speed, wind blowing through my hair, adrenaline spiking.
It’s only when I hear a cry that my heart slams into the back of my throat. The sound comes from the direction I’m headed. I leap forward quicker than before, thundering like a bullet until I finally come across Narah forced face-first against a tree. Some fucker has her pinned in place while he tugs down on her pants.
Why the hell hasn’t she used her magic against that bastard?
But fury burns those thoughts aside and delivers me to the point of no return. Where the fuck had he come from, anyway?
Her cries and writhing to escape only fuel my rage. I throw myself toward them, the crunch of foliage under my feet revealing my approach.
The asshole Alpha twists his head to look over his shoulder at me. His eyes widen with shock, his shoulders rising, lips peeling back as he growls his threat. “Fuck off.”
But that’s not going to happen, now is it?
I slam into his side furiously, and we’re both off our feet and flying toward the ground, leaving Narah unscathed.
“She’s not yours to touch,” I snarl in his ear. Swiftly, I roll off him, snatch him by the throat, and wrench him to his feet in one move.
The fucker has no idea what’s coming at him. All I see in his eyes is lust, and his goddamn tented pants from his dick, which I want nowhere near me.
“She’s not yours either,” he gasps, throwing a punch directly in my gut, which I take. “Omegas are for all to rut.” He sweeps his gaze to Narah behind me.
“Wrong thing to say.” My fingers around his neck squeeze tighter. He may be built like a tank, but I am convinced he’s never experienced the number of battles I’ve endured or faced the monsters that live up in the North. The kind that rip your head off with one swipe for looking at them the wrong way. And yet Ragnar’s father sent his only daughter to them in exchange for peace between their two packs. But I shake those thoughts away. They have no place in this moment.
The dickhead in front of me is swiping at my arm, his face turning blue.
Narah comes into view from my side, and I look at her, at the welt mark across her cheek from where the bastard slapped her. “How much did he hurt you?” I snarl.
She’s breathing heavy, furious and so scared. Her words never come, but they don’t need to. She gives me the answer, whether she knows it or not.
“You will never touch another Omega again,” I promise the man. As I turn toward Narah, all I spy is her shadow slicing through the darkness away from me. “Fuck!” I place another hand on the man’s neck and snap it sideways so violently, the crack of bone pierces the silence. It’s rather rewarding to hear that final sound. And while I would have preferred to take my time with him, make him suffer, time isn’t on my side.
He drops to the ground, and I grab the ax from my belt. Gripping the handle with two hands, I lift the weapon and come down fast, the sharp blade biting into the man’s neck, making it a clean cut. Warm blood splatters up my arm, a few speckles across my cheeks. I do love the feel of an enemy’s lifeblood on my skin. But I probably showed him more mercy than he deserved by decapitating him after he died. He can count himself lucky.
Dropping the blood-stained ax, I swivel on my heels and dart after the minx who is going to be sorry she ran from me after I did her a favor.
Adrenaline soars through me once more from the chase, and this time I won’t give her the satisfaction of slipping away from me. I swing around the back of the inn where I’d seen her vanish, following that addictive, sugary scent. Branches whack into my head, and I growl my annoyance, but I’m closing in. All I see is her small, curved body swerving right and left around trees, her dark hair whipping across her back like a flag.
My cock throbs at the pursuit, at the sight before me. I’m well aware she isn’t mine to take... at least not yet, anyway, but who says playing with your food isn’t permitted?
I quicken my pace and use a fallen log to catapult myself over a cluster of shrubs. My feet hit the soft earth