Read Online Pursuing Paige by Anya Bast - Free Book Online

the pain, which would be greater in human form. It
brought him to his knees with a groan.
    The woman was there
immediately, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Are you all
right?”
    He looked down and saw
the burn mark on his chest. “I’ll be fine,” he ground out. Even now
the pain was easing.
    “Thank you so much for
what you both did. You saved my life.” The woman had an angry
bruise on one cheek, but otherwise seemed unhurt.
    High above them a hawk
screamed. Torrent looked up and waved an arm. All clear . The
hawk screamed again and winged off into the distance. He looked at
the woman. “Who are you? What are you doing way out here... with
them? ”
    Kaiden sat down in the
grass to better manage the pain of his wound and studied her. She
was a young woman, dressed in the clothing of a lower class Mage
citizen. The woman sighed and pushed a hand through her tangled
hair. “My name is Alisa. I’ve lived among the Magica since I was a
small child.”
    “Raised by Magica?
How?”
    “I believe I came with
my Lycaon parents. They were spies, I think. They were killed in an
accident when I was a baby. I was left to be raised by adoptive
Magica parents.”
    “They must have
discovered what you were eventually,” Kaiden said.
    “They did, but they
loved me anyway and hid me. I grew up as a mage. Then one day, I
was discovered by an official as I shifted in the woods.” Lycaon
couldn’t go more than a month without shifting or the pressure to
change grew unbearable. “I was turned in as a spy.”
    “Except you weren’t
one.”
    She bowed her head.
“I’ve failed everyone.”
    “So,” added Torrent,
“they brought you here in an effort to locate our strongholds.”
    She nodded. “There was
no danger of that. I don’t know the way.”
    Torrent laid a hand on
her shoulder. “You’re safe now and back with family.”
    She launched herself
into his arms and began to sob.
    Torrent smoothed her
hair and spoke over her head as she cried. “It’s time for you to
return home, Kaiden. Go back and heal that wound. Take this woman
with you. Give her food and shelter. When I return, I’ll find a
place for her.” He turned to Alisa. “Maybe I can find your family.
You must have some left.”
    Alisa glanced at
Kaiden’s wound. “It must be a long way. How can he make it
back?”
    Torrent grinned at her.
“You are now in the care of one of the toughest dire wolves on four
paws. Kaiden will make it.”
     
     
    * * * * *
     
    Paige glimpsed the dire
wolf through the window of the kitchen as she was helping Jarek
make breakfast. She set down the couple of eggs she was holding and
ran out of the house and across the yard toward him. Joy bubbled
out of her at the sight of him, alive and well.
    As she approached, she
noticed the woman on his back and the singe marks in his beautiful
coat. Maybe he wasn’t as whole and healthy as she’d first
assumed.
    He came to a stop in
front of her and pushed his head into her hand, closing his eyes,
while the woman slid from his back. “I’m so happy you’re back,” she
whispered, putting her head near his and nuzzling his soft fur.
    While Kaiden shifted to
man form, she greeted the woman, who was injured and battered. She
was around her same age, had long, dark hair, and looked exhausted.
An angry purple bruise marked almost the entire side of her face.
She reached out both hands to the woman. “I’m Paige.”
    The woman took her
hands and smiled. “My name’s Alisa. Kaiden and Torrent saved me
from being killed earlier today. I’m very much in their debt.”
    Paige squeezed her
hands. It was clear the woman had endured a lot. “You look like you
could use a bath, a meal, and good, long rest.”
    She sighed as though
the thought gave her immense pleasure. “I could, thanks.”
    Just then Jarek came up
between them. “Kaiden let me know you were coming, Alisa.” The
Lycaon could communicate telepathically. “Come on, let me take you
inside.”
    After Kaiden had