Page 67

He slaps a hand over my mouth.

“Hey!” My shout is muffled by his meaty palm, as he comes to a halt.

Muscles in his shoulders bunching, he scans the surroundings, then tugs me down behind a fallen tree trunk just before a light sweeps over the ground.

The distant sounds of chatter could easily be Remus’s men searching the forest for us.

“We’ll walk through the night,” he whispers. “They’ll give up the search soon, until daylight.”

“Walk through the night? What if there’s a horde? Or coyotes?”

“I doubt there are many coyotes around here. Lions probably eat them.”

“Lions? Are you kidding me right now?”

“No.”

Pushing to his feet, he reaches down for me, but I bat his hand away. No sense giving him the impression that I’m some useless damsel.

For the next hour, I follow behind him, as he leads me through the dark forest, and I swear, if I could shoot laser beams out of my eyes, he’d be dead.

Except, I probably shouldn’t wish him dead, because every time something howls or crackles, I find myself all the more grateful he’s with me. Titus seems to have a natural sense of direction in these woods that, no matter the many times I explored the little forest back in Szolen, I just don’t seem to have picked up. At times, he stops to listen to something I failed to hear, and only keeps on when he senses it’s safe.

I don’t know why I thought I’d be the one to exact revenge, anyway. It isn’t in me to kill. Never has been. From the time I was small and saved a colony of ants from the neighborhood boys, I’ve always known I was born to heal and protect. I can’t protect Will now. All I can do is mourn him. Killing Titus won’t bring him back, but man, I’d have loved to watch him suffer a little more back at the water’s edge.

“It’s a wonder every predator in this forest isn’t after us, with you clomping like a newborn calf,” he says from in front.

“No worse than you smelling like you just crawled out of a swamp.” I catch the flex of his shoulders as he rolls them back, and smile at what must be an urge to throttle me, but it quickly fades under the unreconciled anger still simmering inside of me. “Why’d you do it?”

“Do what?” The air of boredom in his words grates on my nerves.

“Kill my friend.”

“You claimed you didn’t know him.”

“Don’t play stupid. You know I had to lie.”

“Then, you know why I had to kill him.”

“And Tom? I suppose he was just a bonus kill before you decided on an evening cliff jump.”

“You put far too much trust in a man who spilled all your secrets.”

“He also gave me the knife that you held to my throat.”

“I know.” When he glances over his shoulder, the unsurprised expression matches his words. “Who do you think told him to give it to you?”

“How did you know I was planning to escape? Did Tom tell you?”

“No. And I didn’t.” He hangs a right toward a tree, but when I cut over a fallen branch to follow, he throws out a hand to stop me. “Piss break.”

With a huff, I back up a few steps. “Incontinence, is it?”

“You’re welcome to act as my target again, if you’d like.”

“Go to hell.” Crossing my arms, I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from picking up one of the rocks on the ground and nailing him square in the head with it. Or try to, anyway. “You’re a real gentleman.”

Minutes later, he emerges from behind the tree, fastening his pants. “About a half dozen Ragers are trailing us.”