Page 16 of Hunted By the Wolves
“He is a grey wolf,” Dorian added, carefully.“That eye color you described—arctic blue—that’s a trait.These wolf shifters are not common, and that trait is very specific.”
She caught the brief look they shared—fast, loaded, and gone before she could read it.
Riley stared at them.“What?I saw that look.What are you not telling me?”
“We are the same,” Rafe said.“Grey wolves.”
Her stomach turned.Images surged unbidden—teeth, fur, glowing eyes.Her breath came shallow.
Dorian noticed immediately.He softened his posture, lowered his voice.“We won’t shift in front of you.Not unless you ask us to, or we need to protect you.”
She nodded, grateful.
“Did he threaten you with his wolf?”Rafe asked.
“Yes.”
“Did he...”Dorian swallowed hard.“Hurt you with his wolf?”
She nodded and pushed up her sleeves.Pale scars crossed her forearms, healed but ugly.She lifted her pant leg just enough to show the marks there, too.
The growl was immediate.
Low.Dangerous.
Both men’s eyes flashed, that same pale bright and lethal blue under the gray.
Riley tensed instinctively then realized that there was a difference.There were no flickers of insanity in their eyes as there were in Christian’s.That was very clear.
They stopped.Immediately.
“I’m sorry,” Rafe said at once.“We didn’t mean to scare you.”
She shook her head.“I was startled.Not ...petrified.Not like I was with him.”
Silence settled again.
“He called me his mate,” she said quietly.Their reaction this time was absolute.“I don’t even know what that means.”
“No,” Rafe said, sharp but controlled.“That’s not possible.”
“When I asked what that meant,” Riley said, “he said it meant that I was his, and no one else’s, whether I understood it or not didn’t matter.”
Dorian leaned forward slightly.“We’ll explain what that means in our world, just ...not yet.Keep going.”
She told them about escaping.About the neighbor who called the police.The report that went nowhere.How the mental illness notation poisoned everything she said.
“And when I realized he was circling back,” she finished, “I left.I sold what I could, packed what mattered, and I ran.”
Rafe looked at her like she’d done something extraordinary.
“You’re so brave,” he said simply.
“And strong,” Dorian added.“Stronger than most.”
The words warmed something she hadn’t even realized was frozen.
“We want you to come with us back to E.S.E,” Rafe said.“Let us keep you safe.”
