Free Third Rank Penn Lake Wolves Book Three by Clare Atling

own daughter, Callie, or the plans
he had for her. I don’t know her, but she seems okay.’ Maggie smiled at Colt
    ‘She’s the best, Colt. I’m sure,
once we get out of here, you can come speak to her. I’m sure she would love to meet
you. I won’t be...’ With that, she snapped her mouth shut, but Colt saw the
tears in her eyes.
    ‘You won’t what, Maggie?’
    ‘Nothing. Now, let see if we can
look at your cuts. Some of them already seem to be healing fine.’ She didn’t attempt
to touch his face and Colt noticed she kept a safe distance away. That was okay.
He would have to earn her trust, if she was willing to give it after everything
he had put her through.
    ‘Maggie,’ he began, ‘I know we’re
not even close to friends, and I’m the last person you’d want to trust right
now. But I guarantee you I will get you out of here and away from my father. I
promise, if it’s the last thing I do.’
    ‘Thank you, Colt, that means a
lot to me,’ Maggie replied, smiling. ‘I don’t have any friends, so I would like
to trust you.’
    ‘I thought you would have made
friends at Penn Lake. You seem to know Callie well enough.’
    ‘That was before they found out I
had lied to them all,’ she replied sadly. ‘Family is everything to them. When
Brandon found out I had been working for Marcus he ordered me off the island. Greg
brought me here. I don’t know what’s worse for me. A life with this pack,
knowing that Penn Lake was a better pack by far, or living without Penn Lake at
all.’ She was rambling now and she was sure Colt didn’t want to hear her.
    ‘I promise, if we get out of this
alive, we will help each other out.’ Colt didn’t know why, but he felt
protective now of Maggie. Perhaps it was because he knew his father had hurt
more people than he ever realised.
    ‘Thanks, Colt.’ Maggie felt
slightly better. However, with a wounded Colt, she didn’t know how she was
going to get free of this room.

 
     
    Chapter Nine
     
    Brandon tried as hard as he could
to feel Maggie through his omega connection. However, with them not mated and
her not being pack, he knew it was a long shot. Alex had got them to the
mainland and told them Greg had intended to take her to the next town. Their
search of Marcus’s home yielded nothing – it looked like it had been empty for
weeks. Brandon’s anger was rising by the minute. That twisted sick alpha had
to have her holed up somewhere...
    As if sensing his pain, Seth put
his hand on Brandon’s shoulder.
    ‘We will find her,’ he said. ‘She
is going to be okay. You know that, right?’ Seth sounded so sure and strong,
but Brandon didn’t know what to think.
    ‘I have to believe I didn’t send
her to her death, or worse, at the hands of that man. Every time I see the look
on her face when I told her to leave... I know without a doubt she is my mate,
Seth, but how do I learn to trust her again?’
    ‘In time,’ replied Seth. ‘Callie
forgave Logan, so maybe you can forgive Maggie? She was forced to live the lie.
It’s not like she did it to hurt you. Plus, she came clean. That’s got to count
for something, right?’
    ‘I guess,’ sighed Brandon. ‘My
wolf is going nuts inside me without a proper mating. Plus, this whole thing
with Greg just doesn’t add up. Why won’t he answer his phone?’
    ‘Maybe Marcus has them both? I
just don’t know, Brandon. Let’s ring Logan and see if he’s found anything.’
    Logan and Callie had argued for
the whole time it took to get ready for the rescue mission. Logan said she
needed to stay home, but Callie insisted she go and help in case Maggie needed
a female. In the end, it was Hope who joined them, with Callie deciding to stay
and look after the others.
    Seth ended the call, bringing
Brandon back from his thoughts.
    ‘There were a couple of guys who
said they saw a man matching Greg’s description heading towards the old market
town, just north of here. Logan and Hope are going to check it out