Luna Hunted
Chapter 8

Kara

The alphahole locked me inside. I rattled the doorknob for the hundredth time and pushed with all my strength against the door, but it wouldn’t budge. I let out an exasperated huff. Wait until he returned? I wasn’t a shrinking violet or damsel in distress. I’d taken care of myself for years. I didn’t need him. I didn’t need anyone.

A howl I’d heard way too many times drifted from a distance. It was muffled in the white blanket of snow falling outside, but I recognized Garth’s howl. He was so arrogant and foolish for always alerting me with his howl that he was close. I suspected he enjoyed tormenting me. He probably liked the scent of my fear. Because no matter how brave I attempted to be, I was frightened of Garth. Of what he’d do to me once he finally caught me.

A shudder of dread worked its way down my spine. I couldn’t stay trapped inside this cabin with Garth so close. I r!pped open my backpack and dressed in a hurry, then flung the straps over my shoulders, ready for my escape. My palms were damp as I grabbed the tall floor lamp and made my way to the nearest window. I yanked open the curtains.

A sky of white from the horizon and beyond greeted me. I shivered at the thought of the cold I was about to run out into. Before I changed my mind, I lifted the lamp and swung the wooden base at the window. The glass shattered in an eerie crunch.

The wind gusted inside, bringing with it the ice particles that some people loved. I didn’t. Snow had killed most of my family.

I threw the blanket over the windowsill and climbed through the gap. The storm was so bad I couldn’t make out where I was or which direction to flee. Garth’s howl exploded to my left. Right, it was. I took off through the thick snow. My legs sank past my ankles. Wetness seeped into my jeans, but all that mattered was escaping Garth.

The wind whooshed in my ears, making it nearly impossible to hear Garth chasing me. His footsteps crunched in the snow, the sound almost covered by the storm blowing around me. My face lost feeling as my cheeks and nose took the brunt of the snow-laden wind.

The skin on the back of my neck tingled in a warning. A minute later, a hand gripped my neck and shoved me face-first into the snow.

I screamed, but my mouth filled with the icy flakes.

Garth’s scent enveloped me as his body landed on top of mine. His hot breath blew in my frozen ear as he tugged my head up by my hair.

“How did you replace me?” I asked through chattering teeth and the pain in my scalp.

“Your wolf scent, of course.” He breathed harder into my ear. “Your scent is so much stronger in wolf form.”

I gulped back the bile building in my throat. I knew I shouldn’t have shifted. Knew there was a reason I’d avoided it for so many years. If I hadn’t let Titus convince me to race out of the coming storm, then Garth wouldn’t have found me.

“Now you’re mine,” he said with a growl as he lifted off me enough to flip me over.

I bucked and kicked against him, scratching his face before he grabbed my hands and pinned them over the top of my head. His h**s straddled mine, forcing me further into the icy snow.

“I’ll never be yours,” I seethed, swinging my leg up to kick him in the back of the head.

Satisfaction surged as the toe of my boot connected with his skull. His head jerked forward. His evil eyes flared with retribution. Another set of hands grabbed my ankles and pinned my legs to the ground.

“You didn’t think I’d come alone, did you?” he taunted.

F**k. I dropped my head back in the snow. I’d only ever distinguished Garth’s howl when he was chasing me. Only ever seen him. But somehow, he’d convinced others to join his hunt for me. As an alpha’s son, he transmitted a certain charisma.

It didn’t surprise me he’d found other sinister wolf shifters to join him.

“You’re so pathetic. You needed a pack to help you catch me.” I forced out a sardonic laugh. “You’re too late now. I’ve been claimed by another.”

“No,” Garth hissed. “You’re mine. Your dad lost the bet.”

“Too late.” I laughed hysterically. “You’re too late.”

He lowered his face to my body and inhaled deep. “You b!tch,” he snarled and backhanded me. Pain exploded across my frozen cheek like he’d shattered the iced skin into a thousand shards. So much for Titus claiming he’d protect me. I’d been a fool to believe him. Too hopeful too soon that an alpha mate would save me from the evil clutches of Garth.

Titus

The stranger’s howl in our pack lands sent my b***d heating through my veins with retribution. How dare another wolf come to my pack lands without permission and prey on my mate?

“F**k, he’s here already,” I said to Palmer. It explained the stranger’s intrusion, his disregard for the workings of a wolf pack.

“Who?” Palmer asked while shoving his feet into his black boots.

“Some as*sh0le named Garth Wade.”

“Sh!t. My second cousin had a run-in with him. He’s a grade-A prick with an evil streak.”

“So Kara said.”

“Kara, hey?” Palmer waggled his blond eyebrows.

“Shut up.” I clipped his ear. “I have a wolf to kill.”

“Let’s go.” Palmer yanked open the door. We sprinted outside across the frozen landscape to my house. The billowing curtain at the shattered window had me racing into the cabin, but it was empty.

“Someone broke the glass from the inside out,” Palmer said from the broken window.

“I’m going to tan her hide for not staying inside where it’s safe.”

Palmer’s eyebrows rose, but we both j3rked to the sound of another howl. We didn’t need to say words.

We ran toward the noise, not slowing as we heard Kara’s hysterical laughter. I’d murder the wolf shifter a thousand times over if he’d touched Kara. We caught sight of her and the two men at the same time. I nodded to Palmer for him to take out the man holding her feet while I tackled the as*sh0le sitting on top of her. I launched myself at him.

Murderous intent fueled the power inside me. I tackled him with such force we tumbled into the snowy field, rolling over and over again as our fists flew. Elbows jabbed. Knees and feet scrambled for purchase.

We parted and faced off against each other.

“So, you’re the fvcker who claimed what’s mine,” he spat.

“She was never yours.”

“I won her fair and square.” He kicked the snow, sending up a spray that didn’t reach my face as he’d intended.

I shook my head. “You can’t win a mate, dumbas*s.”

He swung at me. I sidestepped with ease and jabbed him in the stomach.

“I always meant for her to be mine.” He clutched his stomach.

I rolled my eyes. This guy was crazy. He was two Luna moons short of a working brain. Why the hell hadn’t his alpha shackled him before now? Father or not, the alpha’s job was to protect his pack.

I punched him in the face, and b***d squirted from his nose. He wiped it away with the back of his hand, then he gazed at the b***d and grinned.

I flexed my fists. Kara was right. I needed to watch my back around this guy. Insane wolf shifters were unpredictable. He wrenched a knife from his waistband. The falling snow slid down the shiny silver blade.

Garth l!cked his l!ps.

“Is that how you want this to go down?” I asked. “As a coward with a knife?”

He flipped the knife in his palm. “As soon as I kill you, she’ll be mine.”

“I guarantee she’ll never be yours and you’ll never kill me.”

“We’ll see about that.” He lunged forward with the knife aimed at my heart.

I twisted and shifted. Clothes r!pped as the blade caught the edge of my shirt and tore into pieces as my form changed into a wolf. I didn’t waste time. I clamped my jaw on his wrist and crunched the bones.

Garth’s cry of pain was worth every bitter tang of his b***d. He dropped the knife, and it disappeared into the thick snow. I wrenched his hand, making it hang at an odd angle before letting go to see b***d and bone gaping through his wounds.

Garth shifted, but it was too late for him. With one broken leg, he didn’t stand a chance against an alpha wolf. I descended upon him, biting his other front leg first before taking him to the ground and clamping my jaw around his throat, severing the nerves and his carotid artery.

I held on until his body lay limp and lifeless, then I released my jaw. I stood, heaving in air, my sides expanding and contracting as Garth’s b***d seeped from his wounds to taint the snow in an increasing patch of drenched crimson.

Delicate footsteps made their way over to me through the snow. Kara’s sweet scent preceded her form. She paused a short distance from us. Her large, icy blue eyes were vacant and distant. Her body shook, but she didn’t seem to notice.

I shifted. Garth’s b***d was sticky on my skin. I hadn’t noticed it on my thick fur.

“He’s dead?” she whispered.

“Yes.” I inched closer to her.

She flinched and stepped back. “He won’t chase me anymore?”

“No, he won’t.” I held my hands out, trying to coax her closer. “Kara, love, come here.”

She whipped her head to the side. “But I’m free now. I can go home. See my dad.” She sniffed.

“Your dad is dead, love.”

Her head snapped back my way.

“I still have to deal with the aftermath of this piece of sh!t.” I spat on Garth. “Did he hurt you?”

She ducked her head, but not before I saw the blossoming bruise on her cheek.

“That fvcker,” I seethed. “I’d kill him again if it were possible.”

“You didn’t protect me,” she accused. “You said you would. You made me shift. You let him replace me. Hurt me.”

“I meant for you to stay inside.”

She lifted her icy blue stare to my face. “You locked me inside. Trapped me.”

“I aimed to keep you safe.”

“Safe?” she scoffed.

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous!” she cried. “You’re an as*s. I can’t believe I let you mate with me.”