AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Adults and kids. At least fifty of us.”
Fifty?I want to cry. It’s hard to breathe for a minute, but I push through. If I don’t act fast enough, I’m going to lose them after they’ve done so much to survive.
I take hold of her shoulders. “Janie, the Enforcers are on their way here.”
Her eyes widen with fear. She knows as well as I do that doesn’t bode well for her or the others. The Enforcers will take one look at the situation and presume they helped my brother. Which would be justified if all the victims had been of age. But the wholesale extermination of the town won’t be written off as a defensible slave revolt. They won’t want to listen to any of that though, because, well, any excuse to be rid of half-breeds.
“We’ll be thrown in jail. Or…killed,” she whispers.
Smart girl.“Janie, listen to me. Do you think you can scent the other pack members?”
She nods.
My brain starts working as I remember uncharred vehicles in the town. “I don’t think Simon destroyed all the cars. You can take them and get out of here.”
She squeezes my hands again, eyes wide.
“Listen to me. You need to drive out of here as fast as you can. Don’t look back, okay?”
“And go where?” she asks, like she’s truly forgotten thereisanywhere outside of this nightmare.
My thoughts spin, and I recall the satellite feed of our old pack lands. “Home,” I tell her. “Someone’s been rebuilding there. I don’t know who, but they must be friendly, if not some of our own. You should be safe there.”
“Okay,” her head’s nodding like a broken bobblehead, not that I blame her, she’s doing really well given all she’s been through.
Digging into my pocket, I pull out the little money I have. “This should help get you there. And take anything you can grab along the way to the cars that has any value, but don’t go looking for things. There isn’t time.”
She takes the money and shoves it into her own pocket, then stares at me.
And something hits me. “Someone is still in our town. I don’t know who. Make sure you guys are ready, just in case.” Even though he’s rebuilding the town, so chances are he’s not dangerous to us.
Her eyes widen. “Okay.”
“Go, Janie. Fast,” I say, before hugging her tightly. Trying to remember the scent of a living pack member in my mind forever.
She rises, then takes off, following her nose through the forest. I watch as she disappears into the green recess, allowing myself a moment of glee. I’ll have to lie again to Max and Braxton, and I don’t feel good about that, but members of my pack aresafe. And nothing can steal this moment’s victory from me.
Nothing.
FIFTEEN
Asha
I trek backthrough the woods until I reach the main road, where I find Max fuming. He lowers his gun and glares at me, his handsome features twisted with anger, and it’s a little surprising. Max is really good at hiding his emotions, so the fact that he’s not right now says a lot.
There’s a pit in my stomach, but I can’t exactly bring it in me to regret what I did.
As I approach him, he calls out, “She’s here,” and the other two hustle out of nearby houses as he stomps toward me. “Where the fuck were you?”
I stand my ground, knowing I have to hide what I did and conceal my feelings as well as he typically does. But because I’m not good at concealing my emotions, I decide instead to match his anger with anger of my own. “Looking for the ladies’ room. Do I need your permission to take a piss too?” The words drip with sarcasm.
Perfect. If I’m angry, he won’t ask too many questions.
But, oh boy, that only irritates him further as he gives a look of absolute exasperation. “We have a system, Asha, that we use to verify your safety—”
“I wasn’t going to sit on the goddamn sidelines the entire time, Max! My pack could be anywhere, barely holding on.”
Okay, it probably wasn’t the right thing to say, but some huge part of me resents this whole thing, so it’s easy to pull from that. I should just be focused on my pack, not pretending to play the Enforcer game, or falling in line with Max. I just found a pack member! There are more of them, still alive, in these woods, and they’re hopefully going to escape, if I can play this right!
