Savage Read Online Free PDF

his threats? Were they all talk, or was there something to them?
    “I’ll get in contact when I have something to tell you,” Cordelia promised.
    “Same,” Katelyn said, although she wasn’t sure how she was going to manage it.
    “Cordelia!” Dom bellowed. He was definitely closer. A whispery smile flashed across Cordelia’s mouth, so quickly Katelyn was not quite certain she’d really seen it.
    “ Now ,” Magus said again, striding over to them, breaking up their conversation.
    Cordelia gave Katelyn a hug. “I’m sorry I was so mean to you when you wouldn’t come with me,” she whispered into her ear. “I’ve never had a friend like you, Kat. Somebody who just liked me . Both parts of me. At school, I was one of those popular girls. A cheerleader, pretty . . . And in the pack world, I was the daughter of an alpha. Now I’m the wife of an alpha. People’ll be kissing up to me until the day Dom dies.”
    “Longer,” Katelyn promised. “Your father chose you to be the alpha of the Fenner pack. Maybe we could make that happen, too.”
    “You’re a good friend,” Cordelia said.
    “I’m really not,” Katelyn replied. Then she kissed Cordelia on the cheek — what pack members did to acknowledge their kinship. Cordelia did the same, then whispered, “Put a flower on my daddy’s grave for me,” and darted into the forest. She didn’t look back.
    Magus cleared his throat again. “We’re leaving.”
    “Yes, imperious leader,” Katelyn sniped. She didn’t like him. She really didn’t want to go with him. Her thoughts drifted back to Justin, who was looking for her right now.
    As by mutual agreement, they both darted in the opposite direction of Justin. Her sense of smell kicked in; odors wafted around her like incense. Magus was wearing aftershave and that seemed so incongruous with the rest of his appearance that she had to stifle a guffaw.
    She must not have been entirely successful because he hissed at her like a snake. Then he said, “What is wrong with you? This isn’t funny. This is life and death.”
    About twenty yards to her left, something groaned. She smelled blood and remembered the dead Gaudin werewolf she’d tried to save. This had to be another one. Maybe a Fenner.
    Justin’s face bloomed in her imagination and she put on a burst of speed, surprising Magus, who grunted in frustration and quickly caught up to her. Then he passed her and raced on ahead. Their movements sounded like the surf as they raced each other.
    Magus got there first. As brambles and thorns caught at Katelyn, her vision sharpened and she watched him grind to a halt. He was looking down into the brush, but she couldn’t see who was lying on the ground. He reached into his robe and withdrew a long, sharp knife.
    He raised it above his head.
    “No!” she cried, loudly, without any thought for the consequences.
    His hand jerked. Then he swooped down, out of sight, and she heard a second moan, and then a gasp.
    Then gurgling.
    “Oh, my God,” she said, “oh, God, what did you do?” She ran over and looked down at a young man she didn’t recognize, who stared straight back up at her. Blood was gushing from his neck. His eyebrows rose, and then his eyes went glassy.
    “You didn’t have to do that!” she cried, falling to her knees beside the dead man.
    “I did. He might have heard us.”
    “So what?” She stared up at him, but he wasn’t looking at her. She followed his line of sight: Bushes shook; trees swayed.
    “Hellhound,” Magus said.
    Katelyn got to her feet. She could do nothing for the man Magus had just murdered. Together they ran back the way they had come; then he signaled to go to the left. He was fast, but she could keep up.
    “Can you change?” he said to her.
    “Not sure,” she replied, and he laid on another burst of speed as something crashed behind them.
    She had never run faster in her life. Dodging branches, leaping over large, gnarled roots. Squirrels burst from the