The Lycan's Unexpected Warrior Luna!
Four

This hesitation cost me because someone then wrapped two significantly enormous arms aroundme from behind. Fortunately, I am on the smaller side, and as I demonstrated to Elder Miles, I couldexploit this to wiggle out of practically every hold the guys tried to keep me in. So I wiggle andstruggle in his arms, causing him to reposition them in an attempt to get a better grip on me, whichis exactly what I wanted because it gave me a bit more movement.

I toss my head back, hitting his nose, and then I throw my elbows back, hitting both sides of his ribsat the same moment, loosening his grip on me even more and allowing me to slip down and out ofhis arms. When I get to the ground, I crouch and then kick out my leg, rotating as I do so, sweepinghis legs backward and causing him to fall hard to the ground.

I smile and rise back to my feet, but it's not for long since I'm suddenly surrounded by three morebeasts, the first of whom I manage to avoid. I know I've been lucky thus far, that I've gotten thebetter of them because they aren't expecting a small girl like me to fight back, but I know that won'tlast long before they don't hold back, so instead of facing the three males, I turn and escape. ElderMiles taught me to assess the situation around me in one of his private classes, and that there is atime to stand and fight and a time to run in the opposite direction so that you can fight underbetter conditions the next time.

I move fast, avoiding the beasts who tried to capture me as I rushed past, and then the trees,branches, and shrubs that snatched at me as I ran through the woods. I'm not sure where I washeaded, but there had to be another little village or town nearby, or maybe one of the larger citiesmentioned by the blacksmith and healer. Hearing a howl coming from the village's direction, I takea moment to glance around.

I've never gone this deep into the woods before, but some of it still looks familiar; suddenly I heartwo or three loud growls and the sound of something running. I take a brief look around, choose apath, and resume running; however, I hear a sound behind me and turn to look back, tripping over adowned branch in front of me. I smash to the ground hard, but I remember my training and use mymomentum. I roll, scraping my arm, but I get back up and keep running.

As the night grows darker, it becomes increasingly difficult to see where I'm going, so I slow downto avoid tripping again. When I reach the point when I have no option but to stop, I put my handson my knees and try to take deep breaths to slow down my pounding heart. When I straighten myarm and glance down, I gasp a little as I see a long shallow cut from when I tripped over.

I don't get to look at it for long, though, because I'm attacked by a monstrous form that pushes mebackward until my back collides with a nearby tree. I gasp once more, as pain spreads across myback as a result of the force with which I struck the tree; this also causes me to glance up and intothe cold grey eyes of the beast from my dreams.

His eyes captivate me, and it isn't until he breaks the connection that I realize he has twisted andtrapped one of my hands to the tree over my head and the other behind my back into the tree. Hemoves my hair away from my shoulder with his free hand, then repeats the gesture from thebasement, running his nose over my shoulder and up my neck while taking a significant breath. Thiscauses me to tremble once more, as his eyes meet with mine again, and he smiles, making it difficultfor me to breathe.

I take a shaky breath as he glides his hand down the side of my cheek, down my neck, around myshoulder, and then down my side, resting it on my hip, as he pulls me tighter against him whilekeeping my hand and arm locked between my body and the tree. As he presses me against the treetighter, I close my eyes as he leans down, gently putting his lips to mine and then growling low,deepening the kiss before drawing back and reconnecting our gaze as I open them again.

Our intimate moment is disrupted by someone as the guy holding me blinks his eyes and breaksthe connection as his attention is diverted to someone approaching us from the side. Feeling as if Iam coming out of a trance, I drop my head as he turns to look at whoever interrupted us. As Iregain my composure, I realise where I was and began to struggle, dragging him out of theconversation he appeared to be having with the newcomer.

I try to relax his grip on my hand, which he has trapped over my head, and when that doesn't work, Ifight slightly harder, hoping to shift just a little so I can have a better shot at him, but that doesn'tappear to be working either as he returns his gaze to me. He tightens his grip on my wrist and waistas he presses me farther into the tree behind me; he drags his nose down my neck to my shoulder,once more growling lowly,

“Your Mine!"

I can't stop the scream that escapes my lips as he bites down hard on my shoulder. I struggle andtry to push away from the tree, but he simply moves and twists my hand from being pinned abovemy head to being held tight with my other hand behind my back so that he could wrap his otherarm around me and pull me in tighter against his body as he bites down even harder, making mescream even more. He takes a step back without removing his teeth or his grip on me, while I resistas hard as I can until I feel two more hands contact mine.

I didn't like the way these felt on my hands, but they didn't stay on for long because they seemed toput something over my hands and then lay it on my wrists, tightening them. The beast holding metightens his arms a little further, as he gently lifts his head from where he bit me; I shudder as heglides his tongue over my skin, up my neck, and then looks back into my eyes.

He smiles as he leans back, and I wait for him to relax his arms before resuming my struggles. Ismile as I manage to escape his grasp, but I don't get very far and can't suppress the surprisedscream that escapes my lips as he grabs, turns, and slings me over his shoulder. He then quicklymakes his way back out of the woods, without pausing until he reaches the village's centre. I resist,but it doesn’t seem to matter to him because he lets out a very powerful howl, which seems tosummon all of the beasts back to the village's centre.

Some of the beasts are carrying additional young adult villages, and from what I can tell, they allhave their wrists tied. The only difference is that the guy holding me never put on the collar thatappears to be on everyone else they have taken. I keep struggling to get loose from his shoulder,but he still has a firm grip on me as he spins around in a circle, howling again as he yells

“RETURN.”