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Shade had said we had an hour to get our things. I didn’t believe it, not even for a second. I suspected the instant we left the neutral ground of the commemoration downtown that Mathis would have me hunted and killed for trespassing on pack lands.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew our Alpha Supreme well enough. I’d embarrassed him in front of every single house. I’d publicly rejected his son and then refused to willingly participate in the senseless and barbaric custom of our ancestors. It was as stupid as dueling at dawn when someone’s so-called honor had been insulted. He’d taken my rejection of his heir as a personal slight, and I couldn’t even understand how. Considering I was the black sheep in the shifter world, I would have thought he’d be mortified to have me mated to anyone in his bloodline. I’d half-expected him to try to kill me on principle the moment Markus had named me his mate. By all accounts, he shouldn’t have even wanted me to accept Markus, or vice versa.
Wouldn’t his son—his heir—being mated to me have been worse than rejection? The way I’d been treated my entire life, I would have thought that would have been the case.
All of that aside, I couldn’t understand why Markus wouldn’t just reject me.
“Dannika.” My sister’s tense voice broke through my train of thought.
I paused outside my truck. The rain was trickling down, and soon it would turn from misty droplets to a downpour. I turned to Adora.
“You have to go home. Warn Mom and Abbey,” I said, turning to her and tossing the keys. She raised her hand up quickly, catching them effortlessly. “I can’t come with you.”
The look on her face was conflicted, and even though I could see the desire to fight and protest, she had to know I was right. I didn’t have time to dawdle. Nova looked back and forth between us, waiting.
Sighing, she acquiesced. “He’s going to make a play to trap you. I feel it too.” She lifted her head, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She shuddered, as though she were ruffling her feathers. “Wolves have left the banquet hall. Their scent is near the east exits. Probably taking back alleys and heading to the outskirts of town to get in position.”
“They’ll corner me after I go home. Won’t let me leave. He’s not very creative.”
“He’s a bastard. That’s what he is.”
I huffed. “Understatement.” I opened the back of the camper in the truck bed and let Nova jump in. Walking to the passenger door, I opened it and climbed into the cab so we could finish talking. My sister walked around to the driver’s seat and got in, and we sat in silence for a moment.
“You have to take Mom and Abbey and go stay with another pack. You won’t be able to leave Fire and Fluorite, but if you’re not on his pack lands while this blows over, maybe we can all make it out alive.”
Crossing her arms, Adora’s nails dug into her skin. “This is bullshit, Danni.”
“I don’t disagree with you, but we don’t have options here. Complain that it’s bullshit all you want, but it won’t change the facts. Our family is now in danger. Mathis isn’t going to let this go.”
She exhaled loudly, hitting the steering wheel for effect.
Her body was tense, and her eyes glistened. Frustration rolled off her in waves. I knew what she was doing. It was easier for her to accept her anger and let that show than it was to admit she was just as scared as I was in this moment. That we didn’t want to let each other go. In all reality, I wasn’t that different.
Reaching behind the seats, I pulled out one of two bags we kept there. They were our emergency kits. Not first-aid. Survival. My mom didn’t take any chances, and she’d taught her daughters to do the same. After what she’d witnessed the night of the Great Sacrifice, after losing my dad and raising me on her own, after finding Adora as an abandoned infant—she was always prepared for the world to go to shit again. The next time it happened, she’d be ready.
We each kept a fully stocked hiking backpack in our vehicles at all times. It had everything we needed. A few changes of clothes. Toiletries. Rain gear and traction cleats. Flint. Matches. Protein bars and packs of dried food. Weapons.
I set it on the seat between us, then leaned over to put my hand on her arm. I stroked it softly, letting her work through her emotions.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said softly. “We’ll figure this out.”
She side-eyed me, still sniffling. “Trying to convince me or yourself?”
I snorted. “Bit of both.”
“Where are you going to go?” she asked, clearing her throat.
I glanced over and noticed she was fidgeting with the hem of her dress. She was anxious. It was an old habit of hers that she’d never really grown out of. I hated that she was going to leave by herself. Risk traveling through pack lands without me by her side. I knew she’d be okay once she got home, but Mathis’s minions would be looking for me, and they would be expecting me to be traveling with her.
“I’m not sure where I’m going,” I sighed. “Hell in a handbasket?”
She snorted, then dipped her chin toward the backpack. “You’ve got supplies if you need to stay on the move, but that’s not a long-term plan. They’re going to come looking for you. They’ll start tracking you as soon as they realize you didn’t come home with me.”
“I know,” I said, nodding. “There are some abandoned buildings I can take shelter in if I need it, but I’ve got to use the little time I have right now. They’re not out looking for me yet, and that’s a head start I can’t waste.”
“What are you thinking?” she asked, the question in her voice turning to suspicion.
“I want to see if the House of Earth and Emerald will take me in.”
