Marked (Primal Obsessions #2) - Cara Wylde Page 0,6

of a human female filled my nostrils, then my lungs. She smelled like cupcakes and roses, like someone who liked to bake, but at the same time, there was also a strong smell of fear, anxiety, and panic mixed in with the sweet one. It was all so powerful and heady that it almost made me dizzy.

I took a minute to compose myself. The woman had taken Milo with her. Of that much I was certain. But before the hunt began, there was something we absolutely needed to do. I growled loudly to get Lincoln’s and Colt’s attention. They immediately understood what I needed from them. When we were in bear form, we could almost communicate telepathically, reading each other’s body language with ease. Together, we pushed Krista’s car away from the road and into the woods, hiding it as best as we could. For now, it would have to do. First, I wanted to get my cub back, and then we were going to take care of Krista’s body and her car. If we were lucky, this wouldn’t take more than an hour. We were fast, and the air was filled with the woman’s scent. We knew exactly where to find her.

We tracked her to a cheap motel a few miles from the place of the accident. She’d run through the woods, so aside from her scent, we followed the clues she’d inadvertently left – broken branches, crushed leaves where her feet had sunk in the soft soil. We came out of the woods on the other side, where another road led toward the big city. The motel was right across the street. We stopped for a minute to assess the situation. The motel was probably mostly empty, as usual. It was a dump, and no one in their right mind booked a room there, unless it was an emergency. There was only one car parked upfront. Eventually, I decided it was safe to cross the road and inspect the place. If anyone saw us, what were they going to do? People knew very well that there was wildlife in the area, and Lincoln, Colt, and I were three humongous bears, much larger than normal bears. No one would fuck with us if they knew what was good for them. Besides, we only needed to go in and out. Fast.

We approached the motel from the side, and following the human female’s scent, we found her room in a matter of minutes. I listened closely and concluded that, indeed, there was no one in the rooms close to hers. I signaled for my friends to follow me, and together we burst right through the door.

She screamed like a banshee. I broke the door, and Lincoln and Colt broke massive chunks of the walls around it. She jumped off the bed and curled up in a corner, holding Milo in her arms. My Milo, my cub, was in his human form, his tiny mouth attached to her breast. I saw red. She was cradling him, squeezing him to her chest like he was her own, and the boy was probably hungry, scared and missing his mother. He’d attached to her, and she’d taken advantage. She had stolen my cub and was now breastfeeding him like it was the most natural thing in the world. I was enraged.

I lunged at her, my paw ready to strike. She screamed again, hugging Milo as close as she could, covering her head with her free hand.

She’d taken everything from me.

I was going to kill her.

Three

Rosalie

“You can’t do this, Rosalie,” I thought as I kept trying to run through the forest. What had started as a panicked sprint had turned into a slow-paced walk. Branches, raised roots, rocks and various wildlife kept slowing me down, not to mention that I had this child in my arms that I had to shield.

What had I been thinking, running away from the scene of an accident and taking the boy with me? Did I just steal a child? Oh God, it was true! A criminal would always escalate their crimes. I took all the money from the house, stole a car from an old lady, now a baby!

But then again, I couldn’t have left him all alone back there. Staying with him was just not an option. I was still too close to my hometown, and if the police escorted me back to my local precinct, adorned with silver bracelets A.K.A. handcuffs… No, just no, this was the only