His Reluctant Luna

Ch 33 - Pulse

We held back, hiding at the base of the cliff until she came down. I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice by cornering her again. I watched her, clothes destroyed, exhausted, bear dung still clinging to her. But she was beautiful.

I imagined the light in her eyes when I told her I was letting her go. My wolf snarled at me, furious, but I would deal with that later. Letting her go was against every instinct I had but if my family and friends supported it, she would have her freedom by nightfall.

As I watched her, I planned it. She was unharmed. I would take her back to the pack, she could wash, eat, then go with an escort to the airport. Get her out of the country.

I turned to Charlie, nodding at the phone attached to his leg. He nodded back and retreated a distance away so she wouldn't hear him make the call back to our pack. We'd need a car to pick us up, there was no way I was making her walk all that way, exhausted as she was.

Time passed, long minutes where I waited for her to come down and I planned what I would say. Suddenly, my heart lurched in my chest as she went over the edge, a final look in our direction before she disappeared.

She'd known we were here...how? We hadn't made a sound.

Panic high, we sped around the base of the cliff, rocks biting into my paws but when we reached the other side her scent was nowhere to be found. On the ground anyway. I caught a whiff of it on the air, turning my nose up I searched.

The trees. She was in the fucking trees.

I growled in frustration. We spread out and scented, long minutes passed as we jumped up at each tree, front paws on the bark, searching for her.

Jake yipped suddenly as he caught her scent back on the earth. She was running again - how was she still running?

Our paws pounded the earth. She was only minutes ahead of us now. It was over. My stomach turned as I heard people in the distance, heard a car door slam before the vehicle set off.

She could catch them. If I let her go, she could catch up to them, flag them down and get out of here. My wolf snarled at me, urging me on but I found my pace slowing. Her freedom was in her grasp.

We were so close, metres, yards away. I could see the swish of her hair through the trees, hear the pant of her breath.

I smelled it before I saw it. We were trained to smell them as pups to make sure we never stepped in one. Cold metal, covered over by leaves.

I wanted to scream at her to stop but I had no voice in my wild.

I heard the sharp swish of the trap and then....blood. Blood and agony as her scream ripped through me.

I was there as she fell to the earth, the trap snapped shut on her beautiful leg. Her precious body.

My wolf threatened to break out at the sight of his wounded mate. He blamed me, furious for slowing my pace, furious for letting her get away, furious that I hadn't claimed her on sight and avoided all of this. But he didn't understand. I forced the instinct driven creature back. She needed me.

Her screams were a torture as I shifted, slowly, painfully. Finally, I felt the earth under my bare skin and I rushed to her.

The steel jaws were embedded deep in her leg, flesh ripping as she struggled. I scooped her into my arms, pinning her to my body to keep her still. My skin sang at having her in my arms again, despite my panic.

I tried to soothe her but of course my touch only made it worse. I needed to get her out of here. I needed to get her to Kara.

Kara...