Page 52 of Wolf Unseen

My wolf found a second burst of speed and zipped down a narrower game track through a dense thicket. The sandy wolf’s howls faded, and for a heady moment, I thought we’d lost him. Then he burst through the trees on my left, sending my wolf flying. She yelped at the bruising impact. An agonizing starburst of pain down my side told me something had broken, probably a rib.

She whimpered in distress, her panic threatening to overwhelm us both. I wasn’t in control, but I knew if she didn’t do something, we were likely dead.

Fight back, I screamed at her.

Listening to me for once, she lashed out with her paws and sliced into our attacker’s belly, provoking an angry squeal.

Snapping jaws lunged for our throat, but before the sandy wolf could rip us apart, a magnificent, much larger wolf grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him sideways as if he weighed nothing.

The sandy wolf yelped as the tawny one with a white chest swiped a huge paw across his haunches, tearing into muscle. I tried to stand, desperate to escape the terrifying new predator who might turn on me at any second.

But it was hopeless. My legs refused to work.

For once my wolf didn’t retreat into herself and leave me to deal with the mess. Instead, she seemed happy to remain in the driver’s seat, even though we were both in considerable pain. If anything, she seemed smug that the tawny wolf had saved us. Smug that he cared enough to come to our rescue.

An awful shriek followed by silence told me something bad had happened to the sandy wolf. I probably should have been concerned about that, given I was likely next, but my energy battery died and I passed out.

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Tank

My beast and I stared down in disgust at Dirk in wolf form. I’d warned him about the no-bullying rule. I’d also followed up that warning with a lesson in humility at the fight ring, where he’d endured three minutes of sustained violence against his person.

The stupid fucker should have listened after being beaten black and blue. But no. He had to push his luck because the Durants were all arrogant morons.

My human-self knew killing Dirk would land me in all kinds of shit with my father, but my wolf gave no fucks. He wasn’t about to let the pathetic scumbag live. Not after he’d disobeyed our direct order.

I let my alpha dominance roll over the wolf lying prostrate beneath us. He panted and exposed his throat, seeping blood from bone-deep wounds on his sweat-soaked flanks. Under different circumstances, I’d have shown the asshole mercy. But he’d hurt the female, and for that, my wolf had decreed he must die.

One savage bite and it was over. The life faded from the lesser wolf’s eyes as blood dripped down my chest. My wolf uttered a faint rumble of satisfaction before a whimper triggered his protective instincts.

The small female lay on her side, panting from the pain of a broken rib. We knew she’d recover without healers, but we hated to see her suffer.

My wolf padded over and sniffed her, but she had passed out so her body could heal. Not fast enough, from the bloody slash marks on her side and the tear across her neck. Most wolves recovered from wounds quickly, but this female wasn’t healing at the normal rate.

Was she sick?

We sniffed her neck, but she didn’t smell sick, just injured. A shiver racked her slim body as a biting wind cut through the trees. My wolf barely noticed the cold, but he saw how it affected the female, so he sank down and curled his giant body around hers to protect her from the freezing temperature.

The female whined softly, roused temporarily from the depths of unconsciousness before sinking once again into a healing slumber. She smelled divine. A delicious combination of burned sugar and cinnamon.

None of the females we’d previously met smelled this good, which was why we had never bothered pursuing them. Whereas Tobias loved all females, we much preferred solitude.

My wolf disliked most other shifters. He hated other magicals too, especially the mages.

Only my brother’s wolves were safe near him in beast form. The other creatures at this school knew better than to approach my wolf. He was the biggest and most violent of our beasts, even more vicious than Tate’s wolf, whom most people were justifiably afraid of.

But this female didn’t need to worry about my beast’s intentions. He’d made it clear from the moment we caught her scent in the forest that she was his. He wanted to claim her, even though we had no clue who she was.

Luckily, I’d persuaded him the timing was wrong and he needed to be patient. Females expected some kind of courtship, or so Tobias had told me. Once the female had healed enough to shift back, I’d take her back to our apartment and make sure she was safe and taken care of. Then I’d ask Tobias what I needed to do next.

I trusted my brother to steer me right on this.

He wouldn’t let us down.

And besides, if what my wolf suspected was true, the female wasn’t just mine.

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