Damian stopped listening to Chuck and snapped his head in the direction of the woods he’d walked through when he scented his mate.

“She’s in trouble,” Damian said. Everyone stopped talking and listened as Damian sniffed the air.

“How can you tell? What’s going on?” Maverick asked.

“I can feel it deep in my gut. Something’s wrong. I have to find her.” He shifted to his Wolf and bolted into the woods. His Betas followed his lead and charged behind their Alpha.

Damian! Slow down! Shouldn’t we have a plan? Jordan asked.

I have a plan – find my mate. And if one hair on her head has been damaged, someone will pay with their life. That’s a promise.

We get that. We’ll help you rip them to pieces, but seriously, don’t we need to have some kind of idea where we’re going? Or a game plan when we get there? Maverick asked.

I know where I’m going. I can sense her, and I picked up that funky smell from the woods, too. Stay with me, and when we get there don’t hold me back.

The trio continued to stride along the banks of the lake. Suddenly, Damian stopped running. He continued moving slowly, walking along the water, sniffing furiously along the ground until he reached a large fir tree and stopped.

She’s got to be really close, because her scent just disappeared, and it’s mixed with that wretched smell. Fuck! Damian said.

Damian’s Wolf walked around the large fir tree, making wider circles each time. His Betas followed behind him. They knew if Damian picked up her scent again, he’d take off in a flash and they had to be close behind.

 

 

Angelisa was pretty certain this man was dangerous, and would certainly follow through on his threats. When he told her to be quiet, she heeded his warning. She scooted away from him until her back touched the stick and mud walls of the awful shelter he had her in. She looked around the dark, smelly and damp space, unfamiliar with that type of structure. She knew if she shifted to her Wolf, she was certain she could easily bust through the walls. But she also knew if she shifted, she was most likely going to get shot.

“Don’t do anything stupid. I’m going to be right outside. If you try anything, I guarantee you I’ll shoot to kill, and your filthy Wolf life will be over,” he grumbled.

He’s a Wolf hunter, she thought. He hates Wolves. Is this guy a farmer who’s had his livestock pillaged? Angelisa didn’t remember hearing any stories of that happening, but Shasta Mountain and the surrounding smaller towns encompassed a lot of acreage.

“Why do you hate us?” she asked. “What have we done to you?”

The man turned back to face her and shoved his hand into his hair, his fingers combing his tresses. “I hate Wolves and Mountain Lions because you both destroy everything. You have no regard for anyone except yourselves. You think you’re better than everyone else. Especially that Wolf you’ve been following.”

“It’s not like that at all. I can’t speak for the Mountain Lions, but I haven’t known them to be that way. And the Wolf Packs I know certainly aren’t like that.”

“Paint a pretty rosy picture if you like, but my disdain for both species runs deep. Deeper than you know. Now stop asking me questions and sit there quietly, like I told you to.” He turned and took a couple steps back to the entry of the mud hut.

Angelisa knew if he hated Wolves, she was in trouble. She had no idea what he was planning, but she needed to figure out how she could get away before she got killed.

“What are you planning to do?” she asked.

“Shut! Up!” He picked up his rifle that was leaning against the wall near the entrance, then turned quickly and had the gun pointing in her direction. “One more word out of you, and I swear I’ll shut you up for good.”

He stood near the entrance, completely quiet, his head tilted so one of his ears was facing outside, listening.

“Don’t you dare move,” he said in a low voice just above a whisper. Then he crept out of the shelter with his gun in tow.

 

 

After the third circle, Damian picked up her bouquet again. She smelled like sweet honeysuckle. As Damian continued to take in her scent, the same smell that had mixed with hers became evident again. He looked around before taking a few steps forward, and that was when he saw him. Damian and his Betas bared their teeth and growled.

“Take one step in my direction, and I promise you all my shot won’t miss this time!” The man before them shouted.

The trio continued snarling and gnashing their teeth while staring down their shotgun-holding human opponent. The barrel of the gun was pointing directly at Damian.

Angelisa emerged slowly from the bushy enclosure. She was careful not to snap any twigs or anything that could draw attention to herself. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she knew her mate was close. Very close. She had his woodsy scent memorized.

Angelisa also knew nothing good could possibly come from this wacko roaming around with a gun, knowing he hated Wolves, and that he’d already said he thought her mate was horrible. But why? What had her mate done that was so bad?

Just as she finished her thought and cleared the entry to the hut, she heard the man yelling. She knew it was her mate and his friends. Her stomach was in knots at the thought that one or all of them could end up dead.

She crept slowly in the direction of the voices until she could see them all. The man was screaming at the Wolves. He told them how much he despised their existence and wanted to see them all dead.

Her heart sped up when her eyes landed on her mate. He didn’t glance in her direction, which she was happy about. She didn’t want to have the man’s attention shift to her. Angelisa had a plan, and she needed to be able to sneak up closer.

As she took each careful step, she continued to watch the Wolves put a little more space between each other. While she still had some distance to cover to be near the action, she shifted so her Wolf could strike with far more force and strength that she ever could muster as a human. She prayed to the Goddess to give them all strength to take down this rogue.

My love, I’m here. Whatever you do, don’t look at me. I don’t want him to follow your eyes and see me, Angelisa said to Damian through her link.

No! Stay back. We’ll get him surrounded in a semi-circle and finish him, Damian replied.

I won’t let anything happen to you. I can sneak up from behind and distract him, then you all can jump him.

He has a gun. I can’t risk you getting shot. Please, don’t come any closer. Let us take care of him, Damian pleaded. He didn’t know his mate’s name and hadn’t even seen her, but knew she was the most important part of his life. There was no way he wanted her to take a chance of getting herself shot trying to help them.

If he shoots you, he may as well just shoot me, too. I can’t live without you, Angelisa said. Her heart thudded in her chest at the thought of losing him. Her breaths became erratic. She stopped and took a few minutes to gather herself before she took another step.

The step that landed on a long, brittle branch. The step that made the crack of the twig beneath her feet sound like the booming clap of thunder. The step that caused the man to snap his head in the direction of the noise, only to find nothing. He knew he heard the sound, yet there wasn’t even a rabbit nearby.

Get out of here. Now! Damian screamed through his link. The fear of her being hurt made his mouth go dry, and it was hard to swallow. He had no idea how she’d hidden so fast, but he was thanking the Goddess that his mate had that incredible talent.

Angelisa peered around the large tree, craning her neck until she spotted the group. She noticed her warrior, her mate, was standing directly in front of the man, and his two friends had maneuvered closer to his sides. They’d almost formed a perfect triangle. And from her vantage point, she could close the gap by coming up from behind. Only this time, she wasn’t planning to inch closer. She was going to charge at him and force him to turn his back to her mate. Then he’d be able to take him down and kill the bastard.

“Shift, you pathetic Wolf. Face me like a man,” the man goaded.

Within seconds, Damian shifted to his human form. Maverick and Jordan looked to their Alpha to see if they should shift as well. With a slight shake of his head, Damian told them no. He wanted their Wolves to be at the ready to pounce on this fucker if he tried anything crazy, like raising that gun to put a bullet in Damian.

“All right. Here we are. Mano y mano. Now what?” Damian asked. “What’s this all about?”

“I’ve been watching you and your friends. And those fucking Mountain Lions, too. Like I told your little stalker, I hate all of you. You go around killing, eating, and destroying others with no regard for their lives,” the man spat.

“Evidently you don’t know the first thing about nature, or the law of the wild. We aren’t like the humans. We don’t just kill for the sake of killing, we kill when we’re hungry.” Damian’s eyes raked over the man as he sized him up. He knew if there wasn’t a weapon involved, he’d easily take that guy down. “And who the hell are you anyway? The new wildlife police?” Damian waved his hand in the air. “Get the hell out of here with your stupid bullshit.”

“Shut up! Today, smart ass, you’ll meet the same fate so many of my deer family have met by the likes of your kind. You’re going to fucking die!”

Damian felt like a spectator as he watched the horrific scene play out in slow motion. Unfortunately, he was rendered helpless for a few moments because of where he was positioned. Damian couldn’t help but shift his eyes to look past the man, who was now pointing his gun at Jordan. Damian was flabbergasted when he saw Jordan had changed to his human form. He must have misunderstood what Damian had signaled and changed anyway.

Then Damian saw what his beloved was doing. He watched her beautiful grey and white Wolf run toward them at near full speed.

Noooo, Damian screamed through the link. But it didn’t stop her.

The man spun on his heels, haphazardly flinging the weapon and discharging it as he turned. Damian quickly changed back to his Wolf, and in a flash the man shifted into a twenty-point buck. It was the same buck they’d seen before. His odor permeated the air. It was the same stench Damian had smelled on several occasions while tracking his mate.

When the large buck reared up, he began flailing his front legs to fight off Angelisa. His front hoof hit her in the jaw, then just above her ear. Her eyes rolled, but she continued her attack. She snarled and her teeth gnashed in an attempt to capture his leg in her powerful jaws and crush the bones.

Another powerful strike to her midsection ripped through her flesh, and she collapsed to the ground. Damian and Maverick had already sprang into action and were wrestling the buck to the ground. Damian was torn: he needed to check on his mate, but he needed to help Maverick eliminate the danger to them all.

Maverick’s long teeth sank into the buck’s hind quarters as Damian wrapped his jaws around the corded muscular neck with his fangs. The blood oozed from the buck’s neck and dripped into Damian’s mouth. With a loud crunching sound, Damian closed his jaws tight, piercing the thick flesh and muscle, then yanked hard, tearing the meat from the bone.

Instead of eating it, like he’d done with so many other delicious and tender deer, he spit the meat onto the ground and regurgitated any blood that had seeped into his throat.

He turned and ran to his mate, who was curled in a ball; the fur around her stomach and the ground beneath her were red with her own blood.

Damian’s Wolf lapped at her wound in an attempt to help her heal. Feeling like he wasn’t helping her fast enough, his Wolf howled long and loud.