Page 26 of Alpha's Claim
For a moment, she just stared at him, her expression unreadable. Then her lips pressed into a tight line, and a frown crept across her face.
“Won’t that bother your fiancée?” she asked coldly, her voice sharp as a knife.
Colt blinked, thrown off balance. “My what?”
Briar’s eyes darkened, her expression shifting from wary to angry in the space of a heartbeat. “The only reason I agreed to come on this stupid picnic,” she bit out, “was so I could see your face when I called you out for chasing after me when you’re engaged to someone else.”
“Fiancée?” Colt repeated, dumbfounded. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Briar didn’t wait for him to explain. She shoved herself to her feet with a fluid grace that took him by surprise, her anger radiating off her in waves. “Save it,” she snapped. “I saw the ring. She told me everything. Engaged since childhood, huh? I’ll bet that whole ‘you’re mine’ line has worked on more than one woman.”
Colt stared at her, still trying to piece together what the hell was happening. “Elle,” he growled under his breath, realizing too late what this was about.
But Briar wasn’t waiting for an explanation. Before Colt could stop her, she turned on her heel and darted toward the buggy.
“Briar, wait!” Colt lunged after her, but she was already climbing into the seat, her hands deftly grabbing the reins.
He reached the side of the buggy just as she snapped the reins, flicking the buggy whip in his direction. The startled horse sprang into motion, wheeling away with the buggy and breaking into a gallop.
“Briar, stop!” Colt called, frustration bubbling to the surface.
He whistled a signal for the horse to stop; it didn’t.
“Whoa!” Colt growled, trying to get the horse to stop, but it ignored him completely, responding only to Briar’s commands.
Colt watched, helpless, as the buggy raced down the trail, kicking up dust in its wake. His wolf snarled in frustration, pacing inside him, furious at being unable to stop her.
“Son of a...” Colt bit off the curse, dragging a hand down his face as the dust settled.
He stood there for a long moment, hands on his hips, watching the buggy disappear around the bend. His heart pounded in his chest, a mix of anger and frustration.
Elle. Damn her.
Well, the only good thing about Briar not knowing he was a wolf-shifter is she wouldn’t know he could shift, cut across the rolling hills, and beat her back to the barn.
He would make Briar understand, one way or another, because no one—not Elle, not those men who were hunting her—no one was going to drive Briar away.
The second the buggy disappeared around the bend, Colt’s wolf surged forward, clawing for release. Every instinct in him screamed to stop Briar, to reach her before she did something reckless. The thought of her leaving—or worse, getting caught by the people hunting her—made his blood run cold.
He didn’t have time to waste. The buggy had a head start, and the horse pulling it was fast. But Colt had one advantage.
He was faster.
Without a second thought, he stripped off his shirt and boots, letting them fall in the grass. The swirling mist of thunder, lightning and color surrounded him, encompassing and changing his being from man to wolf in what was no more than the blink of an eye. A low growl rumbled from his throat as his wolf burst free—a powerful beast with dark fur and fierce, glowing eyes.
The world sharpened instantly. His senses expanded—his nose catching Briar’s scent on the breeze, his ears pricking at the rhythmic clatter of hooves as the buggy raced away. Colt didn’t hesitate. He dug his claws into the earth andran.
The prairie blurred around him as his powerful legs ate up the distance. Each bound brought him closer to home, the wind whipping through his thick fur. He leapt over rocks and low branches with the ease of a predator born to hunt.
Colt’s wolf reveled in the speed, in the strength of his body, as he surged forward. The scent of dust and Briar’s fury lingered in the air, driving him faster, harder. He needed to reach the ranch before she did. Hewouldreach it before she did.
The earth thudded beneath his paws, each stride longer and smoother than the last. The buggy’s path wound lazily through the hills, following the curves of the landscape. But Colt took the most direct route, cutting through the grasslands, over the hills and down the embankments.
Sharp prairie grass and tumbleweed snagged at his fur and whipped past his muzzle, but he paid them no mind. His heart pounded in time with his strides, a steady, powerful rhythm that matched the primal drive roaring inside him.
She was his. His to protect. His to love. His tokeep.
Colt cleared a fallen log in one powerful leap, landing smoothly on the other side without breaking his stride. The scent of the ranch house was close now, mingling with the comforting smells of horses, hay, and sun-warmed wood.