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“Julia, get me out of here,” Harlow persisted.
Julia shook her head. “I can’t do that, Harlow. You’re in it pretty deep, and I can’t help you. I’m here to make sure you live, and that’s about all I could convince them to let me do.”
“How long have you known about this?” Harlow asked, her voice taking on an edge of hurt that her old mentor would betray her.
Julia pressed her lips together and swallowed, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “I’m not supposed to tell you anything,” she whispered. “But you should know it’s not like they say it is. They brought you back because after you left a lot of us wanted to leave, too. None of us thought what Vincent did to you was right, but some of us…” Julia trailed off, her eyes trailing to the door. “Well, we couldn’t get out in time.”
Harlow met Julia’s gaze and held them sympathetically. “Help me, Julia,” she entreated. “Help me get out of here, and I swear to you, I will end him. I will tear him apart if it’s the last thing I ever do. You’ll be free. All of you!”
Julia closed her eyes and shook her head again. “Don’t talk like that. There’s no way out. He’s got us all watching each other. There’s no one you can trust. You’ll never make it out!”
Harlow pleaded with her mentor. “I will, Julia! Gravecrest is strong and good. If I can get out, if I can warn them, they’ll understand. They’ll come to get you! Atlas and Colt will…”
“Enough!” Lincoln shoved the door open with a thud that startled Julia so badly she jumped away from Harlow, brushing tears off her face with the back of her hand. “That’ll do, Julia. You can go now.”
Julia hurriedly gathered her supplies and rushed out the door. Harlow looked at him weakly. “You’ll never get out of here, Harlow,” Lincoln growled. “No matter how hard you try, no matter who you manipulate, you will never escape. We will attack Gravecrest and kill everyone. You will be taken back to Hollow Grove and be made into an example. Our allies will see what happens when our new alpha isn’t obeyed. Your only consolation is that it’ll all be over soon.”
“What happened to you, Lincoln?” Harlow reasoned. “You were always such a good leader.”
Lincoln rolled his eyes and took the doorknob. “Your tricks won’t work on me. Try not to cause any more trouble, and we’ll kill you quickly.” He slammed the door shut on the way out.
Harlow sobbed until she heard his footsteps recede down the corridor. Grasping the key Julia had slipped her, she worked the cable ties on her wrists down until she could reach them with the tips of her claws and cut herself free.
If she knew anything about Lincoln, he would take his grave mood of finality and go rain on someone else’s parade for a while. She would have at least a few minutes while he distracted everyone for her.
Harlow turned the key in the lock as quietly as possible and edged the door open, looking both ways before tiptoeing down the hall. She didn’t have time to formulate a perfect plan or even put together the jagged pieces of a rough idea. She could only hope that following her gut and paying attention to her surroundings would work long enough to get her out.
Stopping to listen at an exterior door, she tried the key and found that it worked. Not stopping to wonder where Julia got a master key, she poked her head out and waited for a lull in the patrol before making a break for the tree line.
“Where is she? Guards!” Voices rang out from the direction of her empty cell. Time was up. Harlow broke into a run, her injuries impairing her stride. She hoped to find a creek or pond where they would lose her scent before they caught her, but she didn’t have a clue where she was.
She heard shouting and then howls as shifters came loping after her. How did Vincent ever gain the loyalty of so many? Didn’t they know that if they all worked together, they could break free?
He must have promised them something—status or perks or females or money. Whatever it was, she could tell them what became of Vincent’s promises and they wouldn’t like it.
Gaining the forest, she disappeared from view among the trees, but the shifters never lost her scent. Staying with her stride for stride, they closed in on her like she was a young doe and they were enjoying a leisurely hunt. She could practically feel their breath on her nape.
Coming to a clearing, she changed direction toward the scent of water and screeched to a halt as wolves entered from the other side. They had her surrounded. “You should have learned your lesson last time, Harlow,” Vincent breathed into her ear as her vision blurred. “This time I won’t be so merciful.”
Chapter 26
Colt
The security team, the most elite enforcers of the Gravecrest pack, huddled together in the space next to Atlas’s office. Where cubicles had earlier arranged themselves to form arbitrary divisions that tightened the room, now sat a large table with the cubicles pushed thoroughly against the far wall to clear space. Colt gestured wildly while rotating around the table, moving plastic objects to positions on a large display.
Colt picked up a crude figurine resembling Harlow with hair that nearly matched the same fiery red, except that the figurine also wielded a bow and had pointed elven ears. He held the figurine up to the room, placing it back down.
“Our scouts spotted Harlow in an abandoned building on the outskirts of town,” Colt said, feeling the temperature rising from all of the bodies gathered tightly around him. He swore he caught a faint whiff of something that resembled geranium but wasn’t sure where it was coming from. “She’s well within the clutches of the pack’s alpha and should be under heavy observation.”
Colt lifted up a figurine of a large werewolf, standing on its hindlegs with exaggeratedly large paws. The figurine’s attire consisted mostly of buckles and zippers, with a skull on its jeans and furry spikes that protruded from its back. This was supposed to represent the alpha.
The arranged structure on which the alpha and Harlow were positioned was made up of interlocking blocks that clicked together.
“And this intel is current?” asked a raspy voice from the crowd. Its owner was a bulky man with a scar that ran from his left cheek to his right eye.
Colt looked to Atlas, who nodded in response. “This intelligence was received about three hours ago,” Atlas said. “Evidently, the situation is continuously evolving, but we think they’re staying the night.”
“Doesn’t seem too smart,” the man said.
