The Cursed Luna

Runaway

Sloane

I stride across the cottage, Samson at my side, leaving Donald and Cage at the table. I'm used to them planning together—it's what an Alpha and his second in command should do. Doesn't mean Donald still won't piss me off. And it has nothing to do with who he is, but the way he carries himself. Since he arrived to live with us in the Ulv pack in Denmark, he's never truly opened up and has always remained by the sidelines. I'm not one to believe he is against us; the bastard is just angry with the whole f*****g world. I just wish he'd find a way to deal with that dark s**t and move the f**k on already.

Samson stumbles on his next step and I snatch his arm, steadying him before he face-plants into the front door. "You trying to kiss the wall?" I chuckle as he finds his feet.

"What the f**k was that?" he glances back around to see what he tripped over.

"It's called your feet." I wrench open the door to the tavern, and a burst of cool air rushes inside and curls around us. "Let's take you back to your room."

Samson straightens and heads outside. We've both had too much beer and food, but after our recent trip down south, I've missed a decent feed. Not to mention, if I never see another zombie, it'll be too soon.

"What do you think we'll find in the Woods of Evil?" Samson asks.

I briefly glance at him, the breeze blowing through his blond hair and tossing it over his face. "f**k, man, are you freaking out about it?"

Sure, I've heard scary s**t about the forest, but I don't go into battle with fear. Whatever the hell comes at us, we'll destroy it.

He snorts a partial laugh. "You know me, I want to go in prepared. I hate going into battle blind. I'm trying, but damn, I've heard too many stories about the place to not worry."

I wish I could clue him in on something, anything, to put his mind at rest, but we're all going into this completely blind and with the Cursed girl as our eyes. That means having our crap together and not being a damn p***y about being scared.

Samson suddenly jerks his head toward the woodland pressing up against the inn like he saw something. "For f**k's sake," he grumbles, staring at the darkness in disbelief.

I scan the area and spot two figures sprinting away from the building. They look mighty thin and small, like two females.

"Are you kidding me?" I lift my head to the window on the third floor, seeing a light flickering, which I assume is a decoy for us. "It's them, isn't it?"

"Cara's good and sly. She may prove a problem for us on the mission," Samson says. "But for now, feel like a round of hunting?"

"I'm always up for it. Cara is mine. You get Leora."

He cuts me a side glance filled with bane. "Why do you get her?"

"I called it first. Now, are we darting after them or are you going to f**k around as they escape? Cage will hang us by our balls if they do."

Samson cracks his neck, and he launches himself after his prize.

Adrenaline thumps through me at the chase, everything inside me demanding I rush after her and claim her.

I'm running in an instant, my feet pounding the earth as I burst into the woodland. The cold air is crisp with forest scents, but on the breeze, I catch her sugary scent tinted with a sprinkle of fresh meadow and wolf... a smell unique to her.

It shouldn't excite me to pursue her, but f**k, it does. Samson is ahead of me, and even from a distance, I spot the girls looking back at us. Alarm tightens their expressions, and I smile.

In their panic, they abruptly spear outward in different directions. Yeah, fear confuses people in times of high tension. I swing left after Cara, while Samson bears right.

Cara sprints away, dodging around trees and under low-hanging branches. She's small and nimble, but she won't get away from me. My wolf is in my chest pounding for release, for escape, but then what? I already know I'm faster, more powerful than her, and a chase is only fun if there's a challenge.

She darts out of my sight, bleeding into the darkness, but I have her scent, and that leads me dead ahead through the wilderness. My feet punch the ground with 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 Cara 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 f**k 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. "f**k 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 Cara 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 d**k, 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 Cara 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 Cage'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.

Cara 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 Cara, all I spy is her shadow slicing through the darkness away from me. "f**k!" 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 omega who is going to be sorry she ran from me after I did her a favor.