Craved by an Alpha Read Free Page B

back to her.
    She must have searched for him across Bhutan, India and Europe, no doubt flashing his photograph to any fae or demon she came across. What terrible thing had happened to drive her to such a desperate and dangerous act?
    Had she gained her scars during her search for him? Had some of the fae or demons captured her and held her for some nefarious reason?
    He growled again, unable to contain it as he pictured her bound and afraid. His claws grew, emerging as he thought about hunting down whoever had hurt her and tearing into them. He wanted their blood on his hands. The scent of Eloise’s fear grew stronger and he pulled down a deep breath to steady himself, not wanting to frighten her with his anger.
    Cavanaugh looked her over again, self-reproach burning through him as her voice ran around his head, taunting him.
    Two years.
    Her journey would have been a difficult one, and not only because she had never left their homeland and had no experience of the world. Her position in the pride meant she had very little money, only a small allowance that he knew she had been saving her entire life. It wouldn’t have been enough to cover luxuries like flights and hotels or even restaurants.
    Her tattered clothing, her fatigue and how much weight she had lost since the last time he had seen her all confirmed his worst fears. She had spent two years living rough, sleeping on the streets or in hostels and travelling by foot, by hitchhiking or by jumping trains.
    The thought of his little female living in such a fashion, day-to-day, probably stealing food and fearing for her safety, cut him right down to his soul and had his heart burning with a need to gather her into his arms and somehow take away every terrible experience she must have had.
    It was his fault.
    He had ventured far from the mountains and the pride village. If he hadn’t left Bhutan, she could have easily found him. She wouldn’t have been forced to spend years travelling and tracking him down.
    If he had gone back for her—no, he couldn’t think like that. He had warred with himself at the time about it and it had played on his mind ever since.
    It had been too dangerous.
    He had fought Stellan countless times and had always driven the male back into submission.
    Except the last time.
    That time he had allowed the male to defeat him.
    It had only taken a passing thought during their fight, a split-second in which Cavanaugh had realised that he could be free of his position as alpha and could change the course of his life for the better, towards how he wanted it to be, by using the five year rule if he lost the fight but survived.
    In that moment, Stellan had dealt what would have been a killing blow if the male hadn’t slipped on the icy ground. The pain had been so intense that it had blinded Cavanaugh, forcing him to shift back from his snow leopard form. When he had seen all the blood on him and the deep wounds on his chest, he had feared he wouldn’t survive to claim Eloise and the future he wanted with her.
    His snow leopard side had still been partially in control, muddled in with his human mind because of the pain, and it had responded to that deep need. It had seized control and forced him to flee the village and venture high into the mountains to lick his wounds.
    Days had passed before his deeper animal instincts had receded and he had realised with dismay what he had done.
    He hadn’t intended to lose the fight. He hadn’t intended to leave Eloise behind. But both of those things had happened and there had been nothing he could do to change them.
    Stellan had locked down the village and would have killed him if he had tried to return for Eloise.
    Cavanaugh had waited almost a week to see whether she might leave, straying far enough from the village boundaries for him to reach her. She hadn’t and he had been growing weaker, the cold slowing his healing and stealing his strength. He had been forced to head down the mountain.
    Once there, he