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Chapter 4
Meira
Rain drenches everything, slips under my clothes, and I’m soaked to the bone. But I welcome the wild weather to keep away the Alphas searching for me, no matter how much I’m trembling with the cold.
The canopy of leaves overhead mostly protect me as I press up against a wide fir tree where only the occasional heavy drops fall onto my head. From my location, I get a clear view of the Ash Wolves’ compound.
Thunder roars and the ground trembles, sending the branches into a tremble, throwing more water onto me. But I don’t move, even as an icy drop slides down my spine.
A metal fence, about fifteen feet tall, closes in around the settlement. Left and right, it stretches outward. I’ve circled the perimeter from within the woods already to scope out my potential entry points. There are three into the place.
First, the main entrance gate with two snipers sitting up on the stone posts. There’s another on the opposite end from me with one guard, and a third gate to my left at the rear of the settlement. And I remember the guard on the back door. He stood outside my room when I was first brought into this pack, and he always smiled at me. Plus, I’ve seen him talking to Dušan a few times, and you can always tell a lot about a person by the way they treat others, especially prisoners. I don’t even know the man’s name, but there was awe in his gaze when he spoke with his Alpha. Perhaps it had to do with him being older than the other guards, so if I trust any of them, it would be him.
Yeah, it’s a risk, but what else can I do? I need a way in. Scaling the fence is close to impossible, and breaking it down will bring all sorts of attention. My plan is to sneak in as undetected as possible.
I chew on my lower lip, my stomach churning as I’m standing out here as an easy target should anyone come in from behind me. I keep looking over my shoulder, but with the heavy rain, I can’t detect anyone.
The more I stare at the brick fortress beyond the lofty fence, the more I’m reminded of Dušan and the first time he brought me here. Terrified, I would have done anything to escape capture, and ironically, now I’ll do anything to get inside.
Steadfast stone walls, the pointy towers, the crenellations across the top. I can’t stop thinking about the time Lucien took me up on the top balcony for breakfast, and we shared our first kiss. Later when I escaped my room, the Viking beast, Bardhyl, tracked and dragged me back inside. My heart clenches at the memories, and an urgency drums through me to get to my men faster. Every second that passes, I drown farther in thoughts that I’ll lose them. But I can’t allow my worries to pull me under. Not until I do everything I can to rescue them. So I need to cause a distraction at the opposite end of the enclosure so when I finally slip into the compound.
I scan the open land and find no sign of anyone, so with my head low, I push out from behind the tree and hurry through the woods. Running, I remain in the shadows and follow the downward sloping land toward the front gates.
While scouting the entry gates to work out which guard looked easiest to convince, I discovered a recently dead deer carcass down in this area that I intend to use for the interference. Now, my heart beating frantically, my lungs burning, and I’m mentally gathering my energy to triumph.
Cause a disturbance.
Then bolt back up to the rear entrance.
Beg the guard to let me in. It’s a long shot, but I’ll try anything right now.
Rain pelts down on me, the sky growling, and I rush when the ground suddenly slips out from under my feet and I fall on my ass. “Argh,” I moan from the sharp pain of landing on a branch. Mud coats my pants and hands. “Crap.” I get back up, taking the hill slower this time.
Dead ahead, I come around a cluster of trees where the terrain flattens, and where I last saw the dead animal. Except now two Shadow Monsters are hunched over the thing, gorging, their slurpy sounds sickening me.
“Okay, maybe this will work even better,” I whisper, meaning I won’t have to lure them to me. I skid to a halt several feet away, and that’s when I catch movement deeper in the woods, more undead coming to the scent of blood. At least a dozen of them lurch amid the trees.
“Oh, shit.” They’ll make this harder if I don’t move now.
Sucking in a deep breath, I throw myself forward, cringing on the inside that I’m actually going to do this. Reaching the rump of the deer, I grab its hind legs. They are cold and damp to the touch. Thank goodness it’s not a huge animal.
Then I haul the thing, directly out of the undead’s reach. The creatures don’t seem to even notice me but lurch after their meal with outstretched hands and gaping mouths dripping with blood.
Groans from the woods draw my attention to the other monsters coming this way.
So I move with speed, shuffling backward, tugging this half-eaten carcass and doing my best not to look at its open ribcage or I’ll be sick.
One zombie latches on and bites down on its neck. As I drag the deer, the undead loses its balance and falls, still attached on with teeth and fingers. Their weight resists me now, and I swear under my breath at the fucking thing.
My heart pounds in my chest, and the rain is unrelenting, soaking me. It drips down my face and into my eyes and mouth.
Glancing behind me, I approach the edge of the woods, and behind that is a clearing between me and the fence of at least twenty feet.
I scan the area and find no one there, so I move fast with the deer and creatures.
Emerging from the woods, the sheet of rain pours buckets over me, slamming into me ferociously. I slide the deer over the muddy ground, one zombie still clinging on to its neck, eating, while the other staggers after us.
Fear pummels into me now. Those guards in the compound shoot on site, and I’m in open territory with their enemy.
