Faith by Viola Rivard Read Free Book Online

Tulip said.
    Olivia spared her a glance. “I don’t remember my brother putting you in charge.” Her gaze shifted to Snow. “Besides, if we’re going to kill either of them, it’s going to be the girl. No reason to keep Alder’s bastard alive when we have his mate and pup already.
    She turned back to smirk at Taylor. “Or is it Hale’s pup? I suppose you wouldn’t know, would you?”
    Taylor felt herself snap back into her body. Rage blistered over her skin—not at the insult, but at the mention of her baby. In her mind, she freed herself from the burly man’s grasp and punched Olivia’s teeth out. In reality, remained supplicant in her captor’s hold. When she spoke, her voice was calm and even.
    “I may have been with Alder before, but make no mistake, I’m Hale’s mate. I don’t know what you’re hoping to accomplish, but if you want bargaining chips, you’d better take us both because Alder’s not going to come after me.”
    Olivia arched a brow. “You expect me to believe that? Tulip’s told me everything. I know that you’re Alder’s mate and you’re fucking Hale on the side.”
    Snow shouted, “Taylor is Hale’s mate, not my fath—”
    Snow’s captor silenced her with a hand over her mouth.
    Olivia gave Taylor an expectant look.
    Taylor sent a silent apology to Snow. Right now, she had to say whatever it would take to get them out of this mess.
    “Alder didn’t tell me he had a daughter. I ended things with him when she showed up.”
    Olivia remained skeptical. “You think I’m going to believe that you broke up with Alder just because he had a pup he didn’t tell you about?”
    “No. That was only part of it. I’ve always wanted to be with Hale anyway. All I did was take an easy out.” Taylor pressed her lips together. “Look, I’m only telling you this stuff because I owe it to Alder not to let anything happen to her. If you want Hale and Alder, you’re going to need us both.”
    Olivia scrutinized Taylor for a long moment. Taylor kept her expression neutral, but inwardly, she wondered why they were acting as though they had all the time in the world. Taylor hadn’t gone that far from her cabin. The Whiteriver wolves were deep in enemy territory and Halcyon could find them at any moment.
    God, I hope they do .
    A slow smile spread over Olivia’s face. She looked to the man behind Taylor.
    “Let her go.”
    The man complied at once and the sudden release caused Taylor to stagger. Olivia caught her with one arm.
    “Thank—”
    Taylor was cut off by a hard blow to the side of her face. White hot pain seared her cheek as she fell to the ground, hard. As she reeled with shock, she was only vaguely aware of the others talking.
    “Make sure she bleeds, then scrape her up off the ground and let’s go.”
    ***
    Her words must have swayed Olivia, because when Taylor came back to awareness, she could see that Snow was still alive. Like Taylor, one of the males was carrying her over his shoulder and she appeared to be disoriented.
    The side of Taylor’s face throbbed with pain. She brought a shaky hand up to touch it. It was slick with blood. Nausea assailed her, but she took comfort in it, as it was a sign that, at least for now, her baby was okay.
    As she became more aware of what was happening around her, Taylor realized that the man who was carrying her was running, as well as the other Whiteriver wolves.
    Evening had just begun to set in and there was a light rain falling. She could hear the wolves talking in hushed voices and from their tone she, could sense an urgency to their tones. As she collected herself, Taylor began to tune in to their conversation.
    She heard Olivia hiss, “They were supposed to be gone until nightfall.”
    Tulip sounded defensive. “She promised me she’d keep them busy. Something must have gone wrong.”
    Somewhere within the forest, a wolf howled. It was obviously not one of Whiteriver’s, because all of them skidded to a halt.
    The male