Chapter 7 - Thea

Tannen cracked the door open, peering through it before opening it a little wider. A hush fell over the group, the silence filling every nook and crevice. I waited, listening for the sound of wood creaking or the soft murmur of voices, something to indicate someone in the house was still awake. But all we heard was the silence of the late hour.

After what felt like an hour, Tannen stepped through the door, ushering the rest of us through. He gave me a short nod, even as I could see the unease in his eyes. After the claiming bond, I wasn't particularly surprised. He was bound to be overprotective of me. Still, I couldn't explain why that protectiveness made my stomach clench and my knees weak.

This wasn't helpful. Shaking my head to clear it, I started walking down the hall, sensing the rest of the women creeping behind me. Every creak of the floorboard sounded like an alarm in my head. My breathing shallowed, and my ears pricked as we snuck down the corridor. We were close to the entrance, the door in sight. We just needed to clear this hall and—

"Oh no," a voice whispered behind me.

A sinister wobbling sound, followed by a loud crash, reverberated through the hall. My head whipped around. Broken shards of ceramic that had once been a vase stood at one of the girl's feet. She looked up with alarm, mouth opening to apologize.

Another woman clamped her hand over the frightened girl's mouth before she could speak. We all waited, barely breathing, to see if the house stirred.

Silence.

A silent breath of relief rippled through the cluster of women. We kept going. We were nearly there.

A creak echoed through the house. I froze, my heart pounding.

More creaks. Soft murmurs. My head slowly moved upward to look at the ceiling. I followed the creaking sounds, tracking the footsteps, dread growing as they neared the stairway. Shit.

Damien's scent wafted from upstairs, growing stronger. Silence be damned, we needed to get out.

I raced to the door, flinging it open before standing to the side, motioning the first of the women through the doorway.

"Run," I hissed, ushering the girls out of the house. "Get to the woods."

I stayed where I was, unwilling to leave until everyone got out. The footsteps above us seemed to speed up. They were close to the stairwell, at which point we'd be in full view of whoever was coming.

The line thinned, the last of the women trickling out, urged forward by Tannen covering the rear. His eyes found mine, and he froze for the briefest of seconds, his mouth turning into a thin, furious line. He turned his attention back to the last of the girls, who had a slight limp as she staggered out the door.

The instant the last girl was out. Tannen rounded on me, his eyes flashing with anger. "What are you doing?" he hissed. "Get out of here."

"I was making sure everyone got out safely," I said.

"He's right on our tail," he snarled. "You didn't need to put yourself in danger."

"I wasn't going to just run," I fired back.

A low growl vibrated in Tannen's throat. "We'll talk about this later," he said. "Let's get—"

The footsteps above us reached the landing above and stopped. We both turned, though we already knew what we would see.

Damien loomed above us on the staircase.

Time seemed to stand still as he stared at both of us, his mouth partially open as if about to ask a question. Then his eyes drifted backward toward the still-open door, narrowing as realization flooded through him.

His head whipped around toward us in disbelief. His eyes locked on me, and his face contorted in rage. "You," he snarled. He stepped forward, every inch of him radiating hatred. "You're going to regret this, you little bitch."

Tannen grabbed my arm and jerked me out of the house, steering me toward the trees, his hand not leaving my bicep as we ran, sprinting into the woods.

The cluster of women lurked just inside the woods, several of whom had already shifted. Behind us, angry yells and shouting filled the air, growing closer. We didn't have much time before they found us.

"Right," Tannen panted, looking between me and the rest of the girls. "You ride one of the girls and take them to Brixton. I'll try and start another trail, lead them away from you guys."

"I can't," I protested. "You heard him. He's blaming me for all this as much as he is you. The girls have a better chance of getting away if we can get Damien and the others to chase us."

He growled.

"You know I'm right and that we're running out of time," I said.

"You're deliberately putting yourself in danger," he snarled.

Behind us, yells and cries of alarm filled the air. Tannen's head whipped around, and he snarled in frustration. He turned back to me.

"Fine," he said. "But only because we don't have time to argue about it." He turned to the girls. "Head northeast of here," he told them. "It should be about half a day's run to get to Brixton. If you keep straight, you should hit Brixton. You'll be safe there. I'll have some people come out and meet you."

The girls nodded. Several more of them began shifting, turning into large wolves with variously colored fur.

"Thank you," Rachel said before shifting. She jumped to the front of the pack, leading the way as the other wolves followed after her.

"Let's get going—" I turned, blinking as I took in a massive wolf with dark brown fur and the same intense eyes as Tannen. I sucked in a breath. I had never seen Tannen's wolf before, and I had to admit, he was gorgeous.

I shook my head, pushing those thoughts from my head. He crouched enough to let me clamber on his back. I grabbed the clothes he'd discarded on the ground and climbed aboard.

His fur was surprisingly soft as I gripped it. As a wolf, his scent was even stronger, almost dizzying. But before I could think about any of that, Tannen sprang forward, speeding through the trees as the sounds of other wolves filled the air.

It wasn't long before the wind rushing through my ears drowned out the snarls behind us. The wind whipped my hair back, the chill of autumn making my eyes sting. Still, I grinned, barely able to contain a whoop of glee. I loved the feel of running through the woods. Not being able to do this was one of my only regrets about being an absent.

We kept running, Tannen brushing up against trees and brambles occasionally, leaving a trail for the shifters chasing us to follow. My chest hurt from the cold air, but not unpleasantly so. I felt like I could do this for hours. My wolf relished every minute of it, not only enjoying the brisk run but the proximity to Tannen. She liked being this close to him, feeling his muscles ripple beneath me as he continued to sprint.

Wondering what it would be like to feel those muscles on top of me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on the wind in my hair and the crisp breeze. I had to fight against the claiming bond as much as possible until we figured out how to fight it. But fuck, I wanted him. As bad an idea as I knew it was, I wanted him. And despite how much danger I knew we were in, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Finally, we slowed down, coming to a halt in the patch of woods. Tannen crouched down, letting me off, then took his pack in his mouth and darted into the brush. A minute later, a fully clothed Tannen emerged, not looking winded despite the breakneck speed.

"Are you all right?" he asked, and I nodded. "Good. We need to make a call."

He pulled out his phone and dialed a number, pressing the speaker button so we could both hear.

"Tannen?" Mark's voice filled the air.

"Hey," Tannen replied. "Where's Jameson?"

"He's out at the moment. I'm manning the phone. What's up?"

"We've got a situation," he said. He gave a rough recap of the story, glossing over exactly how I was kidnapped.

"God, seriously?" Mark asked when Tannen was done.

"I'm not Klyte," Tannen said. "I wouldn't bullshit about this."

"Yeah, of course." Mark took a shaky breath. "Jeez, that's rough. Okay, so we'll set up a group and send them to this house or whatever. Stage a raid, and we'll be done with it. You can lead it."

"Can't, actually," he said. He shot me a look, something that looked somewhere between admiration and annoyance. "Thea and I broke out all the other girls. They're heading your way. Anyway, we got caught. Thea and I are trying to draw them away from the others. We're heading to one of the safe houses."

"Which one?" Mark asked. When Tannen told him, he said, "Got it. All right. Get back here as soon as you can. I can tell Jameson what's going on, and we'll make a better plan once you get back. Sound good?"

"For the most part." Tannen hesitated, glancing over at me, then away. "There is one more thing."

"Name it."

"Do you know anything about breaking claiming bonds?"

"Not really… why?"

"There was… more of a situation." Tannen glanced at me as he continued speaking. "In order to get her out of there, Thea and I had to…"

"Oh… oh ." There was a pause as Mark processed this. Then, "Are you sure you want to come home? Because I'm pretty sure Astrid will kill you the second you get back."

"It wasn't our choice," Tannen growled.

"I don't know if she'll give you enough time to explain."

"Look, could you get Malcolm or someone to look into it?" Tannen asked. "I would do the research myself, but I don't know how much I'll be able to get done in the middle of nowhere."

"I'll see what I can do," Mark said. "And I'll grab a few of the others and go meet the girls. Make sure no one's trailing them."

"Great," Tannen said. "Thanks, Mark."

He hung up, glancing around the clearing, his entire body tense, ears pricked, waiting for any sign of danger.

"We should get going soon," he said. "But for now, get some water."

He pulled out a bottle from his bag and held it to me. I nodded my thanks, then started drinking, and kept drinking. I hadn't realized how thirsty I was until the water had touched my lips. Finally, I forced myself to stop, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand as I handed the bottle back to him.

"When it comes to it, let me handle Astrid," I said, bringing up a topic that had been on my mind. "Because Mark wasn't exaggerating when he said Astrid might kill you."

"Trust me, I'm well aware," he said, drinking from the bottle before depositing it back in the bag.

I hesitated, chewing the inside of my cheek as I figured out how to broach the elephant in the room. The one thing that loomed over both of us but neither of us wanted to talk about, even though we needed to.

"The claiming bond," I said.

"Yep." He grimaced. "It was a dirty trick. I couldn't do anything about it. It was either kill everyone in the clearing and the rest of his gang by myself before they killed both of us, walk away, or go along with it."

"Do you think there's actually a way to break it?"

"We'll find something," he said. "And I'll find it. I don't think either of us wants this."

The words shouldn't have stung, but something about the way he said it chafed under my skin. I knew I wasn't his first pick for a mate, and he certainly wouldn't have been mine, but that didn't mean I was content to let him insult me like that.

"Yes, I know how annoying it must be being tied to an absent," I said.

He looked at me in confusion, the furrowed brow far more attractive than it should have been. Then comprehension dawned, and he shook his head. "It's nothing to do with you," he promised. "It's that I have no interest in claiming anyone, period. It's not really my style."

"Really?"

"I like my freedom."

Right. Of course. I remembered all the rumors around town, about how he slept with a different woman nearly every week. No wonder he wouldn't want to be tied down by a claiming bond.

"Besides. You've made it pretty clear that you don't want to be claimed by me. Should I be offended?" The lighthearted playfulness to his tone was one thing, but when I looked in his eyes, there was a genuine sincerity there. As if he was truly concerned about what I thought of him.

"Not you," I said. "Anyone, really."

"You like your freedom, too, eh?" He gave a roguish smile that made my heart flutter despite the fact that I knew better.

"Different reason," I said. "It's more that once it happens, I won't know how much of my thoughts and emotions and attraction comes from me and how much is because of the claiming bond. It wouldn't feel real."

For example, the fact that all I could think about at the moment were his lips and how it would feel to have them trailing down my neck. My wolf growled in pleasure. I scowled.

"Any idea how long we have until it clicks into place?"

"A couple weeks." He scratched his head, looking off. "Symptoms… I'm not sure about."

"You feel it, too, do you?" The words spilled out of my mouth before I could think better of it.

He raised an eyebrow, giving me a sly look that sent electricity jolting through my entire body.

"Let's just say I'm having to be very careful around you right now," he said, taking several steps toward me.

I shifted backward, only to feel rough bark pressing between my shoulder blades. I could barely breathe, painfully aware of how close he was at that moment. I could sense an urgency and lust rippling off him. I knew how badly he wanted to pull me closer to him, and I knew how badly I wanted to feel his hands gripping me, running along my body. I barely breathed as my heart thudded and my wolf pressed forward, wanting to take control so she could move us closer.

Finally, he took a step back, and I found my breath again. My mind focused once more. I took a deep breath, trying not to think about how close I had come to giving in to that temptation.

"Either way," he said as if nothing had happened, though I knew he had felt the same thrum of longing in the air that I had. "The sooner we get back to Brixton, the sooner we can find a solution. And unfortunately, we have a ticking clock. Because the instant the claiming bond snaps fully into place, there's no going back."

Something sounded in the distance. Tannen's head whipped around, a low growl in his throat.

"We can talk about this more once we get to the safe house," he said. "For now, we have to keep going. I've been leaving a trail up until now to get them away from the girls. Now's the time to start losing them."

I nodded, heart hammering again. "Let's get going, then."

He dipped into the woods, vanishing from sight. A moment later, that great wolf came back. He really was stunning, his body lithe but muscular. He towered over me, his intelligent, wolfish eyes looking at me. My breathing shallowed as I took him in, my mind going blank, filling only with him.

The great wolf walked up to me, nuzzling my neck, giving my cheek a reassuring lick that took me by surprise. Tannen wasn't the affectionate type, but the gesture wasn't unappreciated.

Before I could fully process what had happened, he took a step back, then bowed down, allowing me to clamber on.

He stood, turning to check that I was holding tight, and we took off.