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“Then we come up with another plan.” Clapping his shoulder, I move back to our truck, turning off the engine and grabbing my bag. I sling it over my back and chug some water before locking up. “Don’t worry, we’ll find him eventually, and then you can kick his ass for being so stupid.”
We hike for two hours. We found some trails leading into the forest and followed them, but as we got deeper, the trails seemed to disappear until there was nothing for us to follow.
We are deep in the wilderness now, no doubt in wolf territory, and it has us both on edge.
“We should head back,” I admit in defeat.
“We have to find him.” Lucien would hike forever, even right into the pack, to save one of us, but we need to play this smart.
“We will, but not like this.” When his shoulders slump, I know he understands. We are crawling around in the dark forest, practically ringing the dinner bell for the wolves. We need to be smarter about this. We need a location we can go off of so we can form a plan of attack.
We need the upper hand.
“We could spend years combing through this forest,” I mutter with my hands on my hips. “No, we need a faster way.” I turn away. “We are going to find that pack and now.”
“How?” he asks as we start to head back to the car. Luckily, we left markers that make it easier to navigate.
I smirk. “We ask nicely of course.”
We become quiet after that, keeping our eyes peeled on our surroundings. We find evidence of wolves—either wild or pack, we don’t know—and it has us speeding up. Two of us versus a whole pack would not end well for us.
We reach the truck in record time. Grabbing some paper, I pin a message to Jai’s truck in case he comes back. I write it in code so the wolves can’t understand it, and then we head out.
We need to find a better way and fast.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
This she-wolf is a lot stronger than I first thought. She easily gutted me, torturing me with cold precision that even made my sick ass proud. Despite her healing, however, I’m exhausted and unable to move.
Instead, I stare at the door she left through.
The other wolves don’t return. Either they are changing guards, which they do at random times so I cannot get used to it, or they simply think I’m too injured and weak to do anything. They aren’t wrong. Right now, every inch of my body hurts. She didn’t heal her latest round, and my skin is covered in claw marks, cuts, burns, and more. I can feel every single one.
My hatred and anger pale in comparison to the agony, and the worst bit?
I cannot blame her. If what she said is true, that I am a wolf or part wolf, then I have turned against my own kind and killed and slaughtered them. I can understand their anger, their need to protect their people by any means necessary. After all, didn’t I do the same thing to her to protect my family?
So no, I understand her, and that makes it worse.
Rolling onto my side, I try to find a comfortable way to lie. I wince at the pain that shoots through every inch of my body.Despite the other wolves enjoying hurting me, no doubt taking their hatred out on me for my kind, she was never cruel.
Unlike how I treated her.
I have been hiding from myself since I can remember, running far and fast and denying these feelings in me. I’ve been hiding under the guise of being a hunter, but the truth is, I’m a coward. I’m too much of a coward to face the truth of what I am—that I could be anything like the beasts that killed and ate my parents.
I’m tired of running, though, and here, surrounded by the very beasts I hate, I have no choice but to face the truth. I want the truth, I realise, before I die, and I will die here. No one can save me. I’m a hunter, and they are monsters.
We are sworn enemies, so they will kill me. I just hope that Vale and Lucien aren’t dumb enough to get involved. I would hate it if they were hurt because of me.
Swallowing hard, I close my eyes for a moment, letting that night fill my mind.
They told me it was a wild animal, but I knew it wasn’t even then.
I feel the wolf tearing into me where I lie, pinned in the doorway of my parents’ room. My blood pools around me as I stare into my mother’s dead, empty eyes as I’m ripped apart.
I tried to stop it.
It was too quick, and I knew the moment it hit me, I was dead.
