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Cautious, I slowly make progress, but when I find nothing out of the ordinary, I start to backtrack.
A groaning sound comes from just ahead. I slide in behind a tree and peer out from behind it, studying the evergreens and shrubs. That’s when one patch of land catches my attention farther away. It’s flatter, darker than the rest.
I know right away what it is… a trap that rogue wolves use to capture animals or females. That’s how those fuckheads capture women to rut.
And that knowledge alone raises the hairs on my nape. They’re around here, but something—or someone—got caught in the trap.
I move quickly before I can think about it too much. From the edge of the deep hole in the ground, I can see that someone down is there, but the shadows make it too hard to see much else. It’s definitely not an animal.
“Jae?” The word slips past my lips, and I curse myself for not thinking before speaking out aloud.
“Meira!” a male voice responds.
I freeze and stare intently into the hole as Bardhyl, of all people, steps out of the shadows.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I blurt out. This is horribly bad. If a rogue wolf comes along now, he’ll kill this Alpha.
“What do you think, angel legs?” he answers with that Norse accent, and all I see are those deep green eyes staring up at me. There are gashes in the side of the hole where the earth came away from when he tried to climb out.
“I don’t need you to come after me, you know. Are Dušan and Lucien nearby too?”
“Never mind that. Be a good girl and get me out!” I hear the panic in his voice. He knows as well as I do that he’s in a shitty situation.
I nod. “Be back in a sec.” I turn and scan the area for something long and sturdy. I find a fallen log. It’s not too broad, but it’s freaking long. And he needs something sturdy to climb up.
I run over to the log and snatch the end closest to the hole. Hands wrapped around the rough trunk, I tug, but it barely budges.
Shit, shit, shit.
I can’t believe Bardhyl is even here… How did he track me so accurately? Did Dušan send him after me while he stayed with the pack? Well, if I intend to keep that distance from the pack, then this is my chance to just hightail it out of here.
That thought alone sends a twinge of despair through me.
Fuck.My own body betrays me. Okay, fine. I’ll get him out, then I’ll bolt out of here.
Sucking in a deep breath, I pick up the trunk and heave it once again. It shifts and I shuffle backward, dragging it with me.
If I break my back carting this log, Bardhyl owes me everything.
My heart flutters each time I keep thinking back to his green eyes and that white-blond hair draping over his rounded shoulders.
I hate to admit it, but seeing him has awakened something inside me. Butterflies, mainly. The pesky things flutter frantically in my stomach.
Pulling the log, I jerk it over the ground a bit at a time until I reach the hole, then I dump it down and breathe heavily. Sweat drips down my spine, and I glance down at Bardhyl.
“How are you doing there, baby cheeks?” he asks.
“I don’t even know why I’m helping you since the last time I saw you, you manhandled me. Then you shoved me into someone’s house.”
He chuckles at me, and as much as he infuriates me, gods have mercy, that is the most delicious sound I’ve ever heard.
“I can indulge you all you want when I get out. Now stop wasting time.”
I huff and turn back to the log that has my muscles trembling. I move to the other end of the dead log, which is close to twenty feet long, and try to work out how to do this.
Bending over, I lift the end up and push it onward. Slowly, the timber shifts over the edge of the hole. I push it, straining in the process, and sluggishly lift my end higher so the base goes into the hole at a descent. It slides forward, and suddenly the base slams into the inside wall and sits there, jammed.
“Crap!” I run toward Bardhyl, gasping for air. “Can you jump up to grab it?”
