“That’s not true.” Ted glared. “I’m pure, I’m strong. They’re weak. Stupid beasts.”
“Yeah, well this stupid beast escaped.” She pointed at her chest. “And your stupid Demon, just a dumb animal, evaded you for six fucking years.” Her voice continued to rise as she stepped closer, ignoring Monty’s warning to stop. “You’re nothing. Not a man, not a beast, just a scared little shit afraid of his own shadow,” she shrieked.
Ted shot her right before Monty attacked. Just like that. She hadn’t expected it. But then, she hadn’t expected any of this.
Wolves came out of the treeline and jumped him, but not before Monty had sunk his teeth into Ted’s neck and ripped out his throat.
She caught snippets of it, but the pain at her side overcame her intention to watch the bastard bleed to death. He’d taken so much from her. Her parents, her wolf, and now, Monty.
Her mate would never forgive her for lying to him, for being a part of Ted Norris, a man he hated, and with good reason.
Coward that she was, she wanted to succumb to the darkness taking her under and ignore her inner wolf once more as she wallowed in grief. But the wolf prodded. No. Shift back. Hurry. Think of the pup. Do it for him. For me.
Sophie struggled through the black dotting her vision. Monty glared at her, no trace of love in his face, and she knew she’d lost him. She couldn’t smell anything but her uncle’s rot and blood. But worry for her baby overwhelmed her, and with a burst of energy she hadn’t known she possessed, she shifted back into her wolf, the pain lessening with the change.
“Good. Thank God.” Axel leaned close, but Monty shoved him aside, again a man, one wearing enough bruises to add to an already impressive collection of scars.
“That was the dumbest, stupidest, most half-assed plan I’ve ever seen in my life. You are a fucking lunatic.” He gently lifted her—a full wolf—in his arms and carried her away.
Nothing in him yielded, but she hadn’t expected him to. Not after the truth came out. She closed her eyes, still in love and reveling in the scent of her mate, and drifted to sleep.
Chapter Ten
“If you try to tell me what to do one more time, I’m going to rip your goddamn head off,” Monty growled into Rafe Sheridan’s ugly face. He was the last person he wanted to see out at Whitefish, where he’d hoped for some privacy for a change. “I know she’s fucking feral. Why do you think I’ve been trying to catch her, asshole?”
Burke sighed. “Sorry, Rafe. He’s a little touchy about Sophie.”
Monty spun on his heel and glared at his pride leader. “And I sure as shit don’t need you talking for me. What?” he snapped at Ty, Grady, Dean and Joel, who just had to be involved to show pride solidarity. “And what the hell are you guys doing here? I’m working.”
They didn’t have a client booked for a week, and everyone knew it.
“I still say you should just grab her by the tail and haul her pretty butt back to the ranch.” Dean’s oh-so-helpful comments weren’t helping.
“She’s breeding. You don’t do that to a female who’s carrying,” Grady chided. “Drug her with something nontoxic to the kid, then drag her back.”
“That’s brilliant.” Axel snorted. “You are such an idiot. He’s mated?” he asked of the gathered crowd.
“Believe it.” Burke shrugged. “But I don’t think she loves him for his brain.”
Grady looked wounded. “Hey.”
“Who the hell invited you?” Monty barked at Axel. He hadn’t asked for this interference—from anyone. Hell, his pride was making it worse. For two months, his mate—his pregnant mate—had been avoiding not only him, but everyone. From not turning wolf to fully embracing her animal side, Sophie had taken to living in the mountains up at Glacier National Park, a wolf twenty-four seven.
“I invited myself.” Axel sniffed, the huge-ass wolf appearing both annoyed and offended at the same time. “I like Sophie. She dug your ass out of trouble, let me tell you. And she’s an expert shot with that rifle of hers.”
“True.” Rafe smiled. “She’s more than worthy to be an alpha’s mate. I don’t care whose pup she carries. We’re claiming her.”
Everyone paused.
“What?” Dean asked. “Who’s we?”
“Me and Axel. With so few she-wolves to mate, we’re making a new policy. Two males for every female. So far, the females seem to like it.” Rafe shrugged.
Monty couldn’t trust himself to speak.
Burke started laughing, and Joel, damn his huge ass, joined him.
“That’s rich. Two men to one woman.” Joel shook his head. “You wolves constantly amuse me.”
“You mean amaze you,” Axel interjected.
“No, I mean amuse.”
Axel glared at the bear, who didn’t bat an eye. They stood at roughly the same height, each super large and loaded with testosterone. Joel was easygoing, but get him riled and watch out.
“She’s not mating anyone,” Monty exploded. “Sophie has a mate. Me!”
“Then claim her, dumbass.” Rafe glared at him with disgust. “What the hell are you waiting for? She thinks you hate her.”
“What?” He blinked. After she’d come home, she wouldn’t talk to him or look at him. She’d moved out of his cabin and refused to see him, so he’d thought the worst.
His fear and inaction had led to her injuries. If he hadn’t been so damned scared of Ted Norris and hunted the man down to begin with, none of this would have happened. He rubbed his neck, at the latest scar that would refuse to heal, courtesy of the screws Norris’s thugs had dug into his neck to keep the collar on during his incarceration.
Rafe sighed, and Monty dropped his hand, hoping he hadn’t been so obvious.
But Christ, he felt so guilty for failing his mate. She’d had her wrist broken and she’d been shot. That she’d kept the baby—his baby—spoke to her inner strength, not his. He didn’t believe she’d wanted to lie about her relationship to her uncle, and in retrospect understood her need to distance herself from that family. But the lies still hurt.
“Guys, give me a minute with the dumbass, would you?” Rafe said to the others.
Burke met his gaze and nodded. “Come on.” The pride slowly filed out.
“You too.” Rafe nodded at Axel. “And leave the bear alone.”
“Hell. You’re no fun, Rafe.”
“Yeah, yeah. Keep the big ears away, would you? I know they’re going to try to listen at the door.”
“Fuck. Fine,” Axel snarled and left. Outside, his voice could be heard nagging the other Ac-taw to move along.
Rafe sighed again.
“You should have that asthma taken care of.”
“Monty, give it a rest. Your mate needs you. She’s scared and hurt. She’s all alone.”
“What the hell do you know about it?” Monty paced, feeling the walls of his last sanctuary closing in on him. To say his nightmares had been off the charts lately due to being locked up at the Folly was an understatement. Apart from his mate, his wolf was going nuts.
“I know what it was like for you with Norris,” Rafe said quietly. “My brother spent some time there, and everyone used to talk about Demon, the wolf that got away. Sophie had a hard time too. You need to talk to her about it.”
“She won’t talk to me.”
“Make her,” Rafe growled. “Why are you really not going after her? Don’t you want her anymore?”
“I fucking love her. Okay?” Monty ran his hands through his hair. “But I put her in that danger. Norris was after me. She nearly died.” He felt shaky and uneven. His wolf didn’t know where to go, what to do. He only knew his mate didn’t want him, and it hurt so bad, he wanted to lie down and die.