Unleashed by Abby Gordon

boot. Memory returned and she forced her body to stay still. It was difficult as she was draped over her abductor’s lap. Motionless, she was relieved that they hadn’t thought to bind her. All she had to do was find a way to get off the horse without injuring herself. Casting an anxious eye as she bounced upside down, she resolved not to go headfirst. Breaking her neck or knocking herself unconscious again was not what she had in mind. But neither, she realized, could she risk sliding off the other side and being trampled. With a scowl, she realized that the rider she was with had his hand on her bottom. As if sensing she was awake, he began caressing her.
    “Nice and soft,” he murmured. “Are you still a virgin as your brother promised? Or did that greedy nobleman take what was pledged to me?”
    Unable to stand his touch or his words, she struggled to free herself and drove her elbow into his middle.
    “Unhand me,” she screamed and slid to the ground.
    She promptly found herself surrounded by all nine on horseback. One moved slower as blood seeped from his shoulder and a second held his hand to his stomach.
    “She’s a feisty one,” one chortled.
    She spun about as they rode around her. She heard the first howl, quickly followed by others moving closer. Her dream. Her love was coming, along with his beasts. She had to move toward them or they would be too late.
    “I like ’em feisty,” one leered, dismounting. “More fun to break ’em in.”
    “Don’t touch me.” She glared at them as four more left their horses. With her mind, she sought her love. Wulfgar!
    “Hallo, there.”
    A black-garbed man on a placid grey gelding appeared. As all her abductors swore and looked at him, she darted between them and pushed through the brush. She longed to follow the path they’d broken through the snow but, while it would at first be quicker, it would simply make it easier for them to catch her.
    “Amanda,” Wulfgar’s voice rang through the forest.
    A wolf howled.
    “Wulfgar!”
    She sobbed in relief as the wolf howl came closer.
    “There she is.”
    Amanda struggled in the snow. The terror of her nightmare came back. Tears of fear made it difficult to see, but she fought to make her way through the snow. From the shouts, she knew the men were closer. Wulfgar wouldn’t reach her before they did. One man against nine would be long odds normally, she knew, but she had no doubt that Wulfgar would defend her. The wolf howled again and she lifted her head in hope.
    “Bane!”
    Her scream echoed through the trees.
    Bane, find her.
    She heard the crashing behind her. Sparing a glance over her shoulder, she found a man in the clearing with her.
    Wulfgar. She felt him in her mind and another presence with him. She trembled as she sensed the beast within him for the first time.
    Kill, Bane .
    Her heart skipped a beat at the order as a large meaty hand grabbed her arm and spun her around.
    “Not so fast, pretty girl,” he sneered.
    His hand grabbed the neck of her dress and ripped the material from her body.
    “No,” she snarled, fists striking out at him.
    The wolf struck silently from Amanda’s right. The man screamed, releasing her. Tumbling with the man, Bane attacked, going for the man’s throat. She fell back into a snow bank, clutching the shredded material to her breasts.
    At the edge of the thicket, the four men on foot stared at the torn throat of the man. Two started to edge away as the two still mounted appeared stunned, halting their horses.
    “Shoot it,” one hollered, raising his gun.
    “No,” protested Amanda, frantically searching for something to use as a weapon.
    Her seeking eyes found pinecones that she grabbed and launched across the thicket. Bane sprang at the man who’d spoken while she distracted the others with a barrage of cones and sticks. One tried to aim at her but Bane, finished with the second man, was on him. The scent of the wolf had the two horses rearing up, throwing their