Tiger's Mate

Chapter 48

A/N
So...I'm alive? 😅

• Katski•

I was bristling with more anger than I cared to admit, a sputter of varying curses leaving my lips, as sharp as the brambles I trampled upon as I tracked my way through the terrain. I couldn't care less for whatever nearby critters were unfortunate enough to bear witness to the graceless manner in which I stomped through the forest, a pair of Ethan's shoes on my feet since I didn't have any of my own.

There were stark white when I took them, but over half an hour tracking his scent through the woodlands had definitely had their effect. And maybe that was a little bit for the satisfaction of vengeance. The nerve of that damn wolf. To think he really just left like that...

And the worst thing was, I was pretty sure I knew where he was going. Or at least what he might be attempting to do.

Ethan was a lot of things, I knew—his pride one of his most definitive traits. As well as his reckless nature.

He was certain to attempt something stupid. If he hadn't already.

If he had already gotten himself in trouble, it would be all my fault. Like so much—if not all, of this was. If only I hadn't gotten him involved. If only I hadn't told him the truth all those moons ago. It hurt to think about, since it meant we would not have gotten together...Or maybe we could have made it work. Maybe, in another reality we had worked out our conflict differently, without ever having learned each other's secrets. Feeling the mating bond one-sidedly.

No, I thought with a shake of my head, small, desolate smile on my face. That wouldn't be the same at all. I loved all of him. Both sides of himself. And I could never feel right pretending with someone I love to be something I was not.

When I saw Ethan, as soon as I found him, we were going to have a very good, long chat while I dragged him by the scruff of his neck (if necessary) back to the house. His scent was getting stronger, which meant I was heading in the right direction.

I should have been paying more attention. I tripped over my own feet, in Ethan's one-size-too-big shoes, going down with an undignified squawk, seconds after I had been lost in thought, looking up at the sky like a ditz.

I groaned in dismay, knowing there wasn't a soul around to see that but embarrassed for myself nonetheless. Ethan's shoes were going to be even more dirty for sure.

I looked behind me as I pushed up, to confirm my thoughts. Then I realized I had actually tripped over something. Something in the dirt. I looked at the rope tangled around my ankle, so covered by the leaves and dirt that there was no way I would have seen it.

I stared in appall, irritated by the sole convenience that someone decided to leave their junk in the woods and the cursed coincidence that I had to cross its path. I gave it a tug, trying to pry my foot from its clutches. Then too fast, there was a sharp snap, the ground flew away from me, I think I might have screamed, and suddenly I was suspended in the air, limbs caught in more rope. A net. A trap.

"Are you kidding me?!" I roared. Of all the damn traps that could have been set up. In frustration that I did not have the patience for this, I exclaimed. "There aren't even bears in this region!"

Then I heard a laugh. A slow, vibrating laugh. Grainy like gravel and hazy like smoke. It made my blood go cold and my body freeze.