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If he thought I was lying, he took a chance anyway and put me on my feet.

We tore away, crashing our way through thickets, brambles, and around a meshwork of trees. My ankle screamed in pain, but I pushed on, keeping Fox in my sights on the left the whole way.

When the ground suddenly sloped downwards, I yelped, tumbling headfirst and throwing out my arms to catch myself on any tree I could grapple in time. Fox wasn’t far behind me, clearing the little drop in a single leap to be the anchor I fell onto at the bottom of a small ravine. My ankle twisted again, this time on stones of an old creek bed, and I bit down into my lower lip hard as I held back a whimper.

The howls suddenly became growls and roars as the crashing grew louder.

In the dark of the forest, there was no way to know how close they were. How imminent our demises were.

“Come on.” Fox panted and tugged me onward.

I ran blindly, my gait pathetically wrong with my busted ankle, and threw my hands out to push through anything in my way. Just before I tumbled over another, steeper ravine, Fox caught me by the upper arm.

“Hang on.”

“Fox,” I whined fearfully. I could smell the creatures now—sweat, musk, and blood-rank breath.

“At the bottom of this cliff is a road,” he explained. “There’s no time to find a safe way down. So, I need you to trust me.” He grabbed my backpack and threw it over where it disappeared into the shadows below. My heartbeats thundered in my chest at least three or four times before the bag crashed into something.

I closed my eyes, inhaling sharply and gulping back the bile rising in my throat. To trust Fox right now was to ignore the fact he was a terrifying beast just like whatever it was that attacked us. To trust him was to put both my fate and my sister’s in his palm. Paw. Whatever the hell he had.

“Choose now,” he warned sharply as the crashing grew louder in the trees behind us.

“Okay! Fine—” My words cut off with a scream when I went airborne. Something sharp wrapped around my arms, lifting me straight up into the air. The sound of wing beats deafened me, and wind whipped around my face, tearing my hat straight off my head.

My feet hit hard pavement a few seconds later, and Fox tumbled to the ground beside me. Whole again. Human.

Before I could collect myself, headlights filled my vision, blinding me as I lifted my hands as a shield. A horn blared, a distant wail in the recesses of my mind, but just before I was flattened, a strong hand tugged me back.

I fell into Fox’s chest, the two of us tumbling into the ditch on the side of the road as the tractor trailer that almost took me out skidded to a halt further up the road.

My chest heaved, my heart beating faster than a rabbit’s. For a small eternity, I just laid there. Safe against Fox’s chest. Not a flattened piece of roadkill.

The truck driver popped his head out a rolled down window to call back, “You kids in trouble?”

I looked up at Fox, only imagining how terrified we looked. Bloody, covered in brambles, and with eyes wider than a deer in headlights. We were in no shape to claim otherwise, so I turned back to the driver and nodded.

“Get in then, come on!” He slapped the side of his door.

I didn’t waste another breath, knowing a horde of supernatural creatures could rain down on us from the cliff at our backs any second. Grabbing Fox’s hand, I tugged him up and towards the truck. He gave me a boost up into the high seat with a hand on the small of my back, and the second we were buckled in...

I collapsed against him, trembling from head to toe.

Whatever he was...

He was all I had left to rely on.

Chapter 27

The rest stop lights were beacons pointing to heaven. A safe haven that promised fast food, gas, and free showers if we wanted. All of which sounded downright divine after my horrible day.

As the truck pulled in, I finally loosened my grip on Fox’s fingers and peeled myself away from his side.

Twenty minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Blessedly, the truck driver—Harold, who smelled faintly like cigarettes and raspberry iced tea—had talked nonstop about anything and everything, but nothing all that important. He bounced from his favorite area to drive through, to his garden back home, and to his sister’s lecture telling him he had to take care of anyone in need he came across on the side of the road.

Bless his sister...

Bless Harold for picking us up our my moment of greatest need.