Captured - Cara Wylde Page 0,60

on our side, and they had to help us save our mate. At first, the females tried to protest. Especially Layla, who apparently felt hurt after Jax had used her the night before just to make Isabel jealous. She hadn’t minded the fucking, but she surely didn’t agree with the way she’d been treated. Jax growled at her, Layla cowered in fear, and in the end, Mama Rose was the one who calmed everyone down. She still believed Isabel was one of us. That she had a wolf inside her and she belonged with the Woodwards. For the first time, my brothers and I agreed. When Isabel had been with us, we’d taken her for granted. Now that she was out there and in grave danger, neither of us could imagine our lives without her.

So, we attacked the Redwoods with all we had. We took them by surprise as they were literally burning Isabel at the pyre. The creature from the depths of Black Diamond Lake had risen to the surface and was about to swallow Isabel whole. As our dark wolves lunged at the redheaded pack, I ran straight toward my human mate. The Redwoods shifted one by one, dropping everything to fight for their lives. It was going to be a bloody battle. This time, the Woodwards had every intention to eliminate the rogues for good. We’d been too lenient in the past. Too kind. We’d known what they were doing all along, yet we tried to show understanding and compassion. Not anymore. They had taken one of our own now. They had crossed a line.

I jumped onto the smoking pyre and with my fangs released Isabel. She collapsed onto me, and I barely had enough time to catch her. They must have drugged her. She couldn’t hold herself upright, and she would have fallen into the lake and into the creature’s tentacles if I hadn’t been there to hold her. But it was difficult in my wolf form. All I could do was push her onto my back and hope that she got the hint and used the little strength she had in her legs to straddle my sides.

“Thorn,” she whispered into my black fur. “You came.”

I whimpered, trying to let her know that I was there for her, that she was safe now.

“I can’t believe you came…”

Finally, she sank her hands into the fur on my back and squeezed tightly. Deciding she was secure enough, I jumped off the pyre and crossed the battlefield as fast as I could. I felt the lake creature extend its tentacles after me. One of its slimy appendages brushed my hip, and I shuddered.

I avoided Woodwards and Redwoods fighting each other. I moved past Jax just as he was tearing a rogue’s head apart, and warm blood splashed all over me and Isabel. She screamed, and I was afraid she’d let go. She didn’t. I entered the woods, and as I ran and ran, her weight on my back made me feel whole again. While she’d been away, I’d felt like a ghost. And she’d only been with the rogues for a few hours. I never wanted her to let go. If I could, I’d carry her on my back to the very end of the world.

I started climbing the mountain quickly, my huge paws hitting the ground rhythmically, sending rocks and dirt down the slope. I ran like Isabel’s life depended on it, and it was true, it did. We were responsible for her now. Jax and Reid were back there, slaughtering the Redwoods for what they’d tried to do to our mate. I was here, with her, taking her back home.

We reached the village in the gorge, and I stopped at the cabin where our Elders had gathered. Everyone but the Elders and the very young pups were down by the lake. I pressed my body to the ground so Isabel could climb down. She did so slowly, carefully, and once she was off, she fell to her knees sobbing. I stood back up and shifted.

“Isabel,” I whispered as I took her into my arms. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”

“I’m sorry.” The gentler I was, the harder she cried. She clung to me, burying her face in the crook of my neck. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have run away. I didn’t want to, I promise! Jax told me no one wants me here. That you don’t need me, and I don’t belong with the pack. I just… I