Discarded by My Mate, Claimed by My Brother

9

KATHERINE

I’m screwed.

That was the first, and only thought, my brain could formulate as two more wolves emerged from the swirling snow – one brown and one white.

Three Rogues, all of them looking more than ready to s*******r me, their eyes gleaming with predatory hunger. These two looked starved, to the point where I could count their ribs – and, any other day, they would have been an easy win.

Not today, though.

Because they were hungry, desperately hungry to the point of hunting their own kin, and I was in no condition to fight them. I was locked in a trap, losing blood by the minute.

I was completely, utterly screwed.

"What do we have here?" the white wolf chuckled. "A lost pretty pup?"

"Well, it sure makes a good dinner, in such harsh conditions," the brown echoed him, his voice dripping with malice.

My stomach twisted into a knot of pure terror.

'I NEED HELP!' I screamed into the mind-link, projecting that thought with every ounce of mental strength I could muster, praying that someone, anyone, would hear. I didn’t care about my pride, or looking weak, or about my guilt towards Lysander, or the fact that Karen had kicked me out. In that moment, I was weak. I was prey. And I needed help, from whoever it came from.

But my scream didn’t go anywhere. It bounced back into my own skull, as if a thick wall of rubber had suddenly grown around my brain.

Horror and panic washed over me, and I looked down at the trap again. I hadn’t really taken it in for a few seconds before. I hadn’t cared about that trap in particular, only that it hurt so f*****g much. But now… now I could recognize the way the metal gleamed.

It was silver. That damned trap was made out of silver.

I was isolated, locked in my own mind – incapacitated from asking for help.

I was alone and unable to defend myself.

Well, a part of me breathed a desperate, bitter chuckle. It’s not like someone would actually come anyway.

My parents are dead. My foster mother had kicked me out, and I was pretty sure she wasn’t the only person of the pack thinking of me the same as she did… and my mate, the one person who should’ve loved me more than anybody else, was probably busy fussing all over dear Diana now.

I only had myself, and I’d be damned if I went down without at least what looked like a fight.

I bared my fangs and pulled myself into the best defensive crouch I could manage with my trapped, mangled leg. A deep, angry growl vibrated in my chest, growing louder when the Rogues snickered and closed in on me.

One of them leaped at me, and I barely managed to dodge him in time. Pain exploded through my entire body as I felt the broken bones twist and scrape at my tissues, as I felt the teeth of the trap move inside the wound, aggravating the silver exposure.

Another rogue lunged and somehow I managed to avoid that hit too, but this time, my sight started to get blurry.

I was losing too much blood, and the pain was going at my head, which was starting to spin. The adrenaline pumping through my veins could do much – but only so much.

As long as I can, I reminded myself, catching an opportunity and biting the leg of the third Rogue when he came a tad too close. That cost me a swipe on my ribs, but I didn’t even register the pain.

I’ll stand and fight as long as I can.

It wouldn’t be said that the last daughter of the Sapphire Moon pack, the heir of Alpha Gordon and Luna Violet, two of the strongest warriors my pack had ever known, went down like a coward, without a fight.

I would stand my ground until I no longer could and that would be when I no longer had a breath of life in my body.

Which, considering how weak I was feeling, was going to be very very soon.

"Enough of this!" The first Rogue barked, slamming all of his weight onto my back and pinning me into the bloody snow. My bones creaked and snapped again, and a faint howl escaped my lips. "This was fun, pup, but it’s dinner time."

I refused to surrender. I thrashed, and snapped, and growled, and tried as much as I could to buck him off, but to no avail. And, all the while, the other two approached – slowly, hungrily.

Until they didn’t.

All of a sudden, that crushing weight was thrown off of me. I barely heard the Rogue wail and thrash until he did no more, his howls and barks drowning in a gurgling sound.

A split second later, a massive, pitch-black wolf moved before me, his tail stiff like a rod and his hackles raised like a wall of obsidian. A male, ready to defend me, and to attack.

Someone… someone had come for me.

Or maybe it was just another Rogue who’d decided he wanted me for dinner whose mom hadn’t clearly taught him to share.

My consciousness started to fade as I watched the wolf tear the remaining rogues into ribbons. I knew that, if he decided to attack me, I’d have no way to fight back.

I was too wounded, too exhausted to even growl. Honestly speaking, he wouldn’t even need to attack me. He’d just have to wait.

The wolf stood over the remains of the two other wolves for a second. Then, he turned and headed towards me.

It was then that I knew he wasn’t going to eat me.

That build, that little scar on his left cheek, those familiar, warm, brown eyes…

I knew that wolf.