An Undying Love by Janet MacDonald Read Free Book Online Page B

grabbing a
bite to eat and washing up, he then headed for his bed. Staring at it made him
think of Anya. He felt guilty. It was cold out tonight and she only had a thin
quilt. He grabbed two of his blankets and headed back to the shed. If nothing
else, she could never say he didn’t try to make her comfortable, he thought as
he unlocked the door. As he entered the blankets fell to the floor and he
stared at the empty room. The dress she’d worn lay on the bed and there was no
sign of her.
    The only place within
the room she could hide was under the bed. After he ducked down, he stared
disbelievingly at the small hole at the far back in the floorboards. A tuft of
white fur was stuck to it. Dante was a little stunned by just how tenacious she
really was as he stripped down and shifted. The smell of her heat hit him hard.
The wolf growled deeply at the inviting aroma and then the man in him
remembered his patrols. All males, all unmated, and they were patrolling the
island with an escaped female prisoner in heat. Anya was in more danger then
she possibly could know. He bolted out the door, trailing after her.
     
    * * * *
     
    Anya let the
tears fall this time. Mitch had no idea where Cora or Alex was. She still couldn’t
bring herself to tell Dante, even if it meant him taking her as his mate. That
thought had done strange things to her insides, and she shuddered with self-revulsion
as it had actually excited her. Although a brute, the man had done her no
actual harm. He was nursing her back to health. Beth had told her a man named
Memphis had been the one who had shot her. Dante had actually saved her life.
    Still, she didn’t
feel ingratiated to him or his pack and as she calmed herself, she moved her
wobbly legs off the bed. The feeling was back, though they were still very
weak, but she would have to flee tonight or she would end up mated to a man she
didn’t even know. Tomorrow night was the next moon, and Dante was not giving
her brother any time, considering he didn’t know where Cora was.
    Anya peeled her
dress off and tossed it on the bed before sliding down onto the cold wooden floorboards.
Shifting into a much more wiry form would help her slip through the floor she’d
managed to claw a hole through over the last several nights. She crawled under
and pulled her tired weak hind legs behind her. She barely managed to fit
through the small opening at the far back corner. She had to stifle a yelp as a
piece of the rough wood cut into her soft under belly.
    She escaped out
from under the building and could see the village. It was a heavily treed area
with many small rustic, weathered homes dotted in between them. Anya stayed low
on her belly, crawling until she reached a thicket. There she paused and
sniffed the air and listened. The area was alive with the scent of wolves and
humans. Some old, some new, it mixed with her scent, and she felt a little
unnerved by her own smell.
    Anya was in heat.
That would make this even harder to do, and she prayed no wolves were out and
about. In this form, she’d mate a male if he could prove himself to her wolf. It
wouldn’t matter what the human side of her thought. Countless tales were told
of how young females ended up mated that very way, the wolf taking them over
completely in its need to fulfill its role. That’s why she never turned during
her heats. She’d saved herself for her soul mate, but now she knew that would
never happen. The only thing that came from drinking the stagnant water at the
temple was her being captured.
    She would have
to move very cautiously to avoid detection, and was actually grateful the night
sky was overcast as her white fur stuck out in the light of a moonlight night. She
slipped deeper into the forest and moved silently and slowly. Anya had to stop
several times to rest as her legs gave out and her hind end toppled her down
onto her haunches. Nearly two hours went by as she made a slow escape. Once she’d
thought she smelled wolves, and