Page 48 of Fractured Mates
This isn’t good, she replies.
An older man I feel like I should know stands over me and grabs the hilt of the blade that’s still in my shoulder, twisting it deeper. “Be a good little bitch, Sophie, and stay down while I kill your boyfriend.”
His voice. I know that deep, gravelly monotone, yet I don’t recognize him and not a single guess at his name is coming to me.
It’s not Astor, even though he might look a little similar. Twelve years hasn’t been long enough to forget that bastard’s face. Not when he and his son looked so damned alike.
As much as I wish we didn’t have to stay down, the more my wolf tries to move, the more agony we both feel.
We can’t let them have us, I tell her, the fear I felt as a teenager coming back fresh, as if it never went away.
They won’t touch us, she promises as we watch Kyler’s bleeding wolf tear through the remaining wolves. His eyes are glowing, and he’s practically foaming at the mouth with rage.
Why the hell is that so hot? I muse to myself.
He cuts through the new arrivals with incredible speed, barely allowing them to touch him before ripping out an eye or tearing through throats.
The man who stabbed me stands idly by, and when there are only two wolves left, he turns back to me. “Looks like I’m going to have to drag you back myself.”
When his hazel eyes hit the sun, I’m certain I stop breathing. If I hadn’t killed Thane myself, I’d swear this was him. At least the eyes.
But I blink and I realize he’s much too old to be my dead fated mate.
Not-Thane grabs my wolf by her neck, then, like a sadistic prick, slams his palm onto the hilt of the knife still protruding from my shoulder. “Just need to be sure you can’t get away.”
Our eyes search for Kyler as we fight back a whimper. He’s still fighting the two other wolves as the man begins to drag us away. We growl, and our back legs that still have no problem working dig into the ground, but there’s nowhere for us to find traction.
Not without being able to use our front half.
“I heard you were a fighter,” he jeers. “Astor will be pleased to see that hasn’t changed when he has his fun with you.”
The fuck he will.
A burst of energy fills my wolf, and we fight back once more, our loud growls hiding the excruciating pain coursing through us as we’re forced to put pressure on our front legs.
Though I have a feeling that’s nothing compared to the torture Astor will want to put me through, making it slightly easier to ignore.
The man kicks our face with his heavy boot, putting us back in the dirt with what looks like little effort. “Bite me and I’ll tell Astor one of the other little shits killed you after I drop your corpse at his feet.”
Just as the stranger starts to walk toward the trees again, a shadow moves over us and Kyler’s wolf slams into his back.
My wolf is released, and when we try to see what’s happening, there’s little movement or noise coming from the two of them.
We inch forward, recognizing Kyler’s wolf and ignoring the searing agony moving through our body as we do, because not knowing if he’s okay isn’t an option. And considering how still his wolf is…
It feels as if we’ve traveled a dozen feet, but it’s likely only inches when Kyler’s wolf finally lifts his head, snout dripping in crimson.
When our gazes lock, I’m frozen in the moment, and any pain consuming me fades away. All I can see is Kyler within the depths of his nearly silver eyes and the determination he holds to keep me safe.
More than that, there’s a draw to him that shouldn’t be there. Almost like a… No, that’s not possible.
It could be, my wolf says reverently.
A fated mate bond? There’s no way. We would have known the moment we saw him, and nobody has ever had two mates.
That we know of, she adds, emotions filling the both of us that we only briefly felt when we met Thane. Maybe Kyler is the fates’ way of giving us a second chance at happiness.
Second-chance mates? I’ve never heard of that, but she could be right. As much as I don’t want to consider that an option—if I’m wrong, the disappointment just might be my undoing—I do realize that just because we don’t know something exists doesn’t mean it can’t be real.