Callie's POV ...
The rain was coming down hard. I continued to push my legs through the wet forest floor, kicking up mud every so often. My lungs were complying from the lack of oxygen they were receiving but I powered through the pain.
The thunder roared above me and lighting flashed, exposing me for milliseconds at a time. I hadn't encountered any of the border patrol wolves yet but I knew there had to be at least two or three out here.
Kameron was a man of caution and he would never leave his borders unprotected. I just needed to continue to move through the shadows and cross over into the next territory and figure things out from there.
'Don't leave,' my internal voice had been battling with me at every single corner. I tried not to listen but it was a voice I couldn't get away from seeing as it was my own. I was in a constant battle between my head and my heart. I wanted to stay but knew I needed to leave.
I tried to think about the good this decision would do me. I would be 'free' once again and I would have the ability to go wherever I pleased. This time, I wouldn't be stuck in only wolf form. I could board a plane somewhere and never look back. I could get into a boat and sail to Morocco where l could escape it all. I could escape my haunting past. I could escape Damien. I could escape Kameron.
His face flushed in the back of my mind. His pearly white smile made my heart flutter every time I caught it. His gorgeous green eyes reminded me of the greenery in the forest after it had just rained. His intoxicating scent of pine and masculinity. I had only known him for almost a week, yet my heart yearned for him. It called to him the same way I knew he called to mine.
Only now was I finally realizing the gravity and the weight of the mate pull. I fought it off because I had been so close to him. I had to fight it off; otherwise, my wolf would have taken over and completed the bond. At the time, I thought completing the bond was the worst thing I could have done for
myself. Now it was a regret that I would carry with me for the rest of my life.
I felt the sting build behind my eyes as continued to think about Kameron. I would never see him again. I would never hear his voice again. I would never feel him again. He was meant to be my one-in-a-million perfect match and I was walking away from that.
"He chose someone else" I verbalized to my intrusive thoughts.
The thought of him marrying and mating someone else broke my heart even further. He would share his whole self with someone else. I would be forced to feel the pain of the rejection as they mated. I would be forced to feel the serving of our pull being ripped out from within me. It was bad enough I had the knowledge he would be with someone else; now I would feel it, too.
I looked to the sky, hoping to see the moon but it was covered behind the storm clouds. 'Moon goddess, I thought, you have done me dirty: Not only did I lose my family but now I had to lose my mate, as well.
"What more are you willing to take from me?" I cried, voicing my hurt. She had taken so much that I had nothing left for her to take aside from my life.
I continued to push my legs harder as I crossed over into the neighboring territory. There was a piece of no man's land not too far from this place. I would stay there for a few days until I figured out what the next steps to my plan were.
I was well into the next territory when I saw four pairs of glowing yellow eyes in the distance.
I froze. I felt my wolf stir deep within me as she sensed the danger that was looming right in front of us. My breath caught in my throat, I didn't move a single muscle. I knew they had seen me. I could feel all eight of their eyes focused on me. There was no mistaking that I was what they wanted.
Their scents hit my nose and instantly, the dread and terror washed over me like a bucket of iced cold water.
It was them-the wolves that had been the cause of me venturing into Kameron's territory, to begin with. My initial suspicions had been correct about them being after me that night. Had they been waiting by Kameron's border this entire time? Did they work for Damien?
They stepped out of the shadows in their wolf forms, growling at me. Their teeth were bared, ready to spring into the attack.
I may have healed but my wolf was in no condition to go paw to paw with four adult wolves. I was outnumbered and outmatched. I should have run, but my body felt frozen in place. My limbs locked to my sides and my eyes were wide, staring at my death.
Was this how it was all going to end? Was I to die like this?
I had been running for eight years. I ducked and dodged danger. I cheated death on multiple occasions. I guessed that, at some point, the reaper had to come and collect. I just never thought that it would be like this.
The biggest wolf of the four stepped forward, growling at me. I stood still as stone, watching him. His yellow eyes were zeroed in on me and I could see the evilness behind them. I was dead. There was no way of getting out of this.
My mom told me to run. She told me to keep running and never look back. But I hadn't listened. I stopped running and now I was paying the price for not listening to my mother.
'I'm sorry, mom,' I thought. A lone tear fell from my eyes.
The biggest wolf stepped forward and prepared to pounce. The last thing I saw was its paws launching off of the ground before I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable.
Suddenly, I heard a bellowing roar from behind me. I snapped my eyes open just to see a huge black wolf bearing down on us-perhaps the largest I had ever seen. It bounded into the clearing and leaped in front of me, landing all four feet on the side of the wolf that had been approaching me, and slamming it to the ground.
As I looked on in confusion, an all-too-familiar scent hit me, like a pine forest after autumn rain.
Kameron.
He was here.
The three wolves sprung into action and surged toward Kameron. My heart hammered in my chest wildly as I watched Kameron surge forward toward them. He started picking them off one by one. They were large wolves, but Kameron's wolf was larger.
I knew he was going to be big, but nothing compared to what I saw. He fought with ease and precision. Each strike was tactful and each move was calculated. I was so transfixed on him that I barely had time to register the large wolf that came barrelling my way. I turned my head just in time to see the flash of the white teeth as the lightning struck the clouds.
I was prepared for the attack, but it never came. Kameron surged forward and knocked the wolf out of my path. He stood in front of me, his wolf watching me. It was strange-even though he wasn't speaking to me, it was like I could understand exactly what he was saying to me.
'Go back home, now.'
I shook my head, trying to convey, 'I'm not leaving you.'
His wolf shook its large head in return. He wanted me to leave, but I couldn't. If I was to go back, then I was going back with him.
I looked over his shoulder and saw the wolf that had previously tried to attack me. He was coming straight for Kameron, whose pack was turned.
"Kameron." I shrieked-it came out as a yelp-and pushed his wolf. He was huge, so I had to use all my strength but, luckily, he hadn't been expecting me to shove him, so he was easy to move out of the way.
The wolf bounded right for me, snapping its mouth at me. I fell backward onto the wet forest floor, the mud splattering onto my body. I did my best to hold him back but he was much bigger and clearly stronger.
He raised his paw up, releasing his claws. I closed my eyes, ready for the attack; but, like before, it never came. Kameron was on the wolf's back, biting down on his neck hard. The wolf whimpered in pain and removed himself from my body. Kameron threw him off to one side in one fluid motion.
The other three wolves were wounded, while Kameron looked like he had barely broken a sweat. He lowered his head and growled at them. The wolves cowered away and took off running.
I breathed a sigh of relief, but something told me that this was not the last time we were going to see them.