Fated Magic (Claimed by Wolves #1) - Callie Rose Page 0,10

as her torso pumps with hysterical breaths beneath my other arm. “You’re hurt. You’re going to make it worse.”

Bad choice. That’s when the screaming starts.

Jesus fucking Christ.

I thought I saved a sexy, blonde-haired princess last night, but this creature is a fucking banshee with the balls of a tiger. I knew the girl had been abused when I stripped her down and checked her injuries, but with her unconscious, I couldn’t exactly ask after her mental state. It’s clear now that I should have tied her to the bedposts for her own safety—and mine.

“Jesus, woman, I’m not going to hurt you!” I say, dragging her back the way we came. Dust is still settling on the road from our run through the village, but it’s not enough cover to hide the spectacle she’s making. Grady’s over in his front yard, eyebrows chasing his receding hairline as he watches us with wide eyes. Cordelia Raney is sitting with her sister on the front porch, both of them staring at me like I’m killing the woman and dancing in her blood—though the two of them judge every fucking thing in sight, so I can’t even care. Even more of my packmates are emerging from their houses to check out what’s causing all the commotion.

Yeah. Not how I expected this day to go.

“Let me go!” The banshee punctuates the last word with a full body wave, clearly intending to slither out of my arms like a snake. But she has no idea I’m stronger than any man she’s ever known, and she just jerks uselessly against my grasp. Unfortunately, that luscious ass I salivated over the night before slams right into my dick.

I pause and grit my teeth against the pain and nausea rolling through my insides from the blow. Damn it all to hell. We aren’t even past the first row of houses, and she’s still screaming.

Fuck. So much for keeping this quiet from the pack until I figure out what to do with her.

Since our current arrangement isn’t going to work out—for her or my dick—I drop her to the ground. She’s so startled, she immediately stops screaming. Gripping her waist, I whirl her around, catching sight of wide, tearful blue eyes that make a pit yawn open inside me. Then I lean over and jam my shoulder into her abdomen, hauling her up onto my shoulder.

Sometimes, you just gotta Neanderthal shit up.

I can move quicker now, ignoring the ever-growing curious stares from my pack as I head straight for my cabin. They aren’t used to me having shit to do with women to begin with, and now they probably think I’m some kind of closet serial killer.

The girl’s shock at being slung over my shoulder gives me a blessed moment of silence and stillness before she starts bucking like a fucking bronco and screaming like I’m ripping her skin off one strip at a time.

Shit. Putting her next to my head probably wasn’t a great idea.

I lock my arm firmly around her thighs so that all she can move are her arms. It works—barely. I’ll have some bruises and scratches on my back later, but if that’s all I walk away from this alley cat with, I’ll count myself fucking lucky.

Yanking open the screen door, I cross the threshold into my cabin and then slam the front door behind me. I stop myself short of turning the lock.

Yeah, I don’t want this mess of a woman launching headlong into the woods where another pack—or hell, one of those fucking witches—might not show her mercy. But I don’t want her to think she’s a prisoner either. I feel like I’m walking a tightrope, bringing a wild animal into my house and having to figure out the best way to navigate the situation.

Good thing I have experience with wild animals.

Sunlight spills through the large front window onto the smooth hardwood in my living room. I bend down, letting the woman flop out of my arms and onto the well-worn brown corduroy couch that’s probably older than she is.

She’s no longer screaming, not since we passed through the door into the house, but she’s breathing like she just finished the Boston Marathon. Her fair skin looks even paler than it did in the dark of my bedroom last night, and with every breath she sucks in, she appears to have a harder time breathing.

Fuck. It hits me in a rush as I gaze at her. She’s having a panic attack. I’m such an