Page 10 of Fractured Mates
She tsks at me. Or let’s see what we can learn from him. Shift back.
She makes a point, so I don’t hesitate to draw my wolf shifter magic back, picturing my human form, standing on two feet, fully dressed as I do. Within seconds, the tingle returns, once again breaking bones as the energy moves through my body. This used to hurt like hell, but now, there’s almost a euphoria that slithers through me when shifting.
I’m back in control and can scent the man getting closer. He smells of sandalwood, strong and dark. I reach down for the knife I always keep tucked into my boot and hold the hilt tightly within my palm.
He’s almost here and not slowing down. I don’t know if he expects me to back down or doesn’t care that he’s given himself away, but either way, he’s about to learn I’m not someone to be fucked with.
Using the overgrown magnolia tree nearest to me, I climb up the twisty branches and use the height to my advantage, waiting for this wolf to show his face.
One minute, then two, passes and I can still scent him, but I can’t hear his movements any longer. Maybe he’s not as stupid as I was just thinking.
Still, I stay put. He’ll have to come closer eventually. Or he’ll leave, and then I can chase him. Either way, I’m not giving him the opportunity to sneak up on me.
Finally, I hear the crunch of a stick on the ground to my right. My head snaps in that direction. There he is. Standing as still as a statue and looking as if he were carved from stone like one.
His jaw is tight, covered by dark stubble. I don’t even see his broad chest move as he seems to wait to see what I’ll do now that he’s given himself away.
A black T-shirt covers his torso, showing off muscles beneath the short sleeves with black ink tattoos covering the exposed skin of his arm. His jean-clad thighs are thick, and his feet are positioned to run. By the time I make my way back up to his face, his steely-grey eyes are on me and there’s a deep crease between brows.
Neither of us says a word as he watches me, and I don’t like the way his gaze pierces through my mind, causing an ache in my chest, as if he can read every thought circling through my mind.
Just because he’s hot doesn’t mean we can’t torture him, my wolf reminds me.
Oh, how right she is.
In more than one way, she adds seductively, making my head shake as I leap from fifteen or so feet in the air and land with a light thud onto the forest floor.
Once I’m on the ground, my feet don’t stay planted. I’m running again with my knife still in hand. Before Mr. Dark and Broody can move, I’m standing behind him with the blade pressing against his heart and my other hand wrapped around his neck. “Who are you?” I demand.
He tries to shake his head, but I tighten my hold until he makes a light, choking sound. “I don’t like repeating myself,” I say through gritted teeth.
The heat from his body seeps into mine, and I’m having serious regrets about not trying harder to find a replacement for Matt back in New Orleans.
It’s been a long time since I’ve missed the touch of a man, but damn, this one is making me wish he weren’t my enemy right now.
“I was sent here to stop you?—”
I cut him off and shove him to the ground. “Nobody is stopping me from doing anything.”
He’s back on his feet and reaching for me before I even finish speaking, but I duck out of his hold, circling around behind him again.
My wolf was right before. We can use him to get the information Dawsyn didn’t know about my old pack, or at least didn’t want to tell me. Which means I need to be careful with my moves so that I don’t accidentally kill this guy. A little pain isn’t out of the question, though.
He spins back toward me, and my instincts have my fist punching at his throat, but he dodges my hit, rolling away from me without trying to fight back.
Leaping toward him, I wrap my arms around his shoulders and circle my legs around his waist, clinging to his back. My knife is positioned over his neck this time, but before I can speak, he shocks the hell out of me by easily grabbing both my forearms and flipping me over his head as if I weigh nothing.
“Stop, Sophie,” he demands, but I don’t listen. Not even when it throws me off that he somehow knows my name. Whoever this guy is, he’s not going to get in my way. Though, if I’m some sort of target for him, keeping him alive may no longer be an option.
I charge forward again, this time allowing my wolf to push through, turning my nails into claws as I partially shift.
My hand swipes out at his stomach, hoping to see his guts spilling to the ground, but he once again evades me.
I expect retaliation, but he instead sidesteps me, moving just far enough to be out of reach.
“Sophie—”
He says my name again, almost as if he knows me, but I don’t wait to hear him say anything more, not even if he wants to tell me how he knows who I am.