Once she’s finally out of sight, they move on from my alleyway. Not wanting to take any chances, I start to slip from my hiding spot when I something catches my eye. Pausing, I step back into the shadows, a silent curse escaping me as I note the flash of blonde curls in the moonlight.
Stupid girl, what the hell does she think she’s doing? Doesn’t she know that it’s not safe to be out right now?
As though she can sense me, she turns. Horror slams into me as I note just how young she is, seventeen at most. I stare at her, willing her to slink back into the darkness, praying that the wolves don’t notice her.
She’s exactly the type of female they would want to capture to bring back to their den.
I silently scream at her to do something to try and hide herself, to keep from getting taken … but all she does is gaze in stunned silence at the wolves still prowling the street. It’ll only be a matter of seconds until one of them is sure to notice her, if they haven’t already.
Glancing about for something, anything, I try to think of a way to help her. A way to get her away from here before they have a chance to take her, but there’s nothing but scraps of food littering the alley. Nothing that will help.
Looking back at her, my breath catches in my throat. One of the wolfish men is already stalking toward her.
“Run,” I can’t help but whisper, knowing full well that she can’t hear me but still hoping against everything that she’ll listen.
His arms are around her before she starts fighting, as though his touch has suddenly shocked her back to life.
The girl lets out a strangled cry as he drags her out onto the main street, and I’m moving toward them before I have a chance to think about what I’m doing. All I know is that I can’t just stand by while yet another woman gets dragged away from her home and family.
From the way she’s dressed, there has to be someone in this city that loves this girl. Someone who’s worried about her and expectantly awaiting her return. And even if there isn’t, even if she’s as alone in this world as I am, she doesn’t deserve the life she’d be forced into by the wolves.
No one does.
My feet carry me toward the towering man who is thankfully too distracted by the girl not to notice me approaching from behind. Without thinking, I throw myself at him.
He lets out a startled sound as my nails bite into his neck, my arm wrapping around him from behind in an effort to choke him into releasing the girl.
Somehow, it’s enough for him to lose his grip on the girl, and she is spent sprawling across the stones at his feet.
“Go, get out of here! Save yourself,” I shout at her, my nails digging in harder as the man struggles to get me off his back.
A flurry of loud curses from the man draws the attention of two more wolves, and I meet the girl’s wide eyes as she gawks up at me. Finally, sense seems to come back to her as she scrambles to her feet. Shooting me one more uncertain look, she disappears down a dark alley.
With a sigh, relief floods my body. I didn’t stand by and do nothing. I helped a girl escape the wolves.
That’s more than I could have hoped for.
My grip around the shifter’s neck tightens, and I cling to him as he bucks and reaches for me in an effort to get me off him. With a low growl, he suddenly backs up, slamming me into the building behind us.
The force is enough to knock the air out of my lungs in a painful gasp. My hold on the man broken, I slide down the wall as I struggle to draw in more air.
The man towers over me, anger in his eyes as two more shifters join us. I let pride get the better of me for a moment as I imagine them thinking that they need three of them to take me down.
A small smile tugs at my lips until one of the men leans down and hauls me to my feet with a mere handful of my dress.
“What about this one?” he asks, grabbing my arm, his voice strange and his hand surprisingly gentle as it pulls me closer to him.
“What the hell do you mean?! Look what she did to me,” the first man snarls.
I smile at this, noting the small crescent moon marks my nails left on his face and neck. He narrows his eyes at me, anger so fierce flashing across his face that my smile slips.
“Let me go,” I hiss as I try to tug my arm free, but the man holding me just tightens his grip.
“You’re a fiery one, aren’t you?”
Glancing up, I open my mouth to remind him that I’m not the kind of female he’s looking for, but the words never leave my tongue.
As beautiful as the others are, this man is in a class of his own.