Mated to the Pack by Alanis Knight

stop!” she demanded, ponding his
shoulder with one hand.
    He shook his furry head and continued to
run, while visions of Michael being torn apart by Victor and his
pack played through her mind like a horror movie.
    Why wouldn’t he stop?
    Luke continued glancing over his shoulder,
keeping pace beside his brother as though the two were one. Unable
to convince Logan, she shouted over to Luke and said, “Luke, we
have to go back! We can’t just leave him!”
    Luke’s ear twitched, and she knew she’d
managed to reach him, but he continued to race beside his brother
as if she’d said nothing. Defeated, she buried her face back into
Luke’s furry neck.
    Moments later, their paw falls began to
slow, and they came to a stop. Raising her head, she could see they
were outside a small cave. It was mostly hidden by a thick mass of
brush and tree limbs, but the dark entrance was still easy to
spot.
    Logan lowered his body, and Allison took the
signal, dismounting him. Luke and Logan shifted. Allison flushed at
their nakedness and turned away.
    “What’s to become of Michael?” she
demanded.
    “Michael knew the risks when we came to get
you,” Luke said.
    “So you’re not going back?” Allison
shrieked.
    “The plan was for Michael to distract them
while we got you out and brought you to our safe haven,” Luke said.
“It seems to have worked. I don’t think we were followed.”
    “And you just left him there to die?”
Allison shouted. Her rage had overcome her embarrassment, and she
wheeled to face the brothers, her eyes narrowed and her body
trembling with fury. “He’s your brother, how could you?”
    The brothers glanced at one another, and
Logan opened his mouth to speak. He quickly closed it.
    “We had no choice,” Luke said coolly.
    “No choice,” Allison muttered. Then more
loudly, “No choice! Do you think Michael would say he had no choice
if one of you were back there?”
    “I’ll not discuss this with you,” Luke said.
“Get in the cave.”
    “Don’t you dare tell me what to do!” Allison
shouted. “You have no right to—“
    “Have it your way,” Luke shrugged.
    Then he snatched Allison up and threw her
over his shoulder, pushing his way past the brush and branches and
into the pitch-black cave.
    “Put me down!” she shrieked, trying to
wriggle out of his grasp, but he was much stronger than she. “Put
me down right this instant! ”
    Luke ignored her, and a little while later,
she heard a click and a deep grinding noise like heavy stones
rubbing together. Light peeked through a small crack in the cave
wall, growing wider and wider until a doorway appeared. Luke
carried her through it.
    Once inside, he planted her on her feet and
she slapped him. His cheek reddened deeply where her hand had
struck, but he said nothing, only staring at her for a moment
before turning and exiting the room. The stone wall began to close,
and she tried to follow him out, but the gap closed too
quickly.
    “Damn it,” she muttered, crossing her arms
before her and glowering at the wall.
    She turned to notice a fairly cozy room
built within the natural stone of the cave. Clearly, this place was
meant for wolves. Though it had beds in the form of creaky looking
military cots, and food, and another doorway that appeared to lead
to another room that Allison hoped dearly might be a bathroom, the
floor was earthen and the walls were bare stone. The room was lit
with the golden glow of lighting recessed into the walls.
    “My, you guys are resourceful,” she
commented.
    Her irritation was palpable. She began to
pace the floor as she waited. For what, she did not know. Would
Luke and Logan stay there with her? Would they go back for Michael?
She began to gnaw her fingernails as she paced.
    She’d nearly worn a rut in the bare earth
when the door began to grind, and she froze with her thumbnail
between her teeth.
    Michael, bruised and battered and with dried
blood crusted in his hair and wearing nothing but black