Chapter 4 4

Sloane

Gentry left the bathroom first, I followed more slowly, trying to fix my clothes before I got to where anyone would see us.

I knew it was too late the second I pushed into the room and Lana's eyes narrowed at me. She didn't have a chance to do or say anything though as the man who had caused all of this commotion growled out again.

I turned my eyes to him, and almost fainted on the spot. He was huge. Filling the double doorway with his impossibly wide shoulders. And it wasn't just the width of his shoulders or the ridges of his hard muscles under this shirt that made it impossible to look away from. It wasn't even the fact he was so tall that the top of his dark hair brushed the top of the doorframe.

No it wasn't any of that.

It was his eyes. His bright golden yellow eyes. Eyes that turned to me and narrowed.

"There she is-" he took a step into the room and chaos insued. Women and girls ran screaming out of his way. Men rushed to find weapons to defend their families with. Shouts rang out.

And the giant stranger ignored all of them as he came rushing towards our corner.

It was like he didn't care about the knives that were brandished in his direction. All he cared about was getting to me.

I shrank back, but just like in the bathroom there was no where to go and no escape.

"You are not welcome here wolf." Someone yelled and he ignored him and kept coming for me.

"Shit it's a wolf." Someone mumbled next to me. Her voice laced with fear.

Wolf? My hand clutched my throat. Did they just say Wolf? As in the Wolf I had been seeing since I was a kid.

"What are they doing here?"

"Are we under attack?"

Everyone's warbled voices barely registered. I couldn't keep my eyes off him. Lifting my head as he got closer so I could look at his yellow eyes.

He was my wolf.

The one who I had seen under the tree in the storm. The one who had been watching me for a quarter of my life.

"Get away from here-" that was from Gentry. I couldn't see him because the stranger blocked my entire view. Even if I could look away I wasn't sure I wanted to.

His face was mesmerising in a weird sort of brutal way.

Craning my neck I stared up at his face. "What do you want?"

He didn't answer me, instead he bent his huge frame over mine and thrust his nose into the crook of my neck. In the exact same spot as Gentry just slobbered on.

"It's you." He grumbled against my skin and I felt a shiver run through me.

"I-uh." What was I meant to say to that? He was a wolf, a barely human barbarian. Our enemy for centuries. One hadn't even been seen in this village in almost a hundred years. They left us alone and we tried to forget about the threat just beyond the wall.

"Yeah it's me." I whispered back. "I mean, I don't know you-"

His lips pulled back and sharp teeth scraped against my throat. My hands reached out, pushing against his hugely muscled arms but it was like trying to push a boulder up a hill. He was unmovable.

He growled out and I stilled. My hands were still clutching the rock hard muscles of his biceps.

"Why do you smell like him?"

"What-" my voice broke and I was sure I felt a trickle of pee against my panties. I was definitely damp down there. I squeezed my thighs together in embarrassment.

His nostrils flared and I heard him inhale.

"What do you smell of-" he whirled around and speared Gentry to the spot with his eyes. The smaller younger man paled considerably .

"Why does she have your scent on her?" He was asked again and Gentry paled even more. All the blood literally drained from his face as I watched.

"She threw herself at me."

"I did not." My voice rose to a shriek and any fear I had been feeling evaporated. How dare he try to dirty my name like that. "You followed me into the bath-"

"Is this true?" The stranger's voice was rough but there was intelligence there. "You followed and placed your body on what is mine?"

"He's telling the truth." Lana stepped forward. Hanging off Gentry's arm like some trailing moss. "She's been throwing herself at all the men. It's because she is jealous, she wasn't chosen by anyone. She's nothing but a poor pathetic cretin. Why would Gentry go after her? She isn't wanted. She wasn't chosen."

"That is a lie." At my side my hands clenched into fists.

The crack of a bone breaking took me completely by surprise and I wasn't the only one. The stranger, the wolf that was sometimes a man, had moved so quickly that no one had seen him move.

Gentry lay on his back, his nose flattened to his face and blood coating his chin and dripping down his neck to soak his shirt.

Holy moly he had broken his nose. Flattened it. I couldn't help it I grinned. If anyone deserved to be knocked down by a wolf then it was Gentry. The only regret I had was that I wasn't the one to do it. I would have enjoyed wiping the smug smile off of his face.

"You are wrong. She was chosen. I chose her."

A whisper of shocked gasps went up.

"I would never be- wait what?" My eyebrows pinched together as I turned my face up to his tanned one.

His golden eyes flicked down to me for just a second before he turned back to the crowd.

"No one touches her" the gruff stranger reached for me and I wasn't quick enough to move away before his hand wrapped itself around my slender wrist. "She is mine."