Chained To The Alpha: A Paranormal Shifter Romance Standalone Read Free

just pointed in a direction and he led the way.
    The conversation was over for the moment. There really wasn’t anything good to say at that point. Still, I wondered where he had gained that reason from. Maybe he was just too human for his own good. Something about it felt weird, but I stuck my head into the search, that’s where we needed to focus, getting out of the cuffs.
    We were looking for something, anything that might be used to pick the locks and get away from each other. I started to fantasize about getting away from him, out of reach and running through the forest, the wolf inside of me free to do whatever I wanted to do. I could hunt or run with a local pack or do just go around and mark trees. It wouldn’t matter. I would be free and he would be out of my hair. Eventually, I would have to find my way to a human settlement. I would have to go home, or at least get in touch with my family so that I could let them know that I was all right.
    I tried to remember my family and the last time that I had seen them. I remembered something about a ceremony, but it was all kind of fuzzy, something having to do with the ancient rituals that had persisted in name only. They weren’t any good for real life, but still they gave our people a sense of power, a sense of history that would stretch on to wherever we were. It was nice to have traditions.
    I was still trapped in my personal thoughts when I heard the strange noise. I couldn’t identify it at first, so I listened closely.
    Devin was staring at me. “Fynna,” he whispered, “That’s the floor. It’s going to give out under you.”
    I hadn’t had any experience with ancient buildings that were about to fall down around us. “What do I do?” There was a harsh panic in my voice.
    “I don’t know. I don’t exactly spend a lot of time doing this.”
    “Do I move fast or slow?”
    I was trying to decide, my body rigid and still. I didn’t want to upset the balance any more than I had to. We were so still that the dust was starting to settle around us again. A bit landed on my nose and I sneezed, violently. I felt the floor shake a bit under me, but it didn’t crack or break. The loud groaning noise that accompanied my mucus explosion was still unnerving. I still didn’t know what to do.
    Devin waited for a long while to respond. He was trying to steady himself, to find a good place within arm’s reach of me that he could use to resist the downward pull that would happen when I fell through the floor. Honestly, at this point it was a lot closer to happening than either of us was really prepared for.
    “I don’t know, fast?” he guessed, but that was better than what I had.
    I had to do something, to get out of there, to escape the betrayal this building was about to heap on the trespasser. Unfortunately at this point, the trespasser was me.
    I took a deep breath and steadied my nerves. I was going to make one quick leap and end up on the other side of my companion. I just had to loop around him. I knew the floor was steadier over there, because that was where we had come from. I just hoped that it could handle the sudden shock of my landing. I had to take the chance. I didn’t have a lot of time and decisions had to be made. The floor was starting to shudder under me, groaning under my weight. I wasn’t that heavy, a healthy girl, slender with a light step, but I wasn’t a gymnast. I leapt, not quite sure what was going to happen, and the result was the worst thing ever.
    As I bent my legs for the jump, I could hear the floor cracking more and more. I knew that I was only going to have one chance at this. I had to do it right. My feet left the floor, but didn’t move. The floor had given way instead. It only took a moment that felt like an eternity, but I was falling, diving into a basement. I must have looked like a cartoon character, hovering there waiting for something to happen. I struggled for breath because the air was full of dust and Devin was