Chapter Eight – Nadine

The man made a grab for her and she screamed, which made him excited. There was no other way to describe the look of pleasure on his face when confronted with her panic. He was a monster and she was at his mercy.

“I do so love it when a woman shows her emotions.” He closed his eyes, smelling the air. “Oh fear, I do love thee.”

Her mind raced through all the things she should say, all the training she had received, but there was nothing for this. He was a madman, pure and simple. She could sense the sexual pleasure he was getting from this and knew he would never let her go. But it seemed he liked the thrill of the chase, and when he came close to her, his breath warm on her cheek, and said, “Run,” she did.

He was behind her. A wolf, so close she could feel his teeth snapping at her heels. But he didn’t want to catch her yet, he first wanted to tire her out, make her easy to control. While she ran she tried to come up with a plan. It wasn’t her other side that had deserted her now, all the years of training and experience vanished too. She should be able to deal with this, talk him down, but she couldn’t think how.

He howled, a sound so eerie, so utterly unnatural, it confirmed her fears. He was insane. Running was not an option. He had greater stamina, especially over this terrain. The only thing she could do was stand and fight him now.

Looking around for something she could use as a weapon, all she came up with was the keys in her pocket, and with one final surge of adrenaline, she pushed the longest, sharpest key through her fingers to stick out between her middle and index finger, and then she pivoted around to face him.

Two things happened at once. First, he was so shocked, he ground straight into her and she managed to draw blood as the key dug into his shoulder, but they both were sent sprawling to the floor by the force of impact. His drooling wolf head hovered above her before it turned into the sickening, grinning face of her pursuer in human form. Grinning, he placed his hand on her breast and squeezed.

She lifted the keys to dig them into his eye, it was that or his balls, but she couldn’t reach down far enough to castrate him. However, before her weapon made contact, he was torn from her by something else. Someone else.

Nadine should have felt him coming, should have felt his presence, but the fear of what her pursuer might do to her had numbed all her faculties. But now she could feel the connection and knew the man, Kurt, would fight to his death for her. She was not going to let that happen.

Pushing herself up, having to pause to stop her legs from giving out from under her, she then ran at the stranger and struck him with her fists in the side of the head. Damn, that hurt, but it did the trick of stunning him. It also gave Kurt time to get up and ball his fists, ready to hit him again.

The other guy seemed to prefer his chances of success as a wolf and transformed in front of them. She felt the current of electricity in the air as he left this world for a split second, to return as a snarling creature ready to rip Kurt’s throat out.

“No,” she said, putting herself in front of Kurt. She could feel him about to change and she was scared; she knew the dark place he had been coaxed from and couldn’t bear him going back there for her.

“It’s the only way,” Kurt said, and he was right. The wolf was preparing to attack. But then, down on the lower slopes of the mountain another wolf called. Her attacker paused, his head turning, his ears flicking back towards the sound. She let out a sigh, he was going to go and join his friends. Or would they all come here, the other ones who had been chasing her? Were they going to come back and help kill Kurt, and then take it in turns to, what? Rape her?

“You should leave. He can’t hurt both of us. Run.” She shoved Kurt away from her.

“No. You need to go, I can handle this guy.”

“Not when he’s a wolf.” As if to prove the point, the wolf snarled, his teeth huge and sharp, built for tearing flesh from bones. He stalked forward towards them, and Nadine and Kurt stood side by side. In some way, they knew that to defeat him they had to work together.

But the call came again, closer now and angry. A whimper from the wolf in front of them told them he was being chastised. He turned, and they saw the undergrowth move, rustling as something charged through it. Then before them was another wolf, so much bigger, so much stronger and they knew if he attacked they would not survive.

But he didn’t attack, at least not them. Instead, he snarled and then snapped at the smaller wolf, his teeth sinking into his fur, eliciting a yelp. The bigger wolf pinned him to the ground, and then got up. With one backwards glance at Nadine and Kurt, he walked out of the clearing, the smaller wolf following him, tail between his legs.

Stunned, Nadine watched the two wolves disappear into the forest, the dark surrounding them until they had melted into the trees completely, leaving her wondering if it was all a dream. When her eyes shifted to Kurt, she knew it wasn't. She also knew he would want explanations, but did she really want to tell him the truth about herself?

"I can't believe I've actually found you," he said, and moved closer to her. She stood still, wanting to run, but also to fall into his arms. The mate bond was strong, pulling her to him, but she couldn't give into it. That wouldn't be fair to either of them.

"Hello, Kurt. How are you?"

"So much better now I've found you. I ... I can't believe you're real." He reached out and touched her arm, as though she might be a phantom in the night. "I've been thinking of you, picturing you in my head for months."

And then he asked her the question she had been dreading. "Why did you leave me in the hospital?"

She hesitated. Hadn't she been over the question so many times, rehearsed her answer over and over in her head? "Because you were better. You didn't need me anymore."

"Need you? I will always need you. Don't try to tell me you don't feel the connection between us too. I can see it in your face, feel it when I touch your skin." His fingers stroked her arm, sending shock waves through her body. He was right and she could no longer deny it. Not to herself, or to him. The tortured tone of his voice told her he needed to know the truth—that, far from sparing him, she had added to his metal turmoil, and it had to stop.

Yet it terrified her to have to open up to another person and admit her failings as a shifter, that she couldn't access the other part of herself. Or she could lie: tell him that she didn't have two sides. No. He was her mate. They were bonded; whether consummated or not, she couldn't break that trust. There would be no more lies between them.