Chapter 185

Asher

“Asher. Asher, breathe.”

I tried to focus on the voice. It belonged to one of Cynthia’s friends. Which one? Aimee. Yes, Aimee.

I had wanted to follow Cynthia when she had gone off with Lamar. I had tried, but then my chest flared with sharp pain like it had split open. The stretch of the mating bond had brought me once more to my knees.

No! Not now!

Cynthia needed me. She didn’t know about the things Lamar had said. She went with him naïve and unprotected.

And I had let her go.

I cursed my body, too weak to reject the blinding pain of the breaking mating bond. If I was stronger, I could push through.

Lamar had taken her. He was going to…! He wanted to…!

I had to get to her!

I tried to move forward, but my legs couldn’t hold my weight. I instantly fell again.

Aimee knelt beside me, as did Cynthia’s other friend, Nicole.

“She… can’t…” The pain rippled through my body so fiercely, I struggled to speak. But I had to. I forced the words out between clenched teeth. They didn’t know how dangerous Lamar was.

“Get her… away… from… him.”

I clawed at the sidewalk, inching myself closer to the dorm where Lamar and Cynthia had disappeared inside.

Others were still around us. Still recording? I didn’t know. I didn’t care.

I had to get to Cynthia.

“Slow down,” Aimee said. “Asher, you are going to hurt yourself.”

“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Nicole said, rattled.

“It’s an attack from their breaking mating bond,” Aimee told her.

“But Cynthia just got, like, heartburn.”

“Asher’s is so much worse,” Aimee said. “He’s an Alpha, and –”

I growled. They were wasting time! “Cynthia…”

“She just went to clean Lamar’s wounds,” Nicole said, switching her attention back to me. “She promised she would be right back.”

“Try to relax, Asher,” Aimee said.

I shook my head. “Danger…”

This was so frustrating! This pain… why wouldn’t it subside?

I couldn’t even speak. They couldn’t understand me.

I inched myself forward, dragging my useless limbs along the sidewalk.

Then suddenly, all at once, the pressure on my chest lifted and I could breathe again. I could move. Without pause, I kicked off the ground and took off running.

“Asher!” Aimee called from behind me.

I didn’t have time to explain. Aimee and Nicole could follow or not, I didn’t care.

I only had one priority now.

I had to get to Cynthia. I had to protect her.

There was a chance that Lamar had been saying those things only to make me angry and elicit a reaction, but I would not take that chance. Not with Cynthia potentially in danger.

I would protect her from any and everything.

I regretted my inability to keep her from leaving with him, but now, strength returned to my muscles, nothing would keep me from finding her and making sure she was safe.

On the ground floor of the dorm, I looked around. A small bit of panic curled in my gut.

I didn’t know where Lamar’s room was.

It didn’t matter. I would rip this place apart brick by brick to find her. Nothing and no one would stop me.

My wolf prowled inside my mind, ready and waiting for the chance to bear its fangs again.

We had to find them first.

Upstairs. He had to be upstairs. I knew because my room was on the ground floor. I was familiar with most everyone around me.

I rushed to the stairs, but by the second flight, I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.

I ran down the hallway on the second floor, scenting the air, searching for the familiar scent of Cynthia.

I detected nothing.

Not here.

Back in the stairwell, I rushed up to the third floor.

And then, somehow, I knew. Not this floor either.

Like a sixth sense, I could almost feel her. Like a string was stretched invisibly between us, I could tell she was above me. If I followed that string, that feeling…

Would it lead me to her?

I had no other leads. I had to follow my heart. So I focused on that feeling, and followed it to an upper-level hallway, and then to a door.

It could have been Lamar’s door, but it could just as easily belong to anyone else.

What was I supposed to do? Knock?

My heart was screaming at me to break down this door, to find Cynthia and keep her safe.

She was behind this door. She had to be.

But then I heard it…

A soft whimpering…

Cynthia.

Pulling on the strength of my wolf, I plowed into the door, busting the lock and breaking the hinges. It collided into the wall, and I stormed into the room.

The sight inside made me freeze.

Cynthia was on the bed. Her shirt was shoved up her chest. Her pants had been torn away.

She was crying.

Lamar was resting in the cradle of her thighs. He had his fingers around the waistband of her panties. He was tugging.

I saw red, and I roared.

My body shifted, bones breaking and reshaping. Dense gray fur burst from my skin, covering my body. My clothes were shredded at the sheer shape and size of my wolf form.

Anger surged through me.

My wolf chanted, “Protect. Protect. Protect.”

Together as one, my wolf and I lunged and tackled Lamar off the bed.

He hadn’t noticed us before, but as he hurried to stand, he finally took in the sight of us.

His eyes widened in fear.

Good.

He should be afraid.

Cynthia continued to make soft crying noises. Her distress permeated the air, salty and sour. I wanted to comfort her, to curl myself around her until she felt calm and safe.

But I couldn’t do that yet, not with the cause of her upset still here in the room.

I had to deal with the threat, then I could comfort my mate.

“Let me take control,” my wolf whispered. “I will kill him.”

It was a tempting proposition. This man dared to touch Cynthia. She belongs to us.

But if we killed him… wouldn’t we go to jail…?

Cynthia wouldn’t like that. It would make her sad.

I fought for control against my wolf, and held on by a thread.

“Let’s not do anything rash,” Lamar said, holding his hands up before him, like that would save him if I decided to strike.

I opened my mouth and a deep, rumbly growl came out.

His fear made him tremble. “Come on, Asher. We don’t have to do this. She’s fine, see? Cynthia, tell him you’re fine.”

I growled louder. He did not deserve to say her name, let alone address her.

Slowly, I circled around him, planting my large wolf-body between him and Cynthia, so that he could not see her beyond my mass.

“A-Asher… Don’t hurt me,” Lamar said, voice shaking.

He should have thought of that before he assaulted Cynthia.

Slowly, I inched closer to him. I kept my body low, my ears back. I was ready to pounce at any moment. If he made one twitch toward Cynthia, I would destroy him.

I wanted him to beg for his life. I wanted him to cry. I wanted him to curl himself into a ball.

I wanted to him to know terror.