Claiming My Wolf
Chapter 29

~~Sadie’s PoV~~

It’s official. My life is completely insane.

A month ago I was hanging out with my friends, going to school, arguing with my parents, just like any 17-year-old. Now I’m sitting in the middle of a forest in the middle of the night with two wolves beside me, who also happen to be my cousins, hiding from some other wolves who might want to attack us for reasons that no one can seem to explain to me.

It’s so ridiculous I want to laugh, but then I hear something that makes the laughter die in my throat.

It’s the sound of feet hitting the ground, running through the forest, fast.

No, not feet. Paws.

Ava’s wolf turns to look at me and I nod back at her, understanding her silent instruction. Keep quiet, she’s telling me.

For a minute, I think it’s worked. The sound seems to be getting quieter, like they’ve run right past us. But then it starts getting louder again, coming closer to us than it was before.

It’s not quite as loud as it was the first time. Maybe just one or two wolves broke off from the others. But it gets closer and closer and closer until suddenly…

It stops.

I don’t hear anything now. The ears on Ava and Aaron’s wolves are twitching, straining for the sound too.

And then, out of nowhere, a wolf appears in front of us.

I scream.

I can’t help it. It’s like that moment in a horror movie where I would close my eyes, only now that it’s actually happening to me, I can’t look away.

All three wolves in front of me, Ava and Aaron and the unknown wolf, they all wince, as if the sound hurts their ears. Maybe it does. Dogs have sensitive hearing, after all. I guess wolves are the same? I don’t know why I’m thinking about this now. Do people always think about stupid things when their lives are in danger?

In any case, the wolves’ disorientation only lasts a second and then the new wolf growls, bares his teeth and charges, straight at me.

Again, I can’t look away. I see Aaron’s wolf move in front of me to protect me, but before anything can happen, before the other wolf can reach either of us, he’s hit hard from the side by yet another wolf, one I haven’t seen before. The two wolves roll around on the ground, teeth and claws bared, snarling and swiping at each other.

How is this my life?

“Sadie?” A worried voice calls out from the darkness and I tear my eyes away from the fight in front of me just as Aaron’s wolf goes over to help.

“Logan?”

As soon as I say his name, he appears from the trees, dressed in only loose-fitting cotton pants and sneakers. He’s holding a gun, his face grim, but when he sees me, relief crosses his face.

“Are you okay?” He hurries over to me, his hands brushing my face and my shoulders, looking for injuries.

“I’m fine,” I tell him, trying to ignore that weird tingling feeling that starts up as soon as he touches me again. “But Aaron and the other wolf…”

Logan turns before I get the words out and I peer around him so I can see what’s going on too.

It looks like Aaron and the wolf who just arrived have got the other wolf pinned down, so Logan walks over, holding the gun confidently as he takes aim at the intruder wolf.

I know it’s not really appropriate given the circumstances, but I can’t help thinking that he looks really f*cking sexy right now.

“Shift,” he orders, pointing the gun at the wolf. “Or there’s a silver bullet with your name on it.”

A silver bullet? I sort of remember hearing that werewolves don’t like silver, back when I thought they weren’t real. I guess that’s something I should know, if I’m going to be one.

The wolf resists for a second, and Logan c*cks the gun, his aim steady. “Last chance.”

I could almost swear the wolf rolls his eyes, and a second later he starts turning into a man I’ve never seen before. A man who is completely naked.

Why is this not weird to anyone else?!

“Link the rest of the team, get them over here,” Logan commands the wolf who’s not Aaron before addressing the unknown man. “How many of you are there?”

“It’s just me,” the man says, his eyes fixed on Logan.

“That’s a lie,” I blurt out. Logan doesn’t turn, keeping his eyes on the man, but I know he’s listening to me. “I heard them running past. There was definitely more than one.”

The man’s eyes narrow as he looks over at me and he gives me a sinister grin. “Even if they don’t get you tonight, sweetheart, someone will eventually. There’s a bounty on your head so big that no rogue will pass it up.”

Bounty? Rogue? What is he talking about?

Before I can ask, Logan looks at the other wolf. “Micah, shut him up.”

Micah? The wolf is Micah? What is going on?

Once again, I don’t get to ask the question out loud before the wolf sinks his sharp teeth into the man’s leg, making him cry out in pain. “You f*cking bastard!”

Suddenly there’s the sound of more wolves approaching, and I instinctively move closer to Logan.

“Don’t worry, Sadie,” he reassures me, putting a warm hand on my shoulder. “They’re with us.”

I don’t know how he knows that, but sure enough, when they arrive, they don’t attack. Two of the wolves transform into big, muscled men and they pick up the man with the bleeding leg between them and drag him away.

A third wolf changes to a man as well, and he goes up and speaks to Logan quietly for a moment before changing back to a wolf and leading all the others away.

“What’s going on?” I ask, feeling completely out of the loop.

“They’ve already got the rest of them,” Logan tells me, and I let out a sigh of relief. “It’s safe now. Come on, let’s get you home.”