The Designated Mate novel Chapter 18

"Kiara, you know I can't let that happen," I stressed.

"Don't do anything stupid, Poppy. Please. Just give your mom and I some time to think, alright? I'll call you as soon as possible, but I have to go. The Alpha is doing a routine information sweep in ten minutes. Wait for me to contact you, okay?" She rushed out before saying a quick I love you and hanging up.

"I love you too," I spoke out to the trees around me before closing the phone and shoving it back in my pocket. I stared down at my already-swollen ankle and made a tiny movement to try and get up, but pain shot through my entire foot, causing me to cry out. Seconds later, I felt a trickle down my cheek. Touching the skin, my hand came back covered in my blood.

I felt helpless, lying there on the floor injured and alone. I grabbed the front of my hoodie and put a section of it in my mouth to bite down on before trying to make a second attempt at getting up. I hoped someone would hear my cries of pain and come to see what was going on, otherwise, I was in a world of trouble.

Just then, there was another ruffle behind me. My body tensed up as I strained my neck over my shoulder to try and see what was coming for me. I started to hyperventilate when the ruffling became constant and the sounds were closer and closer.

I dug my nails into the dirt below me as I waited for the unknown.

But I could've never prepared myself for what came next.

Poppy's POV

My entire body was paralyzed with fear as the most monstrous wolf I've ever seen in my life stepped into the small clearing where I was laying battered and in pain.

I've seen those yellow eyes before.

Without thinking, I whipped my hand back and smacked his snout. "Hey!" I yelled. I'm sitting here injured and he's trying to cop a feel?

He growled at me in warning before shoving his head up under my pelvis in a single go before slowly sliding his body along the underside of my own. Realization dawned on me when I was now perfectly straddling his monstrous body while tightly gripping his fur in my hands. I was enamored with how high up I was perched on his back. I had to be at least seven, eight feet off the ground. I squeezed my eyes shut and buried my face into his fur while trying to calm my queasy stomach.

The slow movement with each step he took caused pain to radiate through my ankle and down into my foot. I bit into the inside of my cheek to stop from screaming out, just biding my time until he let me down once again.

What felt like an eternity later, he stopped and released an ear-shattering howl into the air. Members came rushing out of the pack house, making me wish the ground would open up and swallow me whole as their gazes moved from the beast I was currently riding, to my pain-laced face.