Forsaken by E. M. Moore

16

Nathan refuses to set me down, carrying me through the forest on swift legs. We’re at least half a mile away from the party on a peak, grassy knoll. I tell him I can walk, but all he does is grunt at me as he slips easily back into thick trees and brush. His breath isn’t even labored when we hit the road. Clouds darken the moon, splaying shadows over Nathan’s face as he peers both ways.

I wiggle, wanting to walk on my own, but he merely holds me tighter. “Calm down. I’m trying to figure out what to do.”

“What can we do?” I ask.

“Well, I’m not taking you back to the fucking party. If he’s there, I’ll cut his throat. I don’t want to stay on the road because the only shifters out will be coming to and from the party, and we don’t want to be seen.”

“How did you get away? How did you know?”

He starts off in a direction, staying close to the trees. “The longer you were gone, the more I panicked. Then Gayle began to act funny, trying to get me to drink when I haven’t had a drop all night.”

I narrow my gaze at him. “You didn’t?”

“I’m not letting my guard down with them.”

“Wish I would’ve been that smart. He spiked my drink.”

A low rumble emanates from his chest. I press my hand against it as if I can get him to stop. He’s still naked as a newborn pup, so I filter my fingertips through his chest hair. The soothing motion must put me to sleep again because I wake up on a thin cot in the corner of a room. A single light on the bedside table illuminates most of the space. Bare bones is all I can call it. Two-by-fours flank the room with plywood screwed into them for makeshift walls.

Fingers play over my feet, and I peer over to find Nathan—now fully clothed—tracing designs across my skin. My movement makes him look at me. “Where are we?”

“My brother’s place. Well, an outbuilding on his property. You passed out on the way here.”

I stare at my leg where there’s a dull throb beating from the slice the magical lady gave me. A white bandage covers it. “Thank you for fixing me up. Did your brother see us?”

He shakes his head. “Only me. I told him I needed a place to chill for an hour.”

Nathan’s spoken of his brother before. They’re still on good terms, but I’m sure that wouldn’t transfer to harboring a shifter that wasn’t his true mate. Guilty by association.

“I needed to decompress before I went after Sean and killed him.”

His words, the way he acts, it’s the possession of a male wolf over his female. “Why do you think you feel that way?”

“I made my own path. Screw fate. I made it lead to you, and my wolf is one hundred percent on board. We want you. No one else.”

“Then Sean got off easy,” I breathe out.

“You’re fucking right he did,” he growls. “I should’ve done more than scare the shit out of him.”

“But then what?” I ask. “If something happens to him, I’m going to get implicated. I’m obviously the only one who has anything to gain if he got hurt.”

The corner of his mouth tilts up. “I was kind of hoping they’d both miraculously get hit by a train or something equally as traumatic.”

I chuckle. “That might work. Or trip and fall on their own stupidity and stab themselves in the chest.”

“We couldn’t be so lucky.” He bites at his lip as he watches me. “While you were asleep, I went back and searched for your phone. I couldn’t find it.”

I sit up, mouth dropping. “I recorded us. Sean and me. As soon as we set off for the woods, I turned on the app that you downloaded onto my phone. I thought he might say something.”

Nathan sits forward. “Did he?”

I close my eyes, trying to replay everything as best I can, but it’s all super fuzzy. “I don’t think so. From what I can remember, he never once mentioned Gayle. He just said he was sick of the bond, and he wanted to get out of it.”

“Fuck,” he grits out. “If only we had that recording. That’s evidence right there.”

I reach over, placing my hand on his. “We’ll keep searching. It has to be somewhere.”

“He took you nearly a mile away. Who knows where it fell out of your pocket? Hell, he could’ve stolen it.”

I fall back onto the bed, hopes dashed within a few words. “How am I supposed to play this with him now? I’m running out of options. He’s desperate. He drugged me, kidnapped me, and hired a witch to sever our bond. What kind of fucking moron does that?”

“He’s sloppy,” Nathan agrees. “I’ve never ever heard of severing the bond. The way I see it, I carved a new one. The year plus of neglect and rejection eroded the old and made a new course to you. A much better course.”

His words make sense, shedding light on the feelings inside me. My wolf doesn’t think of Sean that way anymore. We’re perfectly happy with the man still tracing designs onto my skin, making my heart pound faster and faster. “You saved me,” I tell him. “If it hadn’t worked, who knows what he would’ve resorted to. Maybe his next attempt is taking me out.”

“He won’t get the fucking chance.” His dark words send a shiver through me, but they also harden me. Nathan and I are in this for real. We can fight this together.

I sit up, moving closer to him so I can put my head on his shoulder. “What are you going to do about Gayle?”

“She fucking knew what Sean was going to do. I know it. She could be wanting to try the same thing with me. Since we’re here, close to them, we need to make the best of it.”

“They have all the power,” I remind him. “We’re the ones who were rejected, so we’re second-class citizens. It’s like walking a tightrope, except ours has way too much slack in it.”

He reaches out and places his hand on my cheek. “We’re not giving up yet. But we have to be as careful as we can around the backstabbing bastards.”

We stay curled up with one another until the world around us starts to lighten. Daybreak…fitting. “We have to go to the cabin,” I tell him. “People will wonder where we are and start talking.”

He leans over, kissing me softly on the forehead, and before I can protest, he sweeps me off my feet. I glower at him, but he only shrugs in response. “Just until we get outside. I like playing the hero.”

“You don’t just play one.”

When we’re outside, he sets me on my feet and moves in—cupping my face and pressing his lips against mine in a scorcher that makes me forget space and time.

He steps away with a smirk. “Undress, baby. You wouldn’t want to ruin your clothes.”

I peer down at the outfit I picked out for the party. The jeans have a cut in them with blood stains; the shirt is marred with leaves and dirt. “Too late.” I shift on the spot, my wolf easily rising to the surface—hair, claws, and all. She walks up to him and licks his hand.

He kneels next to her until they’re eye to eye. “You’re so beautiful. Did you know that?”

She licks his face, and a happy thrum vibrates through her body.

He pats her head and stands, taking off old work clothes that are likely his brother’s. He sets them on the ground in a pile, and when he shifts, he lunges for my wolf, playfully holding her down to lick her face. Afterward, he grabs his clothes in his mouth, and they start off for the alpha’s cabin.

The early morning run is beautiful. The dew on the grass sticks to our fur, making everything slick. The stillness and quiet is what gets to me the most. It allows me to think.

A shiver runs through me. I can’t believe what Sean tried to do. Luckily, Nathan showed up or something much worse could’ve happened.

As we approach the alpha’s land, the feeling of protectiveness and power hums over my wolf’s fur. She preens. There are reasons why Alpha Richard is alpha. His line has been running Daybreak Pack for hundreds of years. This ground is sacred.

Our wolves stop just outside the screened-in porch, and Nathan shifts and dresses. Like the gentleman he is, he opens the doors for my wolf until she’s in my room where we can shift in privacy.

Nathan licks his lips as I straighten in my human form. “As much as I want to devour you, you need to rest.”

“How can you start a sentence like that and not think I’ll want you to follow through?”

He reaches out to pinch my nipple, then clutches my arms before throwing me to the bed. I bounce there for a few seconds, the mattress coils squeaking underneath me. “Sleep, Mia.” With that, he strolls to his room through the bathroom, and I’m left on the bed, thoroughly turned on by his no-bullshit attitude.

No fair.

But he’s not wrong. My body is sore and exhausted. As soon as I pull the covers over my shoulders, it doesn’t take me long to fall asleep again.

* * *

Harsh voices downstairs wake me.I sit up in bed, the covers falling down my naked torso. The feet stomping up the steps pricks my ears and puts me on high alert. I run to the bathroom with just enough time to put a towel around my body before the door to my room slams open.

“Hey,” Nathan protests.

I slip out, watching as one of Alpha Richard’s security team moves into my bedroom. Nathan’s gaze treks over the bed and then whips toward me in the doorway to the bathroom. His lip peels back in a snarl, but no sound emanates as the security member stops to look at me. “I’ll need to ask you a few questions.”

My stomach roils, and I freeze on the spot, scared to take a breath for fear of what might happen in the next second.

“Robbie Ventura ran last night,” Nathan explains.

I meet Nathan’s stare, and the coiled-up tightness washes away in an instant. Swallowing, I turn toward the guard and ask, “Can I get dressed first?”

The security member turns on his heel and exits the room. “Meet us in the kitchen.”

Nathan barely moves out of the guy’s way, glaring at his retreating form thudding down the stairs. Nathan turns toward me, and I round my eyes at him. “Robbie ran?”

“Apparently.” He frowns as he tracks his gaze down my towel-clad body. “Get dressed. Don’t give them a reason to be pissed at all the Greystone students.”

I nod. When he shuts the door, I take the quickest washcloth bath of my life—just enough to clean up most of the dirt—and then yank on my Greystone Academy uniform. Right before I leave, I pull a brush through my ratty hair and hope for the best.

I rocket down the stairs and find three security personnel in our living room. Each of them is standing with their hands on their hips. As soon as my feet touch the ground floor, they start in. “Were any of you with Robert Ventura last night?”

“We were all at a party,” Nathan helpfully supplies. “I didn’t see him after we got there.”

“What happened to you?” one of the men asks. He’s zeroed in on the white bandage gracing my leg.

“I got a little too drunk and fell,” I say sheepishly. “That’s what I get for not drinking in a while.”

“None of you knew Robert’s plans to leave Daybreak?”

The three of us shake our heads. The man who seems to be the leader nods at the other two. They move past us and head toward the steps. “What’s going on?” Nathan asks.

“They’re going through your things.”

My stomach clenches. “For what?”

He just glares, as if I’m so insignificant that he doesn’t owe me anything.

Nathan starts breathing heavily. He certainly doesn’t like this, but we don’t really have a choice. We’re like visitors in our own pack.

“Did any of you help him leave?”

“No,” the three of us say in unison.

“Who were you hanging out with yesterday at the party?” He looks at Nathan first. Nathan tells him he was with his mate. Trish is next, and she answers the same. I go last, and even though I want to tell this fucker that they should go after the mate who drugged me last night instead of someone trying to escape a terrible situation, I answer the same, giving him Sean’s full name.

“They’ll be able to verify this?”

We all nod. Sean better fucking back me up on this, but who knows what he’ll be thinking when the alpha’s guards show up on his doorstep. I’m sure he’ll want to distance himself from even being near me if he thinks they’re there because of what he did to me.

“Do you three have any plans to run away from Daybreak?”

“No,” we rush out.

Jesus. Who would want to do that? To run away would be to live Feral, and that’s not something anyone aims for.

“Do we know why Robbie did it?” I ask. “Is he okay?”

The head security guy eyes the other two black-clad men as they march down the stairs empty-handed. “Robert Ventura is no concern of yours anymore. When interrogated, he admitted he was giving up on his mate and his pack.”

I’m sure those weren’t his exact words, but I nod anyway. Poor Robbie. They probably have him in a cell right now. Because rejecting someone and sending them away to Greystone Academy is fine. It’s for reform so you can finally end up together. But shirking your responsibilities by running away, that’s punishable by law.

Yeah, sure.

Now, the question is: how ruthless is Alpha Richard when it comes to rogue shifters?