He cracked the bedroom door and saw that she was sleeping under the pile of blankets, peacefully. It had taken everything he had to not stay in the bedroom with her, close them both off from the world, and just let fate take over. Even after her confession about how stifled she felt in her life, even after how much he’d been trying to push her away, Dominic knew deep down that both of them wanted whatever was happening between them. As complicated and impossible as it seemed
He had refused to stay with her in that bed because he knew it was his responsibility to guard her and the pack. But somewhere between the weary feelings in his bones from the amount of times he’d shifted in the last couple of days and the complete confusion that Olivia brought to his life, things had become messy inside of him. He never thought he’d be wrapped up with a woman like this, and he was more twined around her finger than even he knew yet.
And he’d only known her for a couple of days.
Dominic shut the door again and walked back through the cabin.
He was torn. Should he stay inside and make sure that Olivia was safe, or should he step out into the dark of the night and protect the pack?
If he went quickly then maybe he could do both. He should wake Atticus, tell him that he had a feeling that something was out there. Of course, Attics being the Alpha probably already knew and was out patrolling himself. So, maybe Dominic should just trust in Atticus and go in the opposite direction. Just a few paces, not straying far from where Olivia slept. He would be back well before she even knew he was gone.
Dominic left the house, making sure to make no noise. Carefully he scanned the outside, though in the dark it was hard to see much. His senses were stronger as a shifter than a human’s would normally be, but they were even better when he was already shifted. With a last look at his own cabin’s door, he took a few steps off of his porch and down into the soft earth.
It would still be possible to go to another’s cabin and knock on the door, just to make sure there was some backup in case his suspicions were true. But then a twig snapped just ahead of him, in the woods mere steps from where he was, and Dominic knew there may not be much time. But if he could find these poachers, surprise them and stop their game he can prevent more murders of shifters.
Quickly, Dominic’s body shuddered, releasing the wolf inside of him. He stretched his legs, feeling his muscles prepare for what the animal was going to need to do next.
With each step he made toward the trees where he’d heard the sound, his heavy paws made their mark in the dirt. A breeze blew and he let himself stop and sniff into it, trying to find any scent that he didn’t recognize. If people were lurking around as he suspected, then the unfamiliar scent of them would hit him quickly.
His nose found something and Dominic stopped and froze. What was it? Where was it coming from? There were many new scents lingering in the air, too undefinable. He kept walking gingerly, avoiding any fallen branches and trying to keep the crunch of leaves to a minimum. Luckily with the amount of rain they’d been experiencing, things were soggy and easy to move through quietly.
Tingles started to chase up his spine and instinct was telling him that they were getting close to the cabins or he was getting close towards them. He knew that with his fighting skills he could take at least a few of the poachers on, but if there were too many he was going to be in deep trouble. Maybe if he could at least stop enough of them from attacking the cabins, the rest would get scared off.
Dominic’s eyes darted around in the dark, every shadow that moved he felt himself tense in preparation for a brutal fight. Flashes of the last fight he’d been in, the most brutal one he’d ever had, where his brother had lost control and let his wolf release after he’d caught Dominic with Cherise together.
Ronald had let out a blood curdling growl and his wolf ripped out of him. Flying across the room in attack, ready to kill his own twin, Dominic had barely had time to shift in defense of his brother’s attack. But once he did, Dominic immediately overtook him, his strength far outweighed his weaker brother’s. By the time the fight was over and Ronald had crawled to the corner to nurse his wounds, there was blood, wounds, and a frightened Cherise cowering in the corner.
Dominic was never able to be sure if it was that he had charmed Cherise away from Ronald or that he’d torn at him so badly during the fight that had caused his parents to send him away. Since then he’d thought about the fight often, secretly ashamed at his behavior, but in the moments while he was slinking through the woods on high alert and ready for an even bigger brawl, he was glad to know that he had that kind of aggression in himself.
After all, if he could so ruthlessly attack his own twin brother, someone he’d once not only shared a castle with but also the closeness of a womb, then he could certainly do far more damage to someone who was attacking his new pack. Especially someone who was threatening Olivia.
Chapter Eighteen
Olivia
Deep in sleep, Olivia was plagued with a wild dream that she couldn’t seem to get out of. She was flying through the trees of the woods, the greenery below her was blurred due to how fast she was racing. As she watched down below her, trying to discern everything underneath her, she discovered all she could see was the green of leaves and spaces of brown that she knew to be dirt. But there was something else below her, moving just as fluidly as she was.
It was golden, shining brightly in the rays of the sun. Once Olivia spotted this creature she couldn’t tear her eyes away from it. If she could only get down low enough, see what it was, she could possibly understand this creature, the only thing she’d ever seen that could keep up with her. But try as she might, there was no way to get down that low. This creature stayed just out of her reach but never slipped from her sight.
Something pulled in her chest, like a string connecting her in the sky to this golden creature. If it moves one step behind or went one step ahead, it became hard to breathe due to the intense pull. But when it stayed with her, it felt just right.
Out of nowhere came a sudden lurch in her chest that was so painful it woke her. Olivia bolted straight up, gasping for air. She pushed the hair back from her face that was stuck and looked around the cabin wildly. It took a moment for her to place where she was and why.
It came flooding back to her when she realized it, she knew instinctively that it wasn’t just the dream that made her feel as if something was wrong. Something was wrong. Olivia set her feet on the floor and lifted herself out of bed. Her heart was racing and she knew there was only one thing she could do to calm it. She needed to check on Dominic; if she could see him on the couch, if she knew he was there right outside that door, she would be able to steady the beating of her heart and hopefully clear her cluttered mind.
But when she cracked open the door to peak out toward the living room, she didn’t see Dominic’s head of mussed hair on a pillow as she had expected and hoped. The couch was empty.
Her heart gave a large slam into her chest as she took tentative steps out of the bedroom and prayed over and over that she would find him in the kitchen at the table. But when she looked he wasn’t there either. The bathroom was empty as well with no sign of him. Dominic wasn’t in the cabin, that she was sure of, but then where was he?
Shakes had started to vibrate through her body as she became more aware with each passing second that there was danger in the in the air. She could taste it, feel it, and she knew that wherever Dominic was, he was out hunting for it. She wanted him to come back to her, she needed him right in that moment. She wanted to feel the strength of his hard body, run her fingers through his impossibly soft hair, and know that whatever might be going on outside of the cabin they were both safe inside of it. Knowing Dominic as she already felt she did, she was certain that if there was actual danger outside and she wasn’t overreacting, then that’s where he’d be. If she was going to find him, she was going to have to check outside of the cabin and hope that he hadn’t gone too far from her.
Olivia k
new that he was a natural born fighter and protector. Fighting had never been something she found necessary or useful, believing that even half-humans should be able to settle disputes better than that, but she somehow knew on Dominic it worked. Not only did it work with who he was, but that dark intensity he carried made him the fighter she imagined him to be, also made him even sexier than he already was..
If that was possible.
Still, she had to hope that even with his need to fight, he’d have common sense. If he went out to protect and investigate, hopefully he hadn’t done it alone.
Olivia opened the front door and stepped just outside of the frame. She looked around in the night but it was difficult to see anything in the dark. It was one of the few times she wished she had all the abilities like the others in her pack. A keen sense of sight would have been very helpful in that moment. But she didn’t possess that extra sense and found herself stepping out a little farther hoping for a glimpse around at the other cabins.
It was late, how late she wasn’t exactly sure, but late enough that the lights were off in all of her neighbor’s cabins. Everyone seemed to be sleeping, everyone but Dominic that was.
There was a creak behind her and Olivia felt her pounding heart stop as fear sliced through her. Strong arms grabbed her, one wrapping around her waist and the other around her mouth, preventing the scream that was desperately trying to escape her mouth.
“I’ve got her,” a voice hissed from behind her.
Olivia felt her knees go weak. She tried to fight back, tried to resist, but he held her so tightly not only could she not move but she could barely breathe.
“Now you’re going to want to calm down or it’s going to make this a whole lot worse for you,” he said in her ear. His breath was hot and she pulled away from his lips that were leaving droplets of spittle on her ear.
“You’re going to cooperate with me or else everyone will die. Do you understand?”
Tears streamed out of the corners of her eyes but she managed to nod that she did understand. She knew what they had done to those other packs, those families. A picture flashed in her mind’s eye, of her pack, her family, and what these poachers wanted to do to them all. Though she’d always resisted being one of them, in that moment of fear, she knew she loved them more than anything.
The only thing she could hope was that out there somewhere, Dominic was alright and going to come to her rescue. To all of their rescue. Because without his strength and his aggression, she didn’t think they stood any chance of survival.
Chapter Nineteen
Dominic
Nothing was out there, nothing that he could see, but the feeling of something being wrong was growing deeper inside of him. The woods had become silent, almost too silent. No animals scurried around, not another limb snapped, nothing at all but a hollow, stillness night. And Dominic knew that wasn’t right.
Feeling overly cautious with every bone in his body, he was only a few steps in the woods but turned around and quietly crept back to his own cabin. The lights were still off, and at first glance nothing seemed to be disturbed at all. But as he stepped one paw onto the porch, he saw that his front door was open just the tiniest crack. With his nose he pushed it open and tentatively stepped inside.
Nothing was out of place but he could tell immediately that Olivia was no longer inside. The air, the feeling, the warmth that had surrounded him every time he was in her presence was gone. She wasn’t in the cabin and he would have felt her outside, where did she go?
One job, Atticus had given him just one job, to protect his daughter and that was the only job in his life that ever even mattered to Dominic, to make sure that he kept Olivia safe, and now she was missing.
He hopes that he hadn’t failed and that she was still safe somewhere. That he wasn’t too late. But if they caught her, then why would they have kept her alive? He knew what those poachers were capable of and they showed no mercy. This wasn’t about hurting and killing, this was about destruction for a game. For amusement. So if they really did have her, then he was going to have to find her fast.
Back outside he slowly made his way from cabin to cabin, a shadow in the night. Many of the shifters had been called away to help guard the other packs, those that were left were exhausted form their constant duty. If there was nothing wrong at all, he didn’t want to cause a raucous. There was still a chance, though Dominic knew it was smaller and smaller, that nothing was wrong at all and that everything was in his head.
Suddenly there was a high-pitched scream. Commotion tore apart the silence of the night and Dominic turned quickly in the direction of Atticus’ cabin. Before he could even think about it he was racing toward to Atticus where he was sure that he would find Olivia.
The light was on outside of Atticus’ cabin where it hadn’t been before and he could see a ring of men standing outside in the yellow light. Dominic slowed and surveyed the scene. He wasn’t sure what was happening but before he went barreling into a group of dangerous men who potentially held Olivia, he had to get a better sense of what was happening.
He got down low in the shadows next to the cabin and was ready to pounce at any moment if needed.
“Listen, Alpha, we’ve got your daughter. Took her without even trying, we’ve got the upper hand here,” one of the poachers said.
Atticus stood there in the middle of the ring of poachers, they were large and Dominic could see how dangerous they were. In their hands were knives that glinted in the moonlight. They weren’t playing around and they clearly didn’t intend to leave anyone alive.
But why were they taking to Atticus like that? They’d had the upper hand. Even with the commotion the other pack members were still in their cabins and Dominic wasn’t sure if it was because they hadn’t heard what was happening or if they were too afraid to come out. He hoped it was one of those possibilities and not that they’d already been attacked themselves.
“What is it you want?” Atticus asked.
Dominic had to admire the calm in his voice; the strength that exuded from him even when they were threating his daughter. Though Dominic felt anything but calm. He could feel the snarl on his lips and the growl inside him was building low and steady. The only thing he wanted to do was to rip these men apart, but he needed to follow Atticus’ lead and stay calm.
“We want you. We want all of you dead.”
Atticus spoke again, only a slight tremor to his voice. “But my daughter, there is no reason to take my daughter. She isn’t a shifter— she’s human. You’d be killing a human.”
The main poacher shrugged with indifference. “She’s one of you, she dies too.”
“Then why use her as bait? Why haven’t you killed her already? Perhaps you don’t want to kill a human?”
He had to give it to the old Alpha, using logical tactics on men that had torn apart whole packs before was risky. But what choice did he have?
“Because, Atticus, we needed you to come out here. We needed to capture you, an Alpha is the winning ticket in this game. But do you know what’s even better?”
Atticus shifted uncomfortably, he was running out of words and ways to stall these men. Death was becoming more imminent as each second ticked past.
The Poachers didn’t say anything again, not until Atticus spoke.
“What is better than catching an Alpha and winning the game?”
“Killing your daughter right in front of your own eyes. Destroying the Alpha before we cut off his head.”
Dominic was almost ready right then to pounce on these men and kill as many as he could, no one was going to talk to Atticus that way. But before he could, one of the men with the largest knife on the outer ring shifted just enough and he could see Olivia.
His girl.
And she was being held hostage by a man that was as large as Dominic. But his stomach sank when he saw that the man had a knife too and its sharp blade was pressed against the soft flesh of her throat. He held her so tightly that a bead of blood
was dripping down her neck.
She was looking around frantically when her eyes locked on Dominic’s. Even in the shadows she had been able to find him. He didn’t know what to do or how to save her, but somehow she was able to get inside his mind.
“Follow my lead,” she seemed to say.
So, Dominic continued to stay in the shadows, ready to follow her into battle.
Chapter Twenty
Olivia
The man that had grabbed her had been rough with her on the porch, clearly not caring how hard he squeezed or how much she was going to bruise from his intense grasp. That was the point after all, wasn’t it? To hurt her? To cause her harm?
While every muscle in her body wished that she could fight him off, but she was no match for a poacher who was used to dealing with fighting wolves, the strength of a non-shifting girl was hardly any match.
Where was Dominic? She knew he’d be able to fight this man off with almost no effort, but Dominic wasn’t there. Maybe if she could have screamed or run then he’d been able to know she was in danger, but that wasn’t possible.
He dragged her off the porch while her legs kicked and flailed with all the effort she could put in. The poacher didn’t even seem to notice. There were few times that she felt being a shifter would make her life better, but being dragged off a porch in the middle of the night without the strength to fight back would have been one of those times. How easy would it have been to shift and fight this man off if she had any wolf inside of her?
“I’ve got her,” the man hissed into the night.
Olivia was frantically trying to adjust her eyes to be able to see into the dark, but panic was causing her mind to whirl too fast. Had anyone else been captured? Was Atticus ok?
Her feet made long tracks in the mud as she tried to dig her heels in but he was relentless. Dragging her towards her father’s house, she was terrified of what she might see when she got there. These poachers were horrible humans that excited themselves over the killing of shifter packs and there was a real fear that snaked through her that these men weren’t going to stop until they got what they wanted.
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