The Scarlet Hunter

Chapter 35-2

The confusion she left behind resulted in knives being dropped, werewolves hastily shifting. They abandoned not just their hostages and their dead but their deeply wounded wolf.

She was not the fastest and knew that Hayden, with his gamma magic, would catch up. Within thirty seconds, he flanked her, nudging what direction she should be heading. In wolf form, she was no match for the eight wolves that surrounded her. She lost her ability to fight them when she abandoned her gear with Alessandra and Maya.

Isla wanted to be prepared to fight her way out of whatever her near-term future held. She couldn't keep up the pace. Since she had enough distance from the hostages, she slowed to a speed that would allow her to not be entirely out of breath when she got to wherever she was going.

Hayden ran ahead and came out of the treeline into a clearing next to a road. Isla saw several vehicles lined up and parked nearby. More wolves surrounded one of the vehicles and were now approaching her.

"It is better to be injured and waiting for us than to get into one of those vehicles," Jax said through the link after she sent them the image. "If you get into one of those SUVs, it may take us days or weeks to find you."

"Acknowledged," Isla responded.

She jogged to the middle of the clearing as the wolves surrounded her and a werewolf in human form got out from the parked Expedition. The man who walked up was in a tailored navy blue suit, had white hair and a sharp jawline. He gave off bulky Anderson Cooper vibes as he stalked towards her.

"Shift, Isla." He spoke and emanated an alpha command. Even when the alpha is in another pack, he can force the basics on their territory, such as a shift.

The wave rolled over Isla as she stayed in her wolf form. The rumbling of low growls surrounded her, and his eyes darkened. "I command you to shift, Isla!" A wave of nausea overcame Isla as she resisted him.

The growling increased, and the man kept his eyes dark when he altered his voice. "I am Alpha Cole, Isla, and I would like to talk to you. I can't talk to you like this."

The reality is that she is no more able to defend herself in wolf form than in human form. He was not offering her any clothes to cover herself with once she shifted to human form. Xander and his tactics went through her mind, and she felt a wave of "fuck this guy" overcome her.

As Isla shifted into her human form, Alpha Cole dug into his pocket and grabbed a couple silver cuffs. He walked up to her naked form and went for her wrists, eliciting even more snarls and growling from the crowd surrounding her.

"They've got silver. I'm going dark." Isla linked to Jax and Alec.

The last thing she heard was Alec telling her they were almost there and not to get into the vehicles. The silver cuffs were put on her, they didn't bind her hands together, but she couldn't take them off either. She felt the link go blank and a burning sensation wrapped around her wrists. Her strength was starting to leave her.

"Now that we have some privacy from your link, Isla, I wanted to talk to you about something."

He wanted her to feel embarrassed about being naked in front of the sixteen wolves that were currently surrounding her. She knew that his plan was to throw her off-kilter, weaken her with silver, and encourage her to seek him for protection.

Well, bulky Anderson Cooper, you like your gamma, have underestimated me.

Isla felt the familiar intensity of attention hyper-focused on her and everything she did. She stood there, wearing nothing but mud, the breeze blowing over her skin, between her legs. She looked around and noticed that although all the wolves were showing aggression, there were two different categories.