Free Rescued by His Lone Wolf Mate by Anya Byrne Page B

for the humans, who seemed
to be pursuing Connor's mate in their truck. Without a moment of hesitation,
Connor got on his bike. He prayed and hoped that he would not be too late, and
that when the moment came, he'd know what to say and do. If he didn't, if he
failed his mate... He didn't think he could handle it.
    ****
    Dani was scared—but that wasn't anything new. He'd been
frightened out of his mind ever since he'd been kicked out of the warren. The
humans were so strange and different from his kind. They looked at Dani like
they knew he was fundamentally flawed. Sometimes, they tried to touch him,
although that never ended well for them.
    Dani might be a rabbit shifter, but he was still far stronger
than humans, and a kick from his powerful legs could fracture a human's hipbone
with ease—as he'd learned, the hard way. He didn't want to hurt people, so he
tried to keep his head down and not draw attention to himself. He simply hadn't
known where to go... Until he'd heard about the werewolf pack of outcasts who'd
stood their ground against their own kind. They all had male mates, some of
whom were already pregnant. They wouldn't be affected by Dani's strange pull
and would understand Dani's predicament.
    It was his only chance, Dani had thought before he'd set out
on this long journey. And now, here he was, fleeing once again from a group of
humans who had decided to make Dani their target.
    He was scared, but he knew how to deal with fear. Run, like
his kind did, or face it, like he had been doing since his banishment. He had
chosen flight, largely because this fear he felt... It wasn't like anything
he'd experienced before.
    The humans' hostility wasn't the only thing that frightened
him. There had been another man in the diner, a man who made his heart race in
ways he wasn't wholly comfortable with. Was the reason behind it even fear? He
simply couldn't understand it, and the not knowing, the uncertainty—it was
scarier than anything else.
    He would have stayed, Dani realized, if not for the humans.
He would have approached the stranger, because he had seen something in the man
that called out to him. But yet again, Dani's anomaly was betraying him, and he
could not choose for himself or have what he wanted.
    To a certain extent, he was not surprised when he heard the
car approaching. He had seen it in the diner parking lot, and had known that if
it belonged to his pursuers, he would be in trouble. Since Dani was on foot,
they had a clear advantage in that regard.
    But then again, even if he'd decided to go trekking through
the rough terrain and avoid roads—which would make his trip take forever—he
would just let the fear win. And maybe it didn't make sense, but something
inside Dani rebelled against that.
    Of course, that didn't mean he was about to wait for them to
make a move and attack him. "Hey there, pretty," someone called out
from the car. "Why don't you stop and chat with us for a bit?"
    Dani ignored them. He was used to such words by now, and if
words were the only weapon they used, he'd be fine.
    "Oh, playing hard to get, are you? Come on, don't be
shy. You know you're just waiting for a man to give you what you want."
    Dani almost gagged at the image of any of these humans
touching him. He resolutely kept walking, his heart racing even as he tried to
control his instincts. If he let go, if he used his speed to escape, he'd be
risking the secrecy of his kind, and that was one thing that he could not
allow.
    The humans didn't appreciate being ignored. Dani heard the
car stop, and the humans running toward him. A hand landed on his shoulder, and
Dani couldn't take it anymore.
    He lashed out, freeing himself from the human's hold before
his pursuer could capture him. "Leave me alone."
    Predictably, his words fell on deaf ears. The three men just
stared at Dani, nostrils flaring, eyes glazed with a mix of lust and anger.
    The situation could have gotten really bad had the sound of
an approaching motorcycle