by Amy Richie
My lungs were nearly bursting with the effort of running while I was afraid. Now I could understand why the sisters taught me not to be afraid. Fear just slowed you down; it didn’t help anything at all.
My leg was almost too numb to feel, but it was still hard to put much weight on it. It didn’t matter though, I wasn’t letting the wolves catch up to us—no matter what I had to do.
Maybe we could make it back to that town. It didn’t seem like it was that far away. The wolves wouldn’t attack an entire town just for me and Miranda. Even if they did, the town would offer some protection. They probably had guns or something and could shoot them.
I didn’t know which direction the town was, I realized with an aggravated grunt. For all I knew, we were running in a circle or heading back towards the camp. The sisters had gone in circles for the past… I couldn’t even remember how many days, so I really didn’t know how big the woods even were. The chance of us making it out of them wasn’t very high.
I could hear the wolf behind us, but I couldn’t see him. Miranda was still keeping up, breathing heavy, but keeping up. We came to a huge mess of bramble bushes. It would have been nice to go through them since the wolf wouldn’t be able to follow us. I wasn’t sure how far they went, though, and I didn’t think Miranda would be able to go quickly enough. I veered sharply to the right where there were more trees we could hide behind. Miranda pulled on my hand.
“Please, Lexi,” she panted. “Please, slow down.”
We couldn’t slow down, though. We weren’t far enough away from them. If we slowed down, they would capture us. If I could run on my injured leg, Miranda could certainly run on two good ones. We didn’t have much of a choice. Run or die.
We weren’t going to be able to run forever, though. My original plan to get away from the wolves wasn’t enough. We needed to find somewhere to hide from them. If the white wolf was back, that meant the sisters and Paris wouldn’t be far behind.
One of them would come looking for me. Even if the sisters had left, Paris would come back for me. Maybe him coming for me cancelled out Damien’s order to the sisters, but Paris still saw me as his responsibility. With that certainty, I felt most of the fear disappear. My shoulders slumped slightly and it was easier to breathe when I wasn’t clenching my jaw. As long as we didn’t get caught, we’d be fine.
There was a sudden pull on my hand and then Miranda let go of me. I was so set on finding a hiding place that I almost didn’t notice at first. I jogged back to where she was leaning over with her hands on her knees.
“What are you doing?”
“I…” she shook her head rapidly from side to side.
A rest stop wasn’t exactly part of the plan. “You what?” Was she hurt? Did she step on something?
“I can’t… I can’t run.” Her face was too pale and her breathing was too fast. She was hurt.
“Why? What happened? Did you hurt yourself?”
She shook her head again. “Can’t… breathe.”
I looked behind us nervously. “Come on, Miranda. We can’t stop.”
“We…” she took a few gasping breaths. “We have to go back.”
“What are you talking about?” Maybe she had hit her head harder than I thought. “There’s nothing back there except the wolves.” It looked like it had stopped bleeding; I didn’t even see a bruise.
“Owen… Addison.” She raised her head enough to look at me. “They’ll go back there looking for me.”
“They won’t find you.”
“That’s why we have to go back.”
“There is nothing back there.” She still looked ready to bolt back into the waiting wolves. “The sisters will know I got away. They’ll find me.”
“How will they know? They’ll just think we all died.” He bottom lip began to shake.
“They won’t kill those pets.” Not all of them anyways.
“W… will they take them for mates?” Her eyes were wide.
“Probably.”
“They said that,” she whispered. “The others said the wolves. I didn’t believe it. It’ll… I mean… It’ll kill them.” A tear slid from the corner of her eye.
“They’ll turn to human form first, I’m sure.”
“Humans?”
“The werewolves can turn back to men.”
“I know,” she nodded, her hair bobbing wildly.
Still not the kind of life I would want, but if it made Miranda feel better, I would let her think what she wanted. She wiped her face, leaving muddy trails across her cheeks.
“We need to find a place to hide,” I spoke softly, in case we were being watched. “To wait for someone to find us.”
My eyes traveled studiously around the trees, searching out a place we could hide. All I saw were trees, though, and it wasn’t like we could crawl inside one of them. Wolves couldn’t climb, though.
I craned my neck to see if there was a way Miranda and I could scale the trees. I didn’t want to waste time if we couldn’t. There was my leg to worry about, but I was more concerned that Miranda wouldn’t make it.
She had slid down to her knees in the few seconds that I spent looking for a place. She still looked pale, but at least she wasn’t crying. Once again, I found myself wishing for the strength of a vampire. Then I could just pick Miranda up and climb to a high branch to wait. Of course, if I was a vampire, we could have just outrun them.
I was only human, though, and I needed to focus. There was a rock wall not far from us. I scanned the face for an opening of any kind. There was a small darker spot, but I couldn’t be sure if it was a cave or not. I squinted my eyes, taking a step forward. It could be a cave. It might be worth the risk.
Chapter 26
The cave was far, at least twenty feet away, if it was even a cave at all. If it was just an odd shadow caused by the stone and trees around it, we were goners. But we had to go for it. If we just stood here much longer, the wolf would be there and we would be goners then, too.
I looked around us again for any other options. The cave wasn’t sure enough for us to just run off in that direction. Another wolf might be over there. I glanced over my shoulder, but still didn’t see our pursuer. He couldn’t be far, though.
I searched the trees again. If I could find one with a low enough branch, maybe the two of us could climb it before the wolf reached us. We would be safe up there for a little while. It would be the same situation as the cave; we would have to wait until the others came for us.
I bit down hard on my lip. The tree would be better. At least that way, we could see what was going on and we would know if the sisters were close by. It would be dark and closed off in a cave.
There were no branches that hung low enough, though—not anything close to us. Maybe we should go a little further. There would be better choices when we got to a denser part of the woods. Where we had stopped there weren’t many trees.
Around and around, escape plans chased each other in my head; escape plans that I had to discard. I didn’t recognize anything here that would give me hope of finding a better place to hide. We may have been here before, but it all just looked like wilderness to me. Only seconds had gone by, but they were seconds that I didn’t have to spare.
My breath sounded loud in my ears. It was blocking out almost all the other sounds around me. Where was the wolf? He had to have caught up with us by now, was it just watching us?
“It wants a mate, but it will make sure you’re strong enough first.”
Melody had told me a long time ago that they only take a certain type of human. I must have been the type, otherwise the white wolf would have killed me before. Was Miranda?
Only the white wolf was following us—and he wanted me. If I left Miranda here, he would probably just pass her by. Without Miranda slowing me down, I could get away. I would be able to find a hiding place or climb a tree.
Could I leave her? Would she be ok? The white wolf would follow me, but would another wolf find Miranda before Owen
did? The woods were infested with wolves. It would only be a matter of time before one of them found her.
But I could tell her to hide in the cave after I left.
My tongue felt heavy when I looked down at her. She was staring out at the trees, but I doubted if she saw much of what was in front of her. She was so small and defenseless. So human. How could I just leave her here—just throw her to the wolves?
I couldn’t.
I wasn’t leaving Miranda. I took a deep breath, trying to steady my heart and redirect my thoughts. We were going to stick together, just like we promised before. This was why I had been left behind—to take care of Miranda. To make sure the wolves didn’t take her.
“Wh… What are we going to do?” she whimpered.
“We need to get somewhere safe.”
“There is nowhere safe.” Her eyes darted all around us.
My heart lurched, but my jaw tightened. I wouldn’t leave her, no matter what, and we would make it out of this. She would see her vamps again and I would be reunited with the sisters.
“We’ll be ok,” I tried to reassure her, but she was far from convinced. “We’ll just…”
“We’ll just what? Sit here and get dragged away to have little werewolf puppies?” Her voice was beginning to rise in panic.
“That isn’t going to happen.”
She craned her neck to check behind us. “He’s not there,” she whispered frantically.
“I know.”
“Where did he go?”
“He’s probably watching us?”
“What?” Her face crumbled and I saw the panic escalating in her eyes.
“Or,” I held my hand out to stop her from screeching, “we could have just lost him.”
She shook her head roughly, until her black hair spilled into her face. “He wouldn’t have just given up.”
“Maybe not.” I tried to pull her to her feet, but she wasn’t budging. “Either way, we need to keep going.”
“There is nowhere to go, Lexi. Nowhere. We’re just running around in circles out here. There’s just…”
“Stop! We’re going to be fine.”
She tried to shake her head, but I stopped her with a pointed finger. How did the vamps have so much patience for the pets? I wanted to scream at her to calm down and that if she wanted to survive, she had to get up. Instead, I pulled her to her feet by her arm.
“Come on.” I held my hand out to her. Our eyes met briefly, too many feelings and unspoken pleas passed though. I felt crushed, but I had made my choice. How could I do anything differently, really? I nodded and she put her hand in mine. Then we were off.
We needed to make it to the cave, but I wasn’t sure where the wolf was. I knew he couldn’t be still chasing us, he would have caught up easily. No, he was stalling us now. Was that better than being chased? I wasn’t sure.
“Probably not better.”
“Lexi,” Miranda whispered frantically.
I looked back at her, nerves making me snappy. “What?”
“I hear something behind us.”
A quick peek over her shoulder didn’t reveal anything I hadn’t seen before. Trees. Grass. Bramble bushes. Dirt. “There’s nothing,” I whispered back.
She nodded, but glanced back herself to be sure. “We should go.”
I almost rolled my eyes, but managed to nod instead. “Yep.” That’s what I had been trying to tell her while she was freaking out on the ground. “We can make it to that cave.” I pointed my finger to the dark shadow that I hoped was a cave.
“I don’t see a cave.”
“Right there.”
“It’s only rock.”
“Just trust me.”
“Ok.” She nodded solemnly, as if trying to convey more than just the two syllables were able.
I barely took one step forward when the wolf sprang back into our view. He snarled hungrily at us. I jerked out of the way, almost falling over Miranda. She still had a hold of my hand and I felt her pulling me along the other way. Away from the cave.
I didn’t even hear the wolf coming before he was suddenly directly in front of us again, blocking our path. I ducked away from him and tried to turn quicker than he could pounce again. If I had been by myself, I would have made it; but Miranda wasn’t as quick.
I tripped over her and sprawled out on my face. I turned over just as quickly, but Miranda was trying to help me up at the same time, so I tripped again over her. Her hands shot out to help, but I pushed them away this time.
“I got it,” I screamed.
I shot of my feet, feeling every stitch screaming in my leg. The wolf jumped back. It panted heavily and scrunched its long muzzle in fury. The intelligent eyes watched us trying to scramble away. Any time and the beast could pounce on us and tear us to shreds. We weren’t going to be able to get away. No matter my earlier promises, we weren’t fast enough.
“What are you waiting for?” Miranda surprised me by screeching at the wolf.
Its eyes swept over to her for a brief heartbeat and then turned back to me. “We’re not going with you.” I was proud that my voice stayed steady. “You might as well kill us because we won’t go.”
A sudden scream split the heavy tension around us. The wolf winced low to the ground, his attention not on us while he searched for the screamer. I didn’t hesitate. I shot off in any direction I could. Anywhere was better than being in front of the wolf. Miranda stayed close behind me. We zigzagged through the dense woods and plowed through the bushes, desperate to get away.
There was a fallen tree in front of us, but we couldn’t slow down. I scrambled over it, letting go of Miranda’s hand in the process. She didn’t get over it as quickly, but I was glad she didn’t hesitate. Once she was on top of the tree, she was able to grab hold of me again so I could pull her over.
As soon as her feet hit the ground, we were off again. We were going the wrong way, though. Our only hope was making it to that cave. I turned quickly and hurried back to the tree. We made it to the end where the roots still halfway clung to the earth just as the wolf leapt cleanly over the middle.
We went back around and headed back towards the cave, at least I hoped so. We hadn’t made it very far, so I hoped we would be able to make it back. Maybe even before the wolf realized he wasn’t chasing us anymore.
Miranda stumbled over something and fell hard onto one knee. She only cried out a little though and then was back up and running behind me. “Are you ok?” I gasped. My lungs were burning, my legs numb with pain. But one thought kept me going. The white wolf was behind us.
“I’m fine,” she panted. “Don’t stop.”
“Not planning on it.”
A tiny flicker of hope flared up in my chest when I saw the rock wall. We were so close and the wolf still wasn’t behind us. Just a little further.
“Ahh!”
Miranda screamed behind me as a huge white muzzle snapped close to her leg. “Just a little further,” I pleaded. “Come on, we can make it.”
The wolf lunged forward with his mouth open in a snarl. We ducked behind a tree, then sprang forward again instantly. I kept tight hold of Miranda’s hand. If we were separated now, I wouldn’t be able to do anything to help her.
The wolf pushed on the tree with one of his paws—whether to scare us or knock the tree down, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t afraid, but I was having my doubts again about reaching safety.
“Lexi!” Miranda ducked out of the way of a giant paw.
“It’s our only hope.” I pulled her forward again, expecting the wolf to pounce on us any second.
We reached a large enough rock to hide behind and crouched low in its false security. We weren’t any safer here than running, but it felt safer when we couldn’t see the wolf and all its teeth. We crawled on the ground to a different rock that was smaller, but still big enough. I looked up in time to see the wolf jump on top of the first rock.
Miranda sprinted to hide behind another tree, but the wolf cut me off from jo
ining her. I overcorrected my position and ended up on my back. With a grunt, I managed to scramble back to the first rock.
Miranda watched me, her eyes wide with terror, but she held her position. “Go to the cave!” I screamed, hoping she heard me.
I peeked over the top of the rock, but didn’t see the wolf. Miranda was gone, too. Frantic, I searched the rocks where the cave was. Relief flooded me when I saw her crouched near the opening. Knowing this would be the best chance we had, I pushed myself away from the rock and flew up to where Miranda still sat, the wolf at my heels.
“Go, go, go,” I pushed Miranda forward. The wolf was right behind us, there wasn’t time for hesitation. I ducked low and crawled in after her. There was no more time to think things through. We were out of options and out of time.
I managed to pull my legs in before the wolf decided to take them off and lucky for us, the wolf was too big to come in after us. “Oh,” I let my breath all out at once in an audible gasp.
“We made it,” Miranda whimpered.
The wolf snarled and snapped like a rabid animal, but it couldn’t fit in the small opening. Now, all we had to do was wait.
Chapter 27
I heard her ragged breathing behind me, coming in short bursts and brushing warm against my neck. It was too fast, though. She was going to pass out. “We…” she started to talk, but the words cut off abruptly. She might not have had the breath to speak.
“We are fine,” I told her firmly.
“Will… will it go away?”
“I doubt it.”
Her breath cut off completely and then started again, louder than before. “He’ll get in.” I heard the raw panic.
“It’s too big. The wolf is too big.”
“He’ll…break the opening, and make it bigger.”
“It will crush him.”
“He’s strong.”
“Not invincible.”
“Lexi…”
“We’re fine,” I repeated.
We had made it to the cave, now all we had to do was wait. The others would come for us. Paris, he would know how to find us. We couldn’t have made it very far from the camp. They would find us.