Profound Devotion

Chapter 11

July 24th
Monaia

  I was running through the forest, instinctively dodging the trees as they passed in a blur. My dusty paws padded against the uneven ground while carrying me closer and closer to Crescent Valley's border. The wind whipped through my thick fur that protected me from the chilled spring weather.

  The area around me was quickly becoming familiar, the trees tall oaks that I'd memorized most of my life. It would only be a matter of time before I would feel the familiar shift in the air, alerting me of the territory line that I would be crossing to get back home.

  I was close—so close to safety and putting this full moon past me. I could sense the territory just before me, but as my legs slowed my pace, a solid mass rammed into my side and threw me to the ground feet away. My breath was forced from my lungs, and an immeasurable pain pulsed from my wide rib cage.

  My head was pressed against the dirt by a large, cocoa brown paw. I managed to lift my eyes and found the wolf's head lower, a threatening growl vibrating from his bared teeth.

  I whined and kicked my legs, attempting to wiggle and writhe free from his hold, but it turned out to be a waste of energy. He was nearly twice my size, and any hope I had of fighting him off vanished as four other wolves emerged from within the shadows.

  There was instant relief in my skull once his weight was gone, and I sucked in a labored breath as I watched him pace backward. At least two of my ribs were broken, but they were the least of my worries as the wolf shifted, Alpha Jackson's taller figure glowering over me as his mouth morphed into a sickening smile.

  "Hello, little mate." His wolf purred, clearly refusing to relinquish some of its control as his eyes flickered between a charcoal black and the murky brown I recognized. "I knew I would find you here." I cowered further against the ground as he sucked in a breath full of my scent, his eyes falling closed as he enjoyed the way it made his spine quake. "Just as I remember it."

  His warriors let out barks of laughter in their wolf forms. For whatever reason, they all seemed to find some sick pleasure in watching their Alpha toy with his rejected mate.

  "What are you doing here, and all alone?" He peered around the stretch of land that was unclaimed with a raised eyebrow and his arms folded across his naked chest. I bared my teeth as a warning and struggled to roll over to my stomach, even as the pain in my side made it hard to remain upright. He seemed displeased as I tried to move further away from him and closer to our border. "Now, why would you do something like that? We have yet to do anything to cause you harm. There's no need for cowering."

  Even so, I had a feeling it was only a matter of time.

  I flashed my teeth again, letting out a weak growl to try and warn them away from me. Jackson, instead, found this humorous and threw his head back with laughter, his voice booming across the open land. "Come on, darling. Be serious." The sound died down, and his grin faltered to a murderous glare. "Shift back, and we will talk things through like civilians."

  I didn't know much about my ability to escape, but I did know that shifting out of my wolf was not an option. I was slower and weaker on two legs, and something told me he knew that as well.

  As I remained barely standing on four paws, he grew more impatient. "Really? This is how you would like this to go?" He snarled and clenched his white-knuckled fists at his sides. "I was hoping we could come to an agreement, find a way to let bygones be bygones, but fuck that."