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Chapter 12
Lucien
Iskid to a stop near a gurgling creek, my lungs furiously pumping for air, and whip back around. Bardhyl leaps right over the water before he pauses.
Behind us, there are no signs of the Ash Wolves. No sounds, either. The same can be said for the undead. We’ve lost them.
All I can think about is Meira and how she saved us by turning the zombies toward the wolves coming for us. Normally, I’d stay and fight, especially as I vowed to never lose her again, but I ran. And I hated myself for that, yet to remain meant our certain death among that swarm. Running is not a weakness, even if guilt now twists my insides into a knot so tight, I feel sick.
A sudden spark of electricity blazes down my arms, my hairs lifting. I turn to find Bardhyl pulling himself to his feet, in his human form, the last layers of fur vanishing into his skin.
He cracks his neck, his wry expression bursting with fury.
“Fuck!” is all he says.
Exactly my sentiment. I take his lead and summon my wolf back, my transformation clawing through me. I welcome the pain, the agony, anything’s better than the feeling of my heart rupturing.
“We need to find her.” I growl, pulling myself up. “She either chased after us or continued in the direction I was taking us up north to the mountains that neared the Savage Sector. It’s where Dušan told us to go and hide if things ever got really bad.” Wolves rarely visit the area and I figured it might be a good spot to lie low to shake off the Ash Wolves.
“I don’t know if she’d go in that direction. She doesn’t know that’s a hiding spot. We retrace our steps carefully and try to find her here,” Bardhyl says, sounding more like he’s reassuring himself.
“Fine, but if we find no sign of her, then we can split up between the north and the direction heading back to the compound. Whether she’s caught or of her own volition, she will go there eventually, right?”
Bardhyl’s response comes in the form of a growl. I sniff the air and don’t sense her. “We just need to find her scent.”
For the most part, she might be anywhere in the woods, but I’m trying to think like Meira. She saved us from the cell in the settlement, which means she won’t steer far and come to track us down.
I glance the way we came, part of me desperate to see her silhouette appear out of the shadows, to know she’s safe, but she never comes. I know it deep in my heart that she didn’t follow us.
“The woods are teeming with undead and Ash Wolves who’ve turned against us,” I say.
“If fortune is upon us, we will find her in the woods.”
“I hope you’re right, my friend.” Trepidation worms through me at the thought that it won’t be that easy.
Meira
“Let me go!” I wrench my hand from the brute, except his grip might as well be an unbreakable stone.
“You will help us,” is all he keeps demanding, walking us quickly back the way I just ran, dragging me alongside him. This Alpha with the palest green eyes makes no effort to slow down.
If luck shone on me, we’d cross paths with the undead, giving me the ideal chance to escape. Worse, we’d bump into the Ash Wolves searching for me. Well, maybe these northern brutes might finish them off for me. Again, offering me plenty of time to run away with Jae.
I glance back over my shoulder to where she speed-walks between the two other Alphas, though neither of them are holding on to her.
“Nikos,” she calls out. “Please. You’re hurting Meira.”
The man hauling me pauses, turning slowly toward us, his grasp on my wrist constricting. “There is no time to waste.” His attention falls to me, his features tightening.
Up close, there are flecks of gold in his eyes, and a fresh scar across an eyebrow still blushing pink. He has thick, long, chestnut hair on the top and back of his head, which is shaved at the sides. It’s easy to see him as a wild man, but I remind myself he hasn’t hurt me yet, which means he can be reasoned with.
“Just tell me what you want?” I ask, holding his attention. “You want my help, then talk.”
The sound of the other two men breathing heavily tells me these Alphas aren’t used to females talking to them in such a way.
Nikos, as Jae called him, smiles. “The Ash Wolves have something of mine and you will help us retrieve it.” There’s no patience in his voice.
“What is it?” I ask immediately.
