Hello my lovely readers! So, I know you guys low-key wanted Luke to save Elise. Trust me, I did too but that wouldn't benefit the plot. So I decided on this instead.

Hope it soothes your disappointment!

24. My partner

✧ Luke ✧

The moment my eyes open, I feel the overwhelming pain in my head, as if its about to explode into bits.

The effect of the wolfsbane dose I took last night before sleeping wears off and my senses return again. The fire has died down, leaving a pile of embers and ash. My eyes go across our camp site, searching.

I take a sniff of the air, her scent is too faint. The next moment, I’m on my feet walking towards the tree she was standing against.

I notice a piece of paper struck to it with a knife. I tug it off and unfold it.

If you want your little whore back, come by the waterfall. Take your sweet time. We’ll be sure to take ours with her.

I stare at the note, mind and face equally blank. The scent of it is vaguely familiar. Woodsmen.

A low growl escapes my throat as my hand curls in a fist, crumpling the note. The pain in my head recedes as white hot rage consumes my mind. No, he wouldn’t dare touch her.

His infuriating grinning face from our time in the lodge flashes in my head, making my finger elongate.

Adrian Woodsmen is going to regret ever thinking about taking her from under my nose.

…

The sound of the waterfall reaches me way before I see it, deafeningly loud to my hyperactive senses. I catch a whiff of her scent— like gardenia flowers and rain and I start towards it.

When I see the waterfall, my eyes quickly scan the place. Her scent is strong but she’s not here. My lips curl in a snarl and a growl claws at my throat.

Then I catch two other scents along with the coppery tang of blood.

In a moment of hot rage and instinct, I almost think of going straight out there but then stop. Damn it, Winters. Get your mind together. You think it’ll be so easy?

I alter my course, swiftly going through the trees so I have a view of the clearing from a far. Is see two men near a hole, a net nearby.

“When I get my hands on that bitch,” Woodsmen is seething with anger “I’m going to snap her pretty little neck in two.”

Without thinking, without caring my hands find their way towards the guns and two loud bangs! echo above the sound of the waterfall.

Woodsmen crumples to the ground with a scream, clutching his side, his beta holding his own bleeding arm.

My feet move forward, I feel my lips pull in a snarl as I see Woodsmen’s face. The next moment, my hands are at his shirt front, holding him up the ground.

“Where is she?” My voice reverberates with a growl

“Winters,” his brown eyes dart in every direction “She was just here, I swear—

I turn him around and hold him against a tree, my hands tighten at his shirt enough to make his face grown red with breathlessness. I feel something in my snapping, a raw anger taking over any rationality I had left.

“I’m not a patient man, Woodsmen,” I narrow my eyes

“We had her right here,” he croaks out, trying to take off my hand “we’d just opened her bounds. Elise—

“Don’t you dare,” My own voice sounds foreign to my ears— the growl of an outraged animal “Say her name.”

“I don’t have her!” he rasps, his struggles slowing down but the panic on his face grows

“Why don’t you try to remember?” I say calmly— to calmly “Take your sweet time, or I will take mine in skinning you alive.”

I’m not sure if more from blood loss or from panic do his eyes roll back and his body goes limp. I let go and turn to his beta, my patience reduced to nothing at this point.

I haul him up, not caring about the fur sprouting on my arms yet again, the elongation of my canines.

“What have you done to her?” My voice sounds rough to my own ears

“Nothing!” he says “We didn’t have to. She was helping us to plot this trap against you.”

“Liar!” I say harshly

“You tell me, Winters?” He says, his voice strained “What did you do to make her want to get rid of you so badly?”

“Answer my question,” I say “Or I’ll forget that you have a mate and three children.”

I see his dark eyes glint with fear before he swallows “She was right here, we’d opened her binds before we continued digging. She run away.”

I stare at him for a moment, my breath coming short and ragged. Despite the fear alight in his eyes, he holds my gaze. I drop him down, already looking for a hint of her scent, where she could’ve gone.

“Believe it or not, Winters.” His raspy voice reaches me “she hates you. And I’m sure it’s not her fault.”

Something about his words make me feel like someone had set my insides on fire. Despite myself, I turn around and my foot hits hard against his stomach.

“Hating me or not,” I growl lowly “She’s my partner. Keep that in your head.”

I turn back, my senses searching frantically for a hint of her and I caught a faint whiff. The thumping of my heart and feet echoes in my head, pain overwhelming my senses and head swimming with panic.

She could be anywhere, in any sort of danger and I wouldn’t be there to protect her. I wouldn’t be there because I’m the most stubborn man alive and I let her go. I didn’t trust her to understand what was happening to me.

Bewildered, I reach back to our camp site, probably because I must’ve walked in a circle, tracking her scent back to where it begun.

With bare sherds of control left in me, I punch a tree, my split knuckles heal in an instant. The stem shakes, leaves fall down. 

“Damn it,” I hold a hand to my forehead

Where are you, Hazel?

Would she even come back to me? After all I’ve put her through? Or was she happier with Woodsmen? At the lodge? Where people didn’t tell her to shut up or be quick or anything that would hurt her. Where I wasn’t her only option.

I try to swallow the lump in my parched throat, once I find her I will fix this. I’ll tell her everything she needs to know.

“You shouldn’t have taken me for granted.” A soft voice reaches me

I close my eyes and breath through my nose. Great, now these pre effects and panic are driving me mad. I can hear her voice in my head, feel her scent around me.

“I hope you’ve learned a lesson from this,” the soft voice says, closer now

Something touches my shoulder, my eyes snap open and I whirl around.
Golden eyes stare back at me, as bright as ever.

“Elise,” I can’t quantize the relief that crashes over me like a heavy wave “You…”

I step forward, taking her face in my hands, not a hint of anyone else’s scent on her, not a scratch.

Almost mindlessly, I put my forehead against hers, taking a deep breath, the intoxicating scent of gardenia flowers and rain soothing my nerves. Her face contorts in confusion, pink lips slightly parted. She’s really here.

“Luke,” she says, her voice soft and confused

The pain in my head dims to nonexistent, my falling mind comes back together and the overwhelming emotions step aside. I remember what I was saying.

“You idiot!” I hiss out

My arms wrap around her in vice tight hold, feeling her heart beat in sync with mine. Fast, irregular.

“What the hell were you thinking?” I ask, my voice hard but my hold on her doesn’t falter “Why didn’t you wait for me? Something could’ve happened to you!”

I feel her push me away. An irritated growl fights to escape, but I hold it back and let her go.

Hazel steps back, out of my reach, her face unreadable but her eyes spewing out fire. The words that leave her mouth almost make me stumble.

“I didn’t know if you’d come.”

“Of course I would come,” I stare at her in disbelief “How could you think otherwise?”

She shrugs and walks past me, out of its own volition, my hand snatches her wrist.

“You didn’t think I’d come for you?” I ask, feeling a twist in my chest

“Why would you, Luke?” She gives me a glance over her shoulder “I’m a liability, aren’t I? A complaining, ungrateful brat who’s a blight to you. Why would you come for me?”

She pulls her hand away, I instantly feel the difference. She gives me a humorless smile, one that makes it hard for me to swallow.

“Hell, according to you, my own mate wouldn’t come for me.”

“Hazel, I…” words wither away on my tongue, a feeling I hadn’t ever felt taking over me. It takes me a moment to realize what it is.

Shame.

She doesn’t wait for me to continue and turns to pack her things “We should get going. Oh and I snagged their food supply bag, it’ll come in handy later. At least now I don’t have to worry about you calling me a resource sucker.”

Words wretch themselves out of my mouth without permission.

“I’m sorry.”

She stops in her tracks. Slowly, unsurely, she turns to look at me again.

“What did you just say?” she asks, eyebrows furrowed

I swallow my pride and ego and take a step towards her, reaching for her hand. For support? To make sure she doesn’t run away? Both?

“I apologize that I took you for granted.” I, Alpha Luke Winters, who has never bowed to anyone, not even fate or destiny, bow my head at her “I apologize for every idiotic thing I’ve done and said. You’re not a liability, Hazel. You never were.”

My heightened senses hear the catch in her breath, I look up at her again, searching her gaze for a hint of what she’s feeling. But her eyes are unreadable as her face, behind the bubbly childish nature, this girl is made of steel.

Goddess, I’ve never felt so small before another soul, let alone a girl.

Finally, the steel armor slips aside. She smiles at me, a real smile, I feel myself drawn towards her.

Slap!

Blinking, my hand reaches up to touch my stinging cheek.

“Now we’re even,” Hazel says calmly “Come on, we should get going.”

With that she starts packing her things. Despite what she just did, despite the fact that she just slapped her Alpha, I can’t believe how relieved I am when she says;

“Do you want to know what happened?” she asks, eyes alight with excitement “How I made my brilliant escape?”

My lips tug upwards “By all means, continue.”

…

Sneak peek!

"Whatever you see, whatever you hear, don't come near me."

"Luke─

"Promise me, Hazel. Give me your word."

...

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