Free The Devil Inside (Wolf Guard Book 1) by Roxanne Lee

killed, maybe her obsession with blood had evolved to include the
human she inhabited.
    His
huge thighs tensed in preparation. That pounding grew louder, a heavy base in
my head.
    His
hands with claws extended, clenched until blood dripped from his palms. My
stomach dropped to my knees.
    Every
breath from his chest was a snarl on exhalation. I felt that warning tingle,
that moment that comes before fangs and claws and fur.
    I
saw his legs stretch and release. A push off the ground in a wild man's leap.
The panic that started so small grew to consume my control until all that was
left was that burning and searing of shift.
    He
flew across the rusty grass, a living, breathing creature of lore commanding an
avenue on the dying terrain.
    He
did not heed my wolf's deafening roar, did not stop at her ferocious face. He
kept coming until all I could see was this great beast dominating my view.
    It
seemed my wolf was all out of options. He wasn't listening and she had, had
enough. As his great feet came within touching distance, a large dark hand
reaching for her fur, she bent those lion like limbs low to ground and sprung
quickly to the side, a twist in her spine mid air.
    She
ran, an Olympic sprint that no other wolf had a hope of catching as long as she
still had breath in her lungs and will in her legs. The trees were passing
faster than light, those rabbits throwing themselves out of the devil's way. I
was locked down behind a storm of confusion, watching from my glass encased
box, examining the commotion inside her mind.
    When
the guards and the Captain and the mess was far behind, a bellowing roar in my
wake. I had just one thought remaining.
    I left Sam.

Chapter 12.
    The
process of calming down my bristling other half took a good couple of hours. I
wasn’t entirely sure what had gotten her so conflicted in the first place. The best
I could work out from the feelings swirling through her was that she couldn't
quite make up her mind on whether or not to kill that Captain. I personally
think she might be slightly overestimating her abilities.
    There
seemed to be a block between us that interrupted the synergy between human and
wolf; that perfect bond of two entities of conscious thought within one ever
shifting package.
    By
the time we'd run close to twenty miles we were somewhat at an impasse. She
couldn't keep running forever and I kept pushing at her to go back for Sam. I
didn't expect to save us both, but maybe they would let Sam go if I returned,
and that, would be good enough for me.
    In
the end, that was all it took. The idea of losing Sam, a big part of her slowly
forming, unconventional pack. As hot-headed as she was, neither of us were
willing to sacrifice him. That sneaky old-timer seemed to of taken a little bit
of her heart too.
    When
she finally turned back it was with great irritation and uneasiness, she ambled
more than ran but at least it was in the right direction. I was concerned about
what I would find when I got there, for a centuries old wolf, born and
fashioned in discipline and order, that Captain had the worst control I'd ever
seen.
    Our
whole existence had been made to be suffocated in control. Endless training of
shifting at will, management of emotion, manipulation of thought until the
wildness slowly departed the wolf, leaving a muzzled house pet in place of raw,
unbridled pride and repletion. Such abject waste.
    I
would not be controlled ever again. I revelled in that uncivilised,
uncultivated, vicious animal. We were wolves; we were not meant to be tamed.
    On
reaching the clearing just before the cabin, I was immensely surprised to find
it wolf free. Although, those guards had many years experience on me; I could
very well have been completely surrounded.
    My
wolf gave a high pitched howl, a call to a member of her pack. I had a moment
of utter fear that it would go unanswered.
    The
cabin door opened and a robe appeared first, attached to a rough, marginally
wrinkled hand.
    A
breath escaped in a