The Rejected True Heiress (Liora and Callum) novel Chapter 190

Callum’s POV

I almost saved her.

She was close. So close. Close enough to grab her limp wrist and sling her over my back and make a run for it before the rogue even noticed she was gone.

But I had been stupid. I hadn’t paid attention to where I was stepping, and my foot had crunched on a twig before I could stop myself. The rogue had whipped its head up from where it was drinking out of the half-frozen creek and looked directly at me.

It roared. I lunged around the boulder, trying to grab Bella, but it was too late. The rogue sprung at me, claws slashing across my chest. I narrowly jumped out of the way just in time, shifting mid-air, and sprang back at it with equal fervor.

We went tumbling across the creek, icy water spraying. The world became a blur of teeth and fur and claws. I felt my hindlegs connect with the rogue’s belly, launching it away. I had an opening.

The rogue roared again as I scrambled to my feet and made for Bella again. She wasn’t moving, but I could tell she was breathing. She was still alive. For now. But her injuries were great. The rogue had pierced her skin in multiple places with its fangs when it carried her away, and the scratches on her arms and legs indicated a secondary struggle at some point. How much longer would she make it?

It didn’t matter. I didn’t make it to her before the rogue clashed with me again. My wolf yelped as my flank connected with the sharp edge of the boulder, cutting straight through the fur.

The rogue pressed its advantage while I was momentarily dazed and pinned me to the ground, jaws snapping mere inches from my throat. I managed to twist out of the way before those fangs clamped around me, but they met my shoulder instead. Deep.

My wolf cried out again, louder this time. I tried to hold on, but I couldn’t. The shift was already happening—my wolf was retreating, too exhausted and hurt to fight. A moment later, I laid beneath the rogue in human form, panting and struggling as it went for my throat again.

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