by Mila Young
An ear-shattering howl from somewhere behind us shatters the silence in the woods, and I twist my head around.
Two figures charge after us. They have our scent and their call would alert others. How long before the place crawls with Mad’s followers?
Lucien doesn’t pause, and I rush to keep up with him. Bardhyl has fallen behind me, keeping me always in view. I can’t ignore how protective they are and how much I love that about them.
Ears alert, I listen for anyone sneaking up on us, for sounds, but the farther we race, the more my lungs tighten. But I don’t mind constantly moving. It keeps my wolf occupied.
I don’t know how long we’ve been running. Lucien never slows, and only when movement at the edge of my vision grabs my attention do I look around at the surrounding woods.
Shadow Monsters push through the forest, streaming forward from our right. Lucien lurches away abruptly at having noticed them too.
Crap! Terror floats on the back of my mind that we’ve ended up in a swarm of them. Maybe this isn’t the best path to run.
When I look behind me, Bardhyl is practically on my heels, our trackers closing in, except there are now close to a dozen in their wolf forms charging this way.
My chest clenches at the sight.
I tip my chin toward the horde of undead noticing our commotion, and I pray we are quick enough to escape them while the Ash Wolves at our rear are taken out.
Abruptly, the mass of undead on our right pour toward us with such speed that it takes me aback at first, my heart galloping. They're coming for my two men.
Lucien swings a sharp left and right to where the forest is less dense, where he has more of a chance to escape. Bardhyl does the same, nudging me with his head to follow.
I swing my attention to the Shadow Monsters, to the Ash Wolves, to my two men darting away, and it's all happening too quickly.
Slivers of seconds to make a decision.
Bardhyl looks back at me as I pivot in the opposite direction to him and lunge at the undead that move fast. I want these creatures to focus on our enemies instead.
I slam into a dead man, bringing us both to the ground. He reeks of death and putrid things. Brittle bones snap beneath my weight on his chest cavity, but it makes no difference to these creatures. He's already rolling to get up, groaning. I scramble forward and tear down the next monster, and another. Sure, they keep returning, but I'm slowing them long enough for my wolves to escape.
In a chaotic dance of leaping and tearing them off their feet and shredding clothes, I stop as many as I can. Already, half a dozen swing toward the wolves careening toward my men.
When I stare out that way, Bardhyl and Lucien stand by a twisted grand old tree, farther away, barely a shadow, but I know it's them.
Frantically I study how nimble the Ash Pack moves toward my men while curving away from the encroaching zombies. The members don't see me, not while I'm surrounded by the undead.
Problem is that the moment I step out to join my lovers, I will reveal myself. Instead, I recoil deeper into the river of undead emerging from the woods.
Desperately, I stare at my men, imploring them to get the hell out of here, hoping they understand. I will find them. Our only saving grace is starting to see some of the zombies chasing after the Ash Wolves.
When I swing my attention back to Bardhyl and Lucien, they're gone.
My heart twists and hurts, but it's for the best. With the Ash Wolves out, better for me to remain near the undead for now... at least until I can make a clean break.
Jittery nerves rush through my veins and I jostle about following the flow of zombies heading after the Ash Wolves. They shove past me, moaning, flooding the air with their reek. I may hate them, but they have saved my ass a few times. Beggars can't be choosers.
When I can no longer see the Ash Wolves in the woods up ahead, I start to pull away from the undead and decide to keep going in the direction Lucien had been taking us initially, away from where the Ash Wolves and zombies headed. I pray that once they shake off the Ash Wolves, they’ll resume their course in this direction too.
Woods blurred, closing in around me, this part of the forest is tightly packed with trees, and sunlight barely pierces the canopy overhead.
Shivers of panic blaze over me. The farther I travel and keep looking over my shoulder, my stomach hurts. Maybe I should have tracked after my men being chased by the Ash Wolves but kept my distance? Did I make a mistake?
Pausing for a moment to catch my breath and slow my drumming heart, I wrack my mind for what to do next.
There's no one following me that I can see when a twig snaps behind me.
I whip around, teeth bared, my rage unleashing. My thoughts fly to the Ash Wolves, except my gaze lands on Jae and the three huge men by her side. They are dressed in clothes too clean, too perfect to be from anywhere in this place. Pants, boots, long black coats, and wild hair. Brutality gleams in their eyes. The sight of them scares me and reminds me in many ways of three bears rearing up on hind legs before they attack.
With their sheer sizes, these large men standing at least six-foot-five or higher look like beasts to me. They aren’t from around here, so where the hell did they come from?
"Meira," Jae says at first, stepping closer, her hand stretching out to me. "Don't be afraid."
The man with honeyed hair, cropped short, snatches her arm to hold her by their side.
Yeah, right, don't be afraid, she says.
Jae frowns and glares up at her captor, then shakes her hand free. "She's not a danger, but an Ash Wolf. She saved me from the zombies and from the rogue wolves. She is with me."
I tilt my head to stare at how confident Jae sounds, and I'm proud of her in that moment, but these three men she keeps company are nothing but danger. Does she know what she’s doing?
The man who took Jae by the arm steps forward, which tells me he is the leader of these Alphas. I can smell it on all of them in fact, feel the Alpha heat that radiates from them like fire. Just as Omegas like me give off a certain scent, so do these men.
But I'm no fool... Alphas search for two things when they hunt in the woods.
Food.
And women to claim. To trade. To rut.
I sure as hell didn't come this far to end up back in square one.
I recoil from them, Jae’s mouth dropping slightly as she sees me retreat. I am not a match for three men. I know my limits, but none have made a fast grab for me either.
"Meira, please," she pleads. "They aren't rogue. They arrived here from the north, and they’ll help me find my sisters."
North... my mind swirls with the rogues who live there, how there are only small pockets of wild Alphas working together. Fear climbs through me.
"Your friend tells the truth," the leader assures me, his voice deep and husky.
Three pairs of pale eyes study me, their expressions not concealing their intentions if given the chance. To me, there is nothing alluring about them and only fear collects in my chest for me and Jae. "Change and we can talk, Ash Wolf."
I want to laugh as I will not take his word, but Jae's I will. And for all I know, this could be her code to help her... yet again.
"Please," she insists. “Change so we can talk properly. They just want to know about the Ash Wolves.”
The fur on my back bristles. What do they need to know? Their weak points so they can attack while chaos reigns over the pack? Though this also gives me the chance to mislead them and uncover their true intentions. We are already dealing with a demon, and we don’t need the devil sneaking up on the compound to take over.
The leader unbuttons his coat, which falls to his hips and shoulders the fabric down his arms, before handing it to Jae. She dutifully takes it and holds it out like a curtain to cover me from these three men who leer at me. Her eyes plead with me, and she truly believes they will not harm me.
My skin crawls because I don't need to be dealing with this right now. But I can’t walk away if n
ew predators stalk these woods either.
As Lucien had taught me, I exhale slowly and call back my wolf, her attention on the newcomers. With a growl in my chest, a protesting sound at these enemies, she slides into me, the pain slithering over me, making me tighten. I won’t show these men any weakness.
In moments, I'm standing naked. Quickly I take the coat from Jae and turn my back on the audience to thread my arms into the too-long sleeves. The strong musky male and perspiration scent from the fabric floods me, doing nothing but raising my hackles. Though I appreciate them giving me something to wear, where many males wouldn’t. I button up the coat that looks more like a dress on me when it falls to my knees. But it covers everything I need.
I swing around just as the leader grabs my arm, squeezing, and growls. "Let's walk. We need your help, Ash Wolf."
Chapter 12
Lucien
I skid to a stop near a gurgling creek, my lungs furiously pumping for air, and whip back around. Bardhyl leaps right over the water before he pauses.
Behind us, there are no signs of the Ash Wolves. No sounds, either. The same can be said for the undead. We’ve lost them.
All I can think about is Meira and how she saved us by turning the zombies toward the wolves coming for us. Normally, I’d stay and fight, especially as I vowed to never lose her again, but I ran. And I hated myself for that, yet to remain meant our certain death among that swarm. Running is not a weakness, even if guilt now twists my insides into a knot so tight, I feel sick.
A sudden spark of electricity blazes down my arms, my hairs lifting. I turn to find Bardhyl pulling himself to his feet, in his human form, the last layers of fur vanishing into his skin.
He cracks his neck, his wry expression bursting with fury.
“Fuck!” is all he says.
Exactly my sentiment. I take his lead and summon my wolf back, my transformation clawing through me. I welcome the pain, the agony, anything’s better than the feeling of my heart rupturing.
“We need to find her.” I growl, pulling myself up. “She either chased after us or continued in the direction I was taking us up north to the mountains that neared the Savage Sector. It’s where Dušan told us to go and hide if things ever got really bad.” Wolves rarely visit the area and I figured it might be a good spot to lie low to shake off the Ash Wolves.
“I don’t know if she’d go in that direction. She doesn’t know that’s a hiding spot. We retrace our steps carefully and try to find her here,” Bardhyl says, sounding more like he’s reassuring himself.
“Fine, but if we find no sign of her, then we can split up between the north and the direction heading back to the compound. Whether she’s caught or of her own volition, she will go there eventually, right?”
Bardhyl’s response comes in the form of a growl. I sniff the air and don’t sense her. “We just need to find her scent.”
For the most part, she might be anywhere in the woods, but I’m trying to think like Meira. She saved us from the cell in the settlement, which means she won’t steer far and come to track us down.
I glance the way we came, part of me desperate to see her silhouette appear out of the shadows, to know she’s safe, but she never comes. I know it deep in my heart that she didn’t follow us.
“The woods are teeming with undead and Ash Wolves who’ve turned against us,” I say.
“If fortune is upon us, we will find her in the woods.”
“I hope you’re right, my friend.” Trepidation worms through me at the thought that it won’t be that easy.
MEIRA
“Let me go!” I wrench my hand from the brute, except his grip might as well be an unbreakable stone.
“You will help us,” is all he keeps demanding, walking us quickly back the way I just ran, dragging me alongside him. This Alpha with the palest green eyes makes no effort to slow down.
If luck shone on me, we’d cross paths with the undead, giving me the ideal chance to escape. Worse, we’d bump into the Ash Wolves searching for me. Well, maybe these northern brutes might finish them off for me. Again, offering me plenty of time to run away with Jae.
I glance back over my shoulder to where she speed-walks between the two other Alphas, though neither of them are holding on to her.
“Nikos,” she calls out. “Please. You’re hurting Meira.”
The man hauling me pauses, turning slowly toward us, his grasp on my wrist constricting. “There is no time to waste.” His attention falls to me, his features tightening.
Up close, there are flecks of gold in his eyes, and a fresh scar across an eyebrow still blushing pink. He has thick, long, chestnut hair on the top and back of his head, which is shaved at the sides. It’s easy to see him as a wild man, but I remind myself he hasn’t hurt me yet, which means he can be reasoned with.
“Just tell me what you want?” I ask, holding his attention. “You want my help, then talk.”
The sound of the other two men breathing heavily tells me these Alphas aren’t used to females talking to them in such a way.
Nikos, as Jae called him, smiles. “The Ash Wolves have something of mine and you will help us retrieve it.” There’s no patience in his voice.
“What is it?” I ask immediately.
“That’s none of your business, Omega. You will aid us or I will feed you to my two men.” His head juts up before I can respond. “Jae, if you want us to take you back to Narah, you will shut the fuck up.”
Unease curls in my chest, and I twist to look at Jae, at how white her face has turned. Her shoulders curl forward, like she’s trying to make herself smaller, to vanish, but her gaze never leaves mine. Behind her eyes, there’s a battle between forsaking me to reach her family, or give that up to assist me.
“You give your word you will not hurt my friend? Narah, hired you to find and keep me safe, but I ask you to do the same with Meira,” she finally says.
These men have been contracted by Jae’s sister? Hired to find her? Who exactly is her sister to have goods to trade or power to hire such powerful Alphas?
Nikos thumps a fist to his chest fiercely. “My word is yours. We will not harm the woman if she helps us.”
Jae nods, and Nikos turns to pull me back into his fast walk, but I yank against him. “Wait. So you want me to get you inside the settlement? Is that all?” My skin crawls at the way he stares at me, but I can’t hate Jae for not begging them to release me. We all do anything we can for survival, for our family. I’ve spent enough time with Jae to know she’s true of heart in her intentions, wanting nothing more than to get home and feel safe. We all deserve that, so any anger I feel is for these men who, like the rest, take what they want for greedy reasons.
“Yes,” Jae whispers in response instead as she looks away.
Nikos drags me back into our rushed pace. My head swims back and forth to make sense of everything. What did the Ash Wolves take from these Alphas?
In truth, I don’t know enough about the wolf packs around Shadowlands Sector, even whom Dušan has dealings with. For all I know, these are disgruntled Alphas coming for retribution against him while they are in the vicinity, and they want me to open the front door for them.
Still, even that theory doesn’t sit right with me. Eradicating the top leader of any pack is not an easy feat. Is it a job for just three men? Maybe. Well, I sure as hell will not be handing over my mate to these monsters.
We move faster now, the ground rushing under my feet. Nikos keeps holding my arm, carrying some of my weight so I keep up with his long strides.
Much to my disappointment, there are no Shadow Monsters on our path.
“If you tell me what you’re looking for, it will be easier,” I break the silence. “I’ll know where to sneak you in from. I mean, I assume you want to be snuck in, or why else drag me there like a madman?”
He doesn’t make a sound or even glance my way, but we rush over terrain covered in dead leaves and twigs. Our approach is easily heard by anyone nearby, though it
doesn’t seem to faze him.
Behind me, Jae and the other two men remain close. Any attempt to escape won’t get me far. I can tell this by the size of these men alone. Three against one, basically.
“Meira.” He snarls, somehow making my name sound dirty. He leans in closely. “Listen carefully. These men have been starved of a good rut for weeks since our departure.” He grabs me by the chin, hurting me. “Keep pushing me, and I’ll gladly watch them take their turn with you. After that, you will still help me collect what’s mine. The decision is yours.”
I freeze as my panic flares. But I don’t flinch or dare show him how furious he makes me. In my mind, I want to make him suffer, to hurt, to cry with pain. Jerks like him get off on seeing the terrified impact they have on others.
“Please, Meira, just do as they say,” Jae pleads, and I hear the quiver in her voice. Despite these Alphas coming to collect her, they still scare her. That much is obvious.
But I hold Nikos’ stare. He’s trying to get under my skin. “Fine, we’ll do this your way,” I finally say.
He lets me go and snatches my arm. “We always do.”
We’re off again.
I exhale hard. I’m seething on the inside, shaking, but I shouldn’t expect anything different. My whole life I steered away from males for this reason. Most Alphas rarely relent and never see Omegas as anything but their slaves.
His threat haunts me with every step. I lift my head and we move swiftly through the woods, while the whole time, I keep wishing the undead would find us. Then, when they eat these assholes, I’ll not feel a morsel of guilt.
My legs ache from the pace we maintain and how we’ve been moving nonstop for what feels like forever.
The firs and the hills in the distance are starting to look familiar. We’re nearing the compound, and nerves bunch up under my skin, as I have no idea what to expect. I’m stuck between a mountain and a hard place with two adversaries after me.
Please let Bardhyl and Lucien at least be somewhere safe.