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I squatted on the forest floor, hoping to get out of Tyler’s line of sight. It was dark, and that would be something to use to my advantage if he didn’t also have night vision.
“You can run, and you can hide, but you can’t stop your scent from flooding these woods…”
He inhaled, loud and dramatic, and my head whipped in the direction his voice was coming from.
Too close. On my left. I backed up into a tree and glanced around quickly.
He was right. I could play chameleon for as long as I liked, but this man knew what I smelled like.
A rustle in the bushes beside me produced a snake in the midst of shedding its skin. It scurried away in the undergrowth; I’d clearly disturbed its hiding spot, but it had inspired me.
I tugged the thick sweater I wore off me and left it right where I was just as another twig snapped.
“The delicious scent of a terrified blessed-blood wolf,” Tyler said. His voice sounded even closer.
I took a chance, peeped my head around the tree's thick trunk, and immediately jerked back. He was fifty yards from me, but several trees were between us. I gave one last mournful glance at the sweater, then turned away and dashed off in the other direction.
“Is that you?”
I scrambled to a stop behind another tree, my chest heaving. I heard him crash into the brush near the tree with a barely-restrained growl. The sound of material ripping spurred me on as I stripped out of my cargo pants. I was left in leggings, my tank top, and boots.
I paused as I made out a glimmer of gray between the trees. And then the flash of headlights.
The road.
A car. People.My salvation.
“Stupid fucking girl,” I heard, and the words jarred me out of my dazed state.
I took off at a dead sprint toward the road. I could hear his thundering steps behind me, and not for the first time since my life descended into madness did I thank the powers that be for making me fast.
My thigh muscles began to ache at one point. I heard a bellow of frustration echo throughout the forest just as I crashed through the trees with a scream.
I wasn’t sure whether Tyler had stopped chasing me, but I was still incredibly grateful that whoever was driving the car slammed on the brakes at the sight of me, because my knees gave out.
I crashed into the road on my hands and knees.
It was a lone woman in the car. I could barely hear her frantic yelling over the sudden ringing in my ears. It took me about tenseconds to realize that she was alone out here at night, with me and an angry fallen-blood wolf somewhere in that forest looking for me.
“...okay? Are you hurt?”
I groaned, letting her help me up. Her eyes were wide as she guided me to her car. She was human. She reeked of chemicals, and her entire car smelled of the stuff; it was enough to make my eyes water.
“You scared the hell out of me,” she said. “Should I call the cops?”
I almost told her don’t bother, but an idea hit me like a ton of bricks. I nodded weakly. “Please,” I croaked.
With cops crawling around here, Tyler would either have to run or stay put. It would slow him down, regardless.
“Should we wait for them or…?”
“No,” I urged her. “No.”
“Alright, sweetie,” she murmured, helping me into her passenger seat. She quickly called 911, mentioned me, and then, after hanging up, said, “I’ll take you to a hospital.”
Hospitals would be the first place they’d look. “No,” I rattled off the address Sariel gave me, and her brows furrowed.
“I really think I should—”
