“No.” Cade’s hand tightened on my arm. I winced, but he only held tighter. “I’m not paying you to die. I’m paying you to save us. If you die, you aren’t saving us, so I won’t pay you.”
I gaped at him, my mouth working for a moment before I managed, “Cade, saveyourself.”
“Okay,” Cade said fiercely. “I’ll draw them away. You get through. I’ll find you on the other side.”
I was already shaking my head. There was no way that Cade, injured and bleeding, missing most of his magic, would survive against two werewolves who could shift. They would tear him apart.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I spun, placing my body between Cade’s and the person next to me, smashing my good hand into their face. Dodging, they grabbed my palm, using it to tug me to the side, off-balance. I stumbled forward, but they were faster, slamming me into a tree trunk. I felt the coil of Cade’s magic behind me, but now I recognized the scent, the firm hands on my neck and arm.
“Wait,” I whispered.
The hands let up, and Nia gave me a disgusted look.
“Yeah, well, I’m pumped full of drugs, concussed, and I’m pretty sure this arm is going to have to be removed.” I gestured to my left arm, the broken bones disfiguring the line of it.
She rolled her eyes, reaching into her pocket and handing me a rose. I took it, frowning. With a shake of her head, she grabbed my good hand and pressed the rose against my shoulder, dragging it down my bad arm. I whimpered.
The skin began to heal, bones popping, reshaping themselves. When it was done, my arm wasn’t fully healed, but it was significantly better.
I breathed in, feeling like I could fully expand my lungs for the first time in hours. Nia waited for me, then gestured with her hands, the question clear.
“It’s just you?” I asked.
She nodded once.
“Okay. You can’t expose yourself. Did you ever play hunting games as a kid?” She had been in a pack. By my estimation, she had been someone high ranked in a pack. She knew the Marco Polo–style game I was talking about.
She nodded once.
“One noise. You hear me? One. Then you head back home.” I held up my good hand, one finger extended.
She rolled her eyes, but I reached out, grabbing hold of her shoulder.
“I am telling you—” I stopped. I wasn’t her alpha. After what I had done to Tyson and the pups, I wasn’t sure I deserved to be anyone’s alpha. I remembered my mom, her long, dark hair. I had been the only one of my siblings that had inherited the alpha that ran in her blood.
What would my mom do?
“I’m asking you. One. Unless you have a better idea?” I raised an eyebrow, waiting. My dad had followed my mom because she had listened to him. I was going to listen.
Nia raised both eyebrows, then brought them down. She tapped my chest, and I frowned at her for a second before realizing what she wanted. She wasn’t tapping my chest—she was plucking at my shirt.
“Take off your shirt,” I whispered to Cade.
He gaped at me, then looked at Nia, but then frowned, understanding. He pulled off his shirt and helped me with mine, trying to be careful not to jostle the still-healing bones of my left arm.
She wiped off as much of our sweat and blood as she could with the shirts, then handed me two flowers. I didn’t ask what to do this time, just rubbed one over myself and the other over Cade. Immediately, I could tell the difference.
Neither Cade nor I had any scent at all. No blood, no sweat, no eau-de-prison. Nia leaned forward, sniffing before nodding. She flashed mefivewith her fingers, then melted into the shadows, gone before I could thank her.
We didn’t have any time to waste. I dragged Cade through the forest, aware of every cracking branch, every dried leaf we stepped on. He pulled us up short, pointing directly ahead. I peeked through the brush, seeing two people standing in front of empty air.
I didn’t recognize either of them on sight, but even at a distance, watching them through the brush, I saw them both stiffen, their shifts into their wolf forms fluid and quick. They bounded away.
I grabbed hold of Cade’s hand with my good one, and we sprinted through the brush, ignoring all noise now, ignoring the scratch of branches as we made our way directly for the hole. Ducking low, I pulled Cade behind me, the burn of the wards scraping against my skin ignored through desperation and adrenaline.
On the other side, Cade didn’t wait. He wrapped both arms around me, his magic so thin it was gray. The next moment, we were on the side of a road. It was almost midnight, and no cars were driving.
Cade’s arms were still wrapped around me, his breathing unsteady. When he let go, he stumbled, and I caught him, dragging him close against my side.
