Free Feral Love (Paranormal Alpha Werewolf Shifter Romance) by Alison Walsh Page A

Van Houten. He went for her throat and she leaped out of the way in time into the snow.
     
    He’s going to kill me… If he can’t have me, he’ll make sure no-one else can either… Fangs slashed towards her and Remy Clearwater found herself paralyzed staring into gaping maws.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
     
    Something was wrong. Blake felt it in the air. The familiar scent of fear filled his nostril. But unlike the fear he was accustomed to smelling, this one unnerved him. For almost fifty years, he’d led the pack with Emma and Locke by his side. There wasn’t a challenge that his two Betas couldn’t complete. But when Emma failed to return with Remy, Blake felt unease creeping more and more into his heart.
     
    It was the unease that made him scout forward with Lock after Emma’s scent.
     
    Remy, where are you? He paced. There had been no word from her, nothing at all since the dream he shared with her. He longed for her to return to his arms so that he could feel her warmth pulsing in his embrace. It grew maddening as he waited.
     
    He opened the link between them again and again but there was no answer. Only a throbbing pain remained where her presence had been so clear just a few hours ago.
     
    He pawed at the frozen ground, digging through snow and earth and roots. Snapping his jaw impatiently, he reached for Remy again and felt nothing but the painful throb.
     
    You know what happened. Locke blocked his path. You know what needs to be done. If the girl is your mate, then you’ll take her back. The Old Ways demand it.
     
    Blake knew Locke was right. When an Alpha’s mate is threatened, it was as if the threat was made on the Alpha himself. The Old Ways demanded that a wolf steal his mate from her previous pack: a show of power and dominance to prove his worth. But Blake also knew that his wolves—brave and strong they may be—were no match against collared wolves. What those chained beasts had forgone in fighting skills, they more than adequately made up with the cowardly weapons of humans. Guns killed faster than claws and teeth.
     
    I can reach her. He assured Locke but even his own heart was wavering. There were only a handful of reasons why he couldn’t reach out to his mate and none of those boded well.
     
    And if you can’t? Locke’s stare chilled Blake. It was a possibility that he didn’t want to entertain. For all he knew, Remy might be seriously wounded or even…
     
    No… she isn’t… But the empty throbbing pain at the back of his skull each time he tried to reach her grew more intense with every passing moment and he was growing more uncertain.
     
    The pack is expecting her, my Alpha. Locke stepped closer, his fangs exposed in the cold air. The longer you wait, the more likely they’ll start believing in the other rumors about her… And when that happens, it’s likely they’ll start looking for a new Alpha to lead them.
     
    And who might that be, Locke? You? Blake stared back at Locke’s cold eyes and thought bitterly to himself. The word that Blake has found his mate has already spread through most of the pack and many have begun trailing after Blake, hoping to catch a scent of this new wolf. In the few hours since his return, he heard a hundred different rumors about his mate. Some said she was the fastest wolf they’ve ever encountered, other said she was the strongest, still others said she was the most vicious.
     
    Only Locke and a handful of wolves knew the truth: Blake Christensen’s mate was collared.
     
    I won’t send my wolves into needless bloodshed. If we attack the collared wolves in their homes, they’ll come after us with weapons that’ll kill us before we could even see them. The thought of such heavy losses in his pack was unthinkable. It’s not an easy decision to make.
     
    An Alpha must always be ready to make a difficult decision. Locke reminded him. Refuse the attack and you turn your back on the Old Ways as well as the pack. Send us in and many will