Chapter 9
Bastien
Fuck, if I were too late my mate would pay the price and so would I. Not finding her would eventually send me over the edge of sanity, and I would become a rogue as well.
If she died, it would sign my death certificate. I wouldn’t survive life without her. Low hanging branches pulled at my fur as I ran harder and faster.
The air in my lungs wasn’t enough as I pushed myself harder and harder.
I sent out a distressful howl, and I was greeted by a returning howl from Dirk, then another from Roman. The sounds of my paws slamming into the hard ground was joined by my other packmate’s paws. More howls were sent up.
Hold on sweetheart, I’m coming for you. The scent of strawberries and champagne with a twisted stench of terror was getting stronger.
Speed was what was needed. I was already maxed out, and another branch slapped at my face, but I ignored the pain and kept going.
I could feel the heated trickle of blood from the broken branch. The blood dripped down my fur and matted the fur surrounding the wound.
But nothing mattered, only getting to her.
Pushing harder then I’ve ever done before had me sailing through the forest. My muscles were screaming out as I forced them to extend past their normal comfort.
The scene I came upon had my heart damn near thudding out of my chest.
The rogue had her pinned to the ground. Her arms were raised, one protecting her face and the other pressed against his throat. She continued to fight and try to hold him back. His mouth was open and closing as his teeth were snapping at her over and over.
Fuck, this was bad. I pushed myself harder and slammed into the rogue wolf’s side, throwing him and myself a few feet away. My wolf whined as a broken branch pierced our side.
The rogue wolf’s ears twitched, and before I could move, he was running. I stood to go after him, but the whimpers of our mate had us both pausing.
Turning l looked at my mate. She was trying to get up and was unsuccessful. I watched as she started to crawl away with her red cape covering her and dragging leaves and twigs with her.
Blood flowed freely from my wounds as I shifted back to my human form. My mate kept crawling, trying to put space between her and the threat.
I walked over to her and felt my heart tightens as she whimpered again. Reaching down I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her up, so her back was pressed against my chest.
“Get the fuck off me, you dildo!” she shouted.
I almost dropped my mate as the words left her lips. Unfortunately, her beautiful face was shielded by the cape’s hood so I couldn’t get a better look.
Uh, why the fuck did she look like Little Red Riding Hood?