Oriana moves from the door as if to sniff one, but Liora waves a hand to get her attention and signals her to stop. The white-gray wolf backs away.
The frightened girl still in human form whimpers, and two of the guards grunt and start wriggling. I wish I had Liora’s rock, but I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to use it.
Run, my wolf shrieks. It’s not like her, she’s usually so calm. I’m usually the one freaking out.
Please, I pray. Please help. I don’t know who I’m praying to. Not the Grandmothers, whom I’ve turned my back on. Maybe Fate? Please. Get us out of here. But most of all, keep him safe. I need him to be okay.
It feels like a century passes before Noah returns. He signals us to follow his lead, and we do, gratefully. We run from the bathhouse into the woods.
I can’t hear anything the forest is unnaturally still. But then–ahead, there are shouts and the sounds of boots stomping in a rhythmic march.
Aiden’s been alerted, and he’s called up the troops.
I can tell by the tension in Noah’s shoulders that our escape route is blocked. Any minute, guards will return to the bathhouse, and they’ll find their buddies tied up, and know something’s up.
An image flashes into my mind–a memory from the time Noah first came for me. The tunnel, I sign to Noah.
The tunnel connected to the Tower. We can go to the Tower and sneak out the tunnel the way I first escaped. We’re closer to it than any other escape route. It’s not ideal–there’ll be guards at the Tower that we’ll have to deal with, and if we make it off Adalwulf land, we’ll have to continue south on foot, but it’s a better plan than trying to go back north the way we came, risking coming across tons of enforcers the whole way. Even if we did get to the ravine and cave, I bet that area and any area near where Sully is setting off fireworks is now crawling with guards.
Whatever we decide, we need to do it now. We can’t wait here, or we’ll be caught. We have to move.
Noah nods and changes directions. The female wolves follow him, running silently. Liora holds the frightened girl’s hand as they both run. The Tower rises above us, a dark shape spotlighted by the almost full moon.
I speed up to catch up with Noah. It feels so good to run flat out, heart and arms pumping, beside my mate, that I look over and smile at him despite the tense circumstances. He meets my gaze, and his lips curl up. We’re going to make it.
But the moment we leave the forest and head for the door to the Tower, I feel sick again. All the weakness I felt when I was being starved and imprisoned enters my limbs. I swallow down my bile and the sense that something dreadful is waiting for me and take the lead with Noah at my side.
There are two enforcers guarding the door. Before Noah can rush them, I stride forward.
“Halt,” one guard says.
“Let us pass,” I say in an imperious tone. “We’re under attack. These are the acolytes meant for the Alpha Rites and must be protected at all costs.”
The younger guard looks to the older, but neither knows what to do. I’m hoping they don’t recognize me, or if they do, they haven’t been told that I’m missing.
The frightened girl in Liora’s arms lets out a sob, and that convinces the enforcers. They open the heavy wooden door and stand aside for us to file inside.
“Our guard is to come with us,” I signal Noah to follow us. “The Warden’s orders.”
Oriana’s wolf bares her teeth at the guards as she enters, but we make it safely inside. The dark depths close around me, and for a moment, I’m ungrounded, suspended in a black void, not knowing where I am or who I’m with.
Then I blink, and I’m watching Noah look for the secret door that leads to the tunnel.
“What are we doing back here?” the girl sniffles. Liora signs something to her while saying, “All will be well, child.
I go to help Noah open the door. It creaks a little, and I wince, hoping the guards don’t hear.
“Let us sing to the moon to guide us,” Liora says, and as one, the girls in wolf form throw back their heads and howl. The sound bounces off the stone walls, filling the space with an eerie melancholy. It’s beautiful.
Noah and I open the door, and Liora gives another signal. The wolves all fall silent.
“And now let us meditate in peace and rest,” Liora says loudly, for the guard’s benefit. I never knew she was so crafty. I must be staring at her, wide-eyed, because she winks at me.
Despite the hammering of my heart against my ribs, the corners of my lips curve up.
Then Noah takes my hand, and we descend into the tunnel, leading the wolves together.
But something’s wrong. The minute the darkness closes around me, I’m back, floating in that void. It’s not a vision–I don’t have those anymore. But it’s disorienting.
