at the large creature behind her. Jolie could feel the warmth of its breath now as it closed in.

Red shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

He turned and ran.

And a selfish part of Jolie honestly hoped that the wolf behind her would give chase after fleeing prey, instead of deciding to eat her.

The wolf didn’t chase. It stayed behind her, breathing heavily, hotly, against her back.

A soft, mousey noise escaped her throat when she felt the cold touch of a nose against the back of her neck through her hair. The creature sniffed deeply, once, and then twice, before the sniffing became almost intense as that nose travelled around her clothes, down her back, butt, tail, and legs.

Jolie couldn’t stop shivering. Every muscle in her body wound up tight and cramped as she waited for the pain of the first bite.

It was coming. Any second now, she was going to feel it and then she would be dead. She shouldn’t have left. She should have found some other way of getting out of the mating. Anything was better than this.

The nose nudged her. Jolie didn’t move. It nudged her again. She still didn’t move.

Was he trying to get her to run? So he could chase her down? It had its opportunity to do that with Red and it turned it down. Why decide to chase her now?

Then she felt it, the soft growl, and the sensation of teeth clamping down against the collar of her jacket, pulling her up, to her feet. No, off of her feet.

Jolie let out a tiny shriek, then clapped her hands over her mouth, ignoring the sudden fire in her palm when she did that.

If Liam was carting her off, then the last thing she wanted was for him to mistake her for wounded prey, even though that was technically what she was.

He might let her go. If he thought she wasn’t worth it, or if she peed her pants, this part of Liam that was taken over by the wild side and instinct would think her to be not worth it.

As much as she wanted to pee her pants in that moment, Jolie had used the bushes not long before being caught by Dempsey, and there was nothing left inside her. If there had, her bladder would have gone the instant she felt that nose touch the back of her neck.

So stupid. This enormous wolf was carting her off to she didn’t even know where, and all she could think about was how much she wished she could pee her pants. Knowing she was about to die apparently made her think strange thoughts.

To Be Continued......................

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Mandy Rosko