Page 47 of Fractured Mates
I know I shouldn’t care about the fate of these people when they didn’t seem to care about mine, but they’re my parents and my baby sister, who isn’t a baby any longer. Hell, Jules is… Shit. Seventeen. A year older than I was when I left.
Gods, I hope they haven’t forced her to mate with someone. I would decimate this whole pack.
Maybe it’s not that I care about my family still. My sister, yes, but my parents… The longer I’m here, the more I’m realizing that I just want the closure from them I should have had years ago. I need confirmation that it wasn’t me who was the problem.
I don’t know that I’ll find what I’m looking for, but I’m sure not going to stop now when I’m so close.
Kyler grabs my arm, his chest rumbling. “We need to go.”
His words are a mere whisper, and I turn away from the window to find his eyes staring above my head, toward the side of the house.
I listen and search for whatever he’s sensed, and that’s when I catch the scent of four wolves. They’re still here, watching the house.
“We can run back to the forest,” Kyler says. “With the cloaking spell, they won’t know it’s you unless they see your face.”
“Fuck that,” I snarl. “I’m not running from anyone. Not anymore.”
Kyler says something else, but I don’t hear him. I charge forward, eager to release some of my pent-up emotions.
Ready? I ask my wolf.
Her energy is already pushing forward. Always.
“I’m telling you, I saw two people head toward the house,” a man’s voice says as I shift.
“And I’m telling you I can’t sense anyone here,” another replies. “You heard Astor. We’re only to reveal ourselves if the murdering little bitch shows her face again.”
“Come on, Chris,” the first one says. “Do you really think Sophie could have done what they’re saying? And why would they wait all this time to go after her?”
While it seems as if the cloaking spell is doing its job, I don’t get too excited about it. I’m concerned with making sure these guys don’t get their hands on me, thinking they can deliver me to that piece-of-shit Astor.
My wolf agrees, pressing forward to gain the upper hand by attacking first. I don’t know who these shifters are, even though at least one of them seems to know me. I’ve purposefully forgotten nearly everyone in this pack and I’m not looking for a friendly reunion.
We come around the corner before they can, my wolf ready for blood. With teeth bared and our speed increasing with every step, we take them by surprise.
There are four, just as I sensed before, but one quickly runs away, which is fine, assuming he’s the one who didn’t seem to blindly believe everything he’s been told.
My teeth latch on to someone’s thigh without looking at their face, but my hold only lasts for a brief second before they’re shifting and my left eye nearly gets taken out by their claws.
I notice Kyler’s umber wolf move past me. He’s snapping his jaws like a madman. How sweet of him to come and try to defend my honor, but I’ve got this.
The pack is my mess, and I’m going to clean it up.
I need Astor to know that he has no power over me. He can have all the fighters in the pack lined up and waiting for me, but I won’t back down. I will find my family. I will protect them if need be, and then I can finally be done with this place. Once and for all.
Wolves battle against wolves. We’re slashing claws and snapping teeth, spilling blood as we move with practiced efficiency. Though, none of the opposing shifters have fallen yet.
A hit to my back flank sends a sharp pain up my spine, but my wolf doesn’t miss a beat as she leaps over another to land on a chocolate-colored wolf. He rolls as we hit him, and we get tangled with his legs.
We scramble to get out of the mess, but before we can back up, his teeth grab our front paw, cutting deeply and locking on tightly.
Knowing an injury like that could shift the odds of this fight quickly, we don’t attempt to get free. Instead, using our other paw, my wolf glides her claws across our attacker’s chest.
He snarls just enough to loosen his hold, and we get free, but we only make it two steps before there’s a sharp pain in our right shoulder.
Fuck! A knife, I practically scream to my wolf.
She doesn’t even yelp but can only make it another step before she’s falling over, thanks to our left paw already being injured.