Chapter 43 - she knows

Jude

My paws hit the ground hard as my heart beat furiously in my chest, running beside the moving car to save my mate. Every muscle in my wolf body screamed with each leap.

Faster. Must go faster.

After I’d removed Josh’s fangs, leaving him bleeding and broken in that hospital bed, he’d cried out through the blood and pain that he was innocent—that it had to be Sophia, Rosie’s twin sister, who had kidnapped her.

I was frozen, my blood-covered hands still raised, rage warring with confusion.

“How do you know that?” “I’d demanded,” my voice was barely human.

Josh gulped, choking on the blood pooling in his mouth, crimson staining his jaw and teeth. His words came out garbled and wet. “Sophia... She hated Rosie, and she wished for her death. She’s...she’s unstable, man.”

I’d grabbed his shirt, yanking him closer despite his whimper of pain. “Why the fuck should I believe you?”

“Because I didn’t want to do it!” Josh had practically sobbed, and for the first time, I’d seen genuine fear and regret in his eyes—not fear of me, but fear of her. What had Sophia done to traumatize him?

“The video, all of it—Sophia manipulated me into doing it. I really liked Rosie, I swear I did, but Sophia—”

My body buzzed at the audacity. “Explain.” My claws had dug into his hospital gown.

Josh’s eyes had darted around. “She found out that I’m a werewolf when I was mid-shift, and she threatened to expose me to everyone. My father mustn’t know, so I had to comply with everything she wanted.”

A recoil, a disgusted snarl that wanted to elicit from me. Even though she knew, he could have just wanted to strangle that dainty neck.

“She asked me to get close to Rosie,” Josh continued, words tumbling. “To make her fall for me, date her, be nice to her, and record that video. I—” His voice cracked. “I did it because I was scared. Because I’m a coward. Sophia has the photo.”

I’d wanted to rip his throat out all over again; he was so pathetic.

“I’ve been trying to apologize to Rosie for weeks,” Josh had whispered, tears mixing with the blood on his face. “But Sophia’s been watching me like a hawk. Every time I got near Rosie, she’d threaten me again. She’s obsessed with controlling everything, with destroying her sister.” His breathing heaved.

“She knows you’re a wolf too.” His voice was small and embarrassed.

“How?”

“I—” Josh had looked away, unable to meet my eyes. “I kind of... spilled it. She was interrogating me about the hockey captain, and I let it slip that you smelled like a pack, like an alpha bloodline. I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry, but Sophia isn’t someone to be messed with. She’s the devil in human clothing.”

Could a wolf be more disgusting than this?

I’d continued to grit my teeth in anger as I’d listened, feeling blood rush hot through my veins. Only God knew what that crazy woman was planning to do with my mate. Fear had washed over me in waves, and I’d shot up a prayer to the Moon Goddess—please, please keep her safe until I got there.

That’s when River had burst into the clinic, taken one look at the scene—Josh’s bloody, fangless mouth, my wolf-shifted hands—and shook his head before pulling out his phone.

“I’ve tracked her down,” River had said. And blood thrummed in my veins.

Immediately, without caring who saw, I’d shifted fully in the clinic. My enormous wolf form had filled the room, knocking over medical equipment as I’d burst through the door and run like my life depended on it.

Because it did. My life really depended on it because it was my mate they were talking about. My soul, my heart, my other half.

Mine.

When we’d gotten to the abandoned cottage—the one even wolves didn’t venture to because we’d been told horror stories about it since we were kids—I’d breathed in deep and caught the faint scent of Rosie. Vanilla and fear clung to her scent like a second skin.

“She’s not here,” I said through the mindlink to River and Maya, who were just catching up with me.

I hadn’t waited for their response before I’d started following her scent trail out of the cottage forest toward the main road. The scent got stronger, and I’d increased my speed, my paws eating up the ground.

Then I saw it—the car swerving wildly on the highway ahead. My heart nearly was removed from the constraint of my ribcage. As I increased my speed, that was when Sophia started shooting at us.

“Fuck, that bitch is crazy,” I cursed, looking back at my sister and dodging the bullets flying around us. Maya had yelped and ducked behind a tree.

A bullet hit River in the leg, and he slowed down, but through the mindlink, he urged me forward. Go! Save your mate!

Then I smelled it—my mate’s sadness, her anger, her panic. The scent was overwhelming and choking, and it drove my wolf into a frenzy.

I pushed harder, faster, until I was running alongside the car.

That’s when I saw it happening in slow motion—the car going straight through the guardrail of the bridge, heading for the water below.

NO.

I launched myself at the car with everything I had, using my entire wolf body weight to hit it from the side. The impact was brutal—I heard my ribs crack and felt the bone snap—but I didn’t care. The pain was nothing compared to losing her.

The car had spun, tilting away from the edge, and crashed into the bridge support instead.

For a moment, everything was silent except for the hissing of the engine and my ragged breathing.

Then I heard her—a soft sob from inside the car.

I ran to the other passenger seat and ripped the passenger door open with my teeth.

Rosie was there, alive and bleeding from a cut on her forehead; she immediately threw her arms around me and cried into my fur. Snot and tears ran from her nose, and she was shaking so hard while a whiny, painful sound rumbled out from me.

Mate is hurt.

I held her, breathing in her scent, which was calming me down, and checking for injuries. When I confirmed she was safe and okay—bruised and scared but alright—I started to move away.

I was still in my wolf form, and I didn’t know what to say or how to explain. Then I’d begun to back away when her voice stopped me.

“Wait, don’t leave.” Her voice was hoarse, raw from crying.

A whining sound had left my throat, and I took another step back.

“I know it’s you, Jude.”

My wolf froze completely. How? How did she know? And she blinked in a haze.

I could feel sweat rolling down my fur even in the cold air. This wasn’t how I wanted her to find out. This wasn’t the plan. I wanted to tell her gently, to ease her into the truth, not have her discover it like this.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

“Jude, please don’t leave,” she muttered, and her voice sounded faraway and weak.

When I turned my head to look at her, I saw her body starting to fall, consciousness fading.

I jumped forward, shifting mid-air, and caught her before she hit the ground, cradling her against my chest.

“Thank you for saving me,” she whispered against my skin, her eyes already closed.

And just like that, my mate finally knew who—or rather, what—I was.

I held her unconscious form in my arms as River and Maya finally caught up, both staring at me with worry in their eyes.

All that mattered was the girl in my arms, breathing softly against my chest.

She knows, I thought, terror and pain were warring in my chest. She knows.

Now she knows; would she accept me?