Raven POV

“Well, well, well, look at what we have here. Two beauties sure to fetch a pretty price at auction,” the leader drawled, looking at his mates who nodded with wide smiles on their faces.

Human traffickers. It’s almost a relief. I would rather face them than rogues or hunters. Marissa doesn’t share the same sentiment, gripping my shoulder, her voice high, “Please don’t kill us,” she whimpered.

“Kill you?” the man scoffed, “we’re not going to kill you. We need you alive or there won’t be any money in it for us,” he added darkly.

Marissa gave a sob. I rolled my eyes. For somebody who possessed a white wolf, said to be the rarest of our kind, possessing the strength and agility that was rumored to surpass even an Alpha’s, she was acting cowardly. I hadn’t expected anything less.

“We can do this the hard way, girls, or the easy way,” the man closest to us, the leader, gave a chilling smile. “I would prefer the easy way. It would be a shame to mark your beautiful skin,” he added, raking his gaze over us as he licked his lips.

“What if we don’t want to?” I said quietly, folding my arms and tilting my head.

They withdraw knives from their pockets. “I doubt we need guns for the likes of you. This should be enough to make you cooperate,” the leader growled.

There are four of them. All males who looked fully prepared to use their weapons if the need arose.

“I don’t want to die,” Marissa howled, her voice so high-pitched it causes me to wince.

Instead of shifting and taking them on, she did something else entirely. I felt her hands on my back, violently shoving me as I desperately tried to avoid stumbling into the leader and then took off running, heading directly towards the forest in the same direction that our driver had bolted. She didn’t even look over her shoulder or show any remorse for leaving me to die or be taken.

“Get her,” the leader snarled.

One of the men took off running in hot pursuit, leaving three behind for me to contend with. The leader gave me an unpleasant smile.” Hopefully, you aren’t as stupid as your friend is.”

I held up my hands in surrender, holding my breath. Taking that as a sign of agreement, the leader started forward, knife still in hand. When he got within inches, I moved, stepping quickly to the side and grabbing his wrist as he stared at me stunned. I used my momentum to yank his wrist back, breaking it. He dropped the dagger as I turned my body, kneeing him hard in the groin. As he gave a shout and fell to his knees, I grasped his head and swiftly turned it, breaking his neck. I dropped him to the ground. The other two men gaped at me, shocked.

“Fuck,” the second one shouted, lunging towards me and gaining his composure.

I dodged side to side as he brandished the dagger at me. One came within an inch of my face, and I gasped, before blocking his next attack with my forearm as he brought the dagger downwards. I headbutted him, sending him backwards and onto his back. I stomped on his stomach and grabbed the hand still holding the dagger, turning it on himself and plunging it quickly into his chest. His eyes opened wide, and he gave a gurgling sound, the light fading from his eyes.

Another one down.

The third one eyed me warily. I had put up a fight instead of resisting as they had expected. I saw him glance towards the car inwarly debating with himself.

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little girl,” I said icily, antagonizing him.

“I’m afraid of no one, especially not a bitch like you,” he shouted, lunging directly at me.

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