Free Opposition: Montana Wolves, Book Four (Montana Wolves series 4) by Chloe Cole Page A

feeling what he himself had felt. The hold was loosening. And clearly Maggie had done her part in convincing her pack to be merciful, because the Pray wolves were allowing them to retreat.
    It was the best outcome he could imagine.
    But right now, the only thing that mattered was getting Maggie in his line of sight and making sure she was okay.
    He’d barely completed the thought when white-hot claws dug into his back, breaking his skin as he tumbled back into the tree line, scrambling for a foothold. Damn it, he couldn't afford this kind of distraction right now when—
    Wait.
    A familiar scent flooded his senses and he froze.
    Maggie.
    He rolled on top of her and she clawed, so he pushed in return, grappling back until she was on the defensive while he forced her step by painstaking step back into the thick woods.
    She tore at his shoulder, but he didn't care. He just had to pin her down and get her to talk. Rearing back on his haunches, he rushed hard against her, pinning her to a tree. If she'd been human, the move might have broken her spine, but as it stood she only growled at him and lunged to bite his face.
    He shifted to his human form, holding her in place.
    “God damn it, stop. Talk to me.”
    She fought him even harder then, but he didn’t relent. She slowed and finally stopped. Then she was there, naked against him, her face twisted into a mask of fury.
    "What the hell is going on?" he demanded. “We had an agreement. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, Maggie.”
    "Ha! That’s rich, considering," she spat, bucking against him until he released her.
    "Last I checked, I was warding off an attack from you."
    "You should be glad that's the worst I've done to you. I haven't gotten a clear shot at your balls, or you wouldn't have any by now."
    "What? You know I couldn't have stopped this. I did my best and—"
    "This isn't about the attack, or your backward people. This is about you," she screamed, her hot breath washing over his face. "And your wife , Willa."
    He stiffened, his gut clenching hard as the ramifications of her words crashed over him.
    “Maggie, I—”
    “So what was it, Grey? I can’t imagine you needed me to get laid. So what, then? Just bored? Or something far more nefarious?”
    "She’s not my wife," he began, wondering how he could possibly explain the situation to her in the state she was in.
    "May as well be. I should have known better.” Her words were like tiny blades, each one gouging deeper. “This is just one more reason I never should have—"
    "Don't say that. Listen to me, I was going to tell you."
    "When? The tenth time we fucked? The eleventh? You know, there were points when I wondered if you would betray me, but I never thought it would be like this. Especially not when I was falling—" She stopped short and shook her head briskly. “I don’t have time for this nonsense right now. My pack needs me.”
    She turned, but then paused, leveling him with an icy stare over her shoulder.
    “And Grey? If you come near me again, make no mistake. I will go for the jugular.”
    A second later, she burst into her wolf form and sprinted through the trees.
    He rushed after her, trying to catch a paw or a tail, anything to keep her from leaving it like this.
    She broke through the tree line and he trailed behind just close enough to see her get tee-boned by one of his packmates. The wily bastard had gone for her throat, and she’d been so intent on escaping Grey, she took the attack full on.
    She yowled and snapped fiercely in the air in an effort to free herself, but to no avail. Blood ran, steaming and red, onto the ground as Grey shifted, leaping through the air, only one thought in his head.
    Kill.
    He’d knocked the other wolf off Maggie with a viscous swipe of his paw and was going in for a lethal bite when his packmate scrabbled wildly and sprinted away.
    He was an older wolf, and a supporter of his father. One who Grey would deal with the second he became alpha.
    He