Chapter One
Gage
The light beckoned. It wasn’t white; it was more a combination of every color I’d ever seen. I was ready to accept it, to move on to a place of warmth, but then I heard her cry. I heard Mary Anne’s sobs, and every moment from the past few days flew through my mind. I saw her face. I felt her skin, her lips. I heard her voice begging for me. I couldn’t leave her behind.
I tried to push through the fog, but her voice only seemed farther away. The light got brighter and brighter until I knew I couldn’t hold it off. I tried to cry out to her. To let her know I didn’t want to leave, but my voice failed.
Just as I was ready to reach the light, I was hit by a searing pain like nothing I’d ever felt before. The light faded, and it was replaced by a darkness so complete it nearly overwhelmed me.
I tried to listen for Mary Anne, but I heard nothing. The only sensation was the pain pulsating through my body. It’s as though my blood was on fire. I tried to calm my body, to fight off the pain, but the intensity was like nothing I’d ever experienced before.
The pain finally began to subside, and I could hear, and almost feel, her heart beating. She had to be right next to me. I reached out, but my fingers only touched the frozen ground. I opened my eyes.
That’s when I saw her next to him. He had his hands on her. Hunter had his hands on my Mary Anne. Without a second to think, I jumped to my feet and growled.
I lost sense of everything as I prepared to lunge for Hunter, to push him away from the girl who was clearly mine. My body convulsed, and I lost all control. My vision deepened, and I leapt.
I was struck in mid-air and pulled back to the ground. I was vaguely aware of Mary Anne’s cry of anguish before I watched her being pulled away from me. I fought against whoever held me so I could get to her, to stop her from running away.
“Keep him away from her,” Hunter ordered, but it wasn’t in his normal voice. It was in my head. Hunter was in my mind. I shook myself, trying to get rid of the sensation. I looked up in time to watch Marni hurrying Mary Anne away.
“Listen to me.” Hunter’s voice screamed in my head. “Focus.”
“No!” I wasn’t listening to that monster. I was getting Mary Anne and leaving.
“You’re one of us now,” Hunter’s gruff voice hit me like a punch to the gut. I looked down at the ground, at the paws leaving tracks in the snow. I tried to scream, but it came out as a howl.
“Calm down. Focus.” Hunter strode in front of me in wolf form.
I blinked a few times. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be happening.
I needed to find Mary Anne. I had to protect her. Everything would be okay once I had her with me again.
“She’s not yours. She’s mine.” Hunter’s words echoed through my head.
I growled.
“She has sworn herself to me. She is not yours.”
Sworn herself? No. I shook my head. There was no way Mary Anne would ever do that.
“She traded herself for your life. I put a lot on the line to save you. Be grateful that we were willing to make such a sacrifice.”
“Grateful!” I lunged at him, unable to control the anger coursing through me.
Before I could make contact three sets of arms grabbed me.
Hunter snarled. “Take him to the shed!”
That wasn’t happening. They weren’t pulling me farther away from Mary Anne. I fought against them. They held on tight, but I could feel them struggle. I was strong. I was stronger than any of them.
“Stop!” Hunter sprung for me and pinned me to the ground. “You do not know your strength yet. Besides, there is nowhere for you to run.”
“I need to see Mary Anne.”
“Like this?” He transformed back into his human form. “Do you really want to risk hurting her?”
“I wouldn’t hurt her.” I couldn’t. She was the only thing that seemed real to me anymore.
“Shift back,” he ordered.
“How?”
“Think like a human.”
I thought of Mary Anne, the way I felt when she touched me. I felt a shudder run through my body, and then once again my vision was back to normal.
“You will have to come up with a new way to stay in touch with your humanity.” Hunter stepped away from me.
That’s when I realized I was completely naked. It didn’t bother me as much as it should have, but I still tried unsuccessfully to cover myself. “Why?”
“Because Mary Anne is mine. As the Alpha of the pack I cannot allow an inferior to harbor those types of feelings uncontrolled.”
“I can’t stop my feelings, and she isn’t yours.”
“She has sworn to be my mate. She is mine.” He stood up.