by Amy Richie
Behind me, I could hear the unmistakable sound of Miranda crying. It was the sound of fear and put a chill in my heart. I wasn’t an expert on fear, but I had felt it more in the past few days than I ever had before.
Liza said that fear was a useless emotion but I wasn’t so sure about that anymore. I had only killed that wolf out of fear and the fear was keeping us running. Maybe fear was just part of being human and there was no way around it.
My mind traveled unaided to the cave. To the white wolf lying there—dead. As much as the thought made me feel sick, I would have done it again. I had no choice if I wanted Miranda and me to live. And I did want her to live—more than I had ever wanted anything before.
My eyes almost teared up at the thought, the emotion surprising me. I couldn’t remember the last time I cried. I scrunched up my face angrily, willing the moisture to dry back up. That’s all I needed, to be blinded by my stupid tears and fall on my face.
There was a big difference this time though. Paris.
As if he heard me thinking about him, Paris came back around to jog close to us. He held his mouth in a thin tight line and kept darting glances all around. I felt safer when he was ahead of us, I thought dryly. His nostrils flared slightly. Could he actually smell a wolf? I shook my head at my own foolish thoughts. That wasn’t possible. Even while we moved, he kept looking behind us and on both sides.
“Where are we going?” I asked a little too loudly.
He pressed his finger to his lips and shook his head lightly. “Don’t stop.”
I hadn’t planned on it. “We can’t keep running much longer.” I moved my eyes towards Miranda. She was looking pale and winded, but managed a small smile when she caught us looking at her.
“We’re almost there,” he answered roughly.
I was looking back at him so I didn’t see when the path suddenly became blocked by a massive dark shape. I would have collided with the wolf if Paris hadn’t caught my arm and pulled me back behind him.
Both wolf and vampire bared their fangs.
I pulled Miranda further behind Paris. What would happen to us if he was killed, though? I tensed, waiting for one of them to make the first move. Paris growled and lunged forward, knocking me back in the process. The wolf took several steps back to keep out of the reach of Paris’s fangs. I didn’t hesitate. Pulling Miranda along behind me, we ran past them and continued on the path he had been leading us.
I wasn’t sure where we were going but anywhere was better than back with the wolf, glaring at us hungrily. I turned back to try and see if Paris was coming but suddenly there was a second wolf right behind us. Without thinking, I pushed Miranda behind me and rounded on the wolf with my blade out.
My lip curled up at the wolf, but his snarl was more impressive. The knife remained steady in my hand, the tip lowered to point at the massive head. The only sounds I heard were my own breath whooshing in and out of my lungs and the wolf’s heavy panting. I couldn’t see Paris anymore, but I wasn’t looking for him—my eyes were only on the wolf.
The wolf shook his head and lunged towards me. I slashed out with the knife, catching him under his muzzle. A thin ribbon of red appeared as if by magic. Anger flared unchecked in his large amber eye, making my breath catch. I switched the blade to the other hand and tensed at the same time he did.
He lunged again, this time taking me more seriously. His teeth grazed my exposed arm before I could get out of the way completely. Now it was my turn to bleed. Miranda shrieked behind me. I wanted to tell her I was fine but I had to keep my eyes on the wolf, or I wouldn’t be fine for long.
A sudden rush of color broke my concentration and I was picked up and moved backwards several feet. I slashed out with my knife, meeting nothing but air. “Stay away from her,” Paris snarled, “from both of them.”
The wolf answered with a vicious snarl and snap of his jaw. Paris spread his arms out wide as if shielding us from view. The wolf didn’t seem too offended, though. He tilted his muzzle in the air and gave two short yelps, which were immediately answered by another wolf.
“We need to get out of here,” I pulled on Paris’s arm. He nodded once and allowed me to move him closer to us.
Then we were running again, but he wasn’t satisfied with our pace this time. I was abruptly pulled off my feet and crushed to a rock hard body. Not taking much care with how hard he jostled me, I was flung backwards and caught a hold of his neck before I slid to the ground. I just saw Miranda flying upwards and then we were shooting through the trees.
If I thought Liza was fast, she had nothing on Paris. I had to close my eyes as the scenery blurred past. Maybe it wouldn’t be long before we reached Blakesly House. All too soon we stopped and I slid to the ground—more out of habit than anything else.
I looked around us in growing horror. “Why…?” I started, but he cut me off with a hard glare. Miranda clung to his shirt, whimpering at the scene around us. We were back at the nest. I swallowed back my apprehension.
The wolves hadn’t followed us.
Chapter 34
I watched the trees with wide eyes, expecting the wolves to jump out at any second. I couldn’t understand why they didn’t. Was there an invisible line that they couldn’t cross that protected the small piece of the forest? It couldn’t be the vamps they were afraid of.
Once I was able to tear my eyes from the tree line, I was shocked to see that there were a few vamps sitting around the blood splattered nest. They sat dejectedly hunched forward, not even looking up when we burst upon them.
“What are they doing here?” I whispered.
“I…” Miranda shook her head quickly, at a loss for words.
“Shock,” Paris spoke quietly.
“Because the wolves won?” Why would that surprise them though? They were outnumbered. The only chance they had was to run and instead they stayed and tried to fight. Of course they lost.
“Probably.” I heard his soft intake of breath close to my neck.
“Why did we come back here?” I turned on him with narrowed eyes. It made no sense to come back here.
“I… Um...” he cleared his throat lightly. “I knew it would slow them down.”
His eyes darted around me and behind me. My forehead furrowed deeply. “What are you doing?”
His gaze focused back on me sharply. “What?”
“What are you looking at? Are they there?” I craned my neck to see what he saw, but I only saw the blood everywhere. It was like a scene the sisters left behind. I shivered slightly at the comparison.
“It’s not even all human,” he said suddenly.
The blood. Was he talking about the blood? I shook my head, trying not to get angry. “We have to focus here,” I snapped, “We need to figure out how to get out of here. Do you think you can…”
“They’re leaving,” he cut me off.
“Who? The wolves?”
“The vampires. They have nothing to fight for now.”
“Ok.” I shrugged. “Can you carry us?”
His eyes focused again on me as if he just remembered that I was even standing there. “We have to wait,” he said with more force.
“Wait?” But he was already walking away from me. “What the hell are we going to wait for? The wolves to come back and take us?” I was wasting my breath, though.
He stopped in front of a badly battered female vamp and knelt to talk in low whispers.
“Can we… Can we sit down?” Miranda stammered. Her face was too pale.
“Your leg,” I remembered. “You hurt your ankle.” She limped to the edge of the now dead fire and sank heavily to the ground.
I bit hard on my tongue to stop myself from screaming at her. How could she just go sit by the fire, didn’t she realize the danger we were in? We were like sitting ducks out here. I glared at Paris, who still wasn’t paying any attention to me, and stalked over to sit by Miranda. They weren’t leaving me much choice.
Two vamps sat close together across from us bu
t weren’t talking or even moving at all. I shifted uncomfortably, pressing myself closer to Miranda. She pulled her pant leg up to show off a deep cut that ran the length of her calf.
“Where did you get that?” I gasped. Did that happen when she fell?
“I think it was in the cave,” she admitted in a strained voice.
She had been walking on that this whole time? Maybe she was stronger than I gave her credit for. “Does it need stitched?” She would have to do it herself, she knew how. I pressed gently against the bite on my leg. It still hurt, but only when I thought about it.
“I don’t think so,” she breathed.
I bit down on my tongue again. She was too pale; her voice too breathy. She was in a lot of pain. At least the gash wasn’t bleeding all over the place. One less thing we had to worry about—not that that was much comfort.
“I can see you worrying,” she chuckled lightly. It was a forced sound, but I appreciated the effort it cost her.
“Me? Worry?” I snorted unattractively. “Can’t imagine why.” She smiled, which didn’t come even close to her eyes. “I’m going to go find Paris, I’ll be right back.”
I stood up quickly, making a pain shoot up my leg that I promptly ignored. Getting away from the wolves was going to mean nothing if she died out here because of an injury. I made my way to where he was still talking to the female vamp. She wasn’t saying anything, probably not even listening to him by the look on her face.
“Can I talk to you,” I nudged him roughly with one knee.
His eyes met mine. “What is it?”
The intensity made my breath catch until I almost forgot what I wanted to say to him. “Miranda,” I sputtered.
His eyes moved to take in the pale form of her sitting by the fire. “What about her?”
“We need to get her out of here,” I hissed angrily. Could he not see how bad she was?
He turned back to the vamp. “I’ll talk to you in a minute,” he told her.
“No point,” she responded in a hollow voice. I didn’t have much experience with vamps, but I couldn’t imagine one of the sisters looking like this.
He stood up in a huff and whirled on me. “Over here,” he snarled.
I jumped at the vehemence I heard there but followed obediently where he led, just a few feet from the fire and Miranda. She was massaging her ankle and staring into the fire pit. Paris should have started a fire for her, I thought distractedly. She was probably freezing—not that it was cold out here.
“You wanted to talk to me,” Paris reminded me harshly, pulling my attention from Miranda.
“Yeah,” I crossed my arms over my chest. I wasn’t going to be intimidated by his anger. I could understand it, of course. Werewolves had just torn apart a bunch of his friends. I got that he was mad, but we didn’t have time to deal with that right now.
“We need to get out of here,” I told him for what felt like the hundredth time.
“My brothers will come.”
“It’ll be too late. The wolves will be here and Miranda isn’t strong enough.” I watched the darkness fall across his eyes and dance in the pupils but he held his words in. “So we can’t just stay here,” I finished lamely.
“I know that, Lexi.” His jaw clenched tightly but my traitorous heart still did flips at the sound of my name on his lips.
“Then what are we going to do?” I lowered my arms and voice at the same time.
“I don’t know.” He rubbed his hand roughly over his face, making him look hauntingly less confident. “The best chance we have is to wait for the others.”
“Wait here?” My mouth fell open. Didn’t the last invasion of wolves prove that this place wasn’t safe?
“There are other vamps here to make them hesitate.” His voice trailed off at the end of the declaration, he knew that wouldn’t work.
“Seriously?”
“There are some things, Lexi.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Some things you don’t understand.”
“And some things I do,” I reminded him in a low growl.
“How do you expect us to get through those wolves without…anyone…getting hurt?” His lingering gaze towards the fire left no room to doubt who he expected would fall.
“You can carry her.”
“What about you?” He tilted his chin in my direction.
“I can handle myself.” I was more worried about Miranda anyways.
He shook his head though. “She isn’t like you, she can’t handle the run.”
I knew what he meant. She had gotten dizzy from just the short run to the river but the alternative was to sit here and wait to be picked off. “She’ll be fine,” I said through clenched teeth.
“I’m not letting them get you either.”
The female vamp Paris had been talking to earlier came up, cutting off any other retort I had. “We’re leaving,” she said in a hollow, washed out voice.
“You need to stay here, April. My brothers…”
“We won’t wait for them,” she cut him off in the same voice. It was an eerie sound.
Were they all afraid of the wolves? My lip curled up at the thought. “You’re afraid?”
“You weren’t here,” she accused.
“We ran, like you should have done.” Then maybe your pets would still be alive, I didn’t add out loud.
“Would you just have us leave our pets behind?” she sneered back. It was the first I had heard any emotion form her.
“You could have carried them.”
She jerked her head back slightly. “They couldn’t have held on.”
There wasn’t much use in arguing with her, the pets were gone and the vamps were leaving. It was better if they left quickly so we could go, too. I shrugged instead of telling her that she would be surprised what humans could do if that was the only way to survive.
“Are we ready?” I asked Paris, purposely turning away from the pathetic woman.
He didn’t answer.
“You don’t stand a chance against them,” the woman almost whispered. “I have never seen such a thing as this.” Another vamp came up behind her and hovered there without saying anything.
We didn’t plan on staying either, at least I hoped not. I refrained from scowling at her though. We didn’t have time for any more arguing—not with the wolves closing in.
“Good luck to you, Paris,” she murmured, turning away from us. “I do hope your pets don’t die.” Then she disappeared. At least that’s what it looked like to my human eyes; she ran too fast for me to process completely.
“We’re not pets,” I mumbled darkly. “They’re all leaving,” I pointed out the obvious. The other scattered vamps were all starting to move, too. They didn’t come over to talk to Paris, though. They just left one by one until it was only the three of us there. Miranda suddenly looked very alone by the dead fire.
“We ready then?” I looked sharply at Paris.
“We can’t just go running blindly through a forest filled with blood thirsty werewolves,” he growled without looking back at me.
I bit down hard on my bottom lip. We wouldn’t be running blind. Surely Paris knew the way out. All we had to do was get out of this area, that’s what the sisters had been saying the entire time. We would be safe…
“We can follow the river out,” I piped up.
“What?” This time he did look at me.
“The river,” my voice rose slightly with excitement. “It’ll lead us out.”
He sighed heavily. “I know the way out.”
“Then what…?”
“There’s wolves out there!”
“I know, that’s why we can’t just stay here.”
“Miranda won’t make it,” he hissed. His voice had lowered until I had to lean forward to catch what he said. “She’s too weak.”
“She’s stronger than you give her credit for,” I hissed back.
“She almost died out there,” he needlessly reminded me.
My lips tightene
d so I wouldn’t scream at him. “She will die if we stay. The wolves are out there.”
“I just…” He sighed again and brushed past me to stand close to Miranda by the fire.
I sulked behind him, crossing my arms over my chest, my lips pursed. Paris was trying to be careful, trying to protect Miranda, but this wasn’t the way to do it. This was only going to get us both killed. I wouldn’t leave her, but I wished he would listen to me. Running was our only chance.
Miranda pulled her knees closer to her chest, bringing my attention back from my disturbing thoughts. Maybe Paris was right, if we could just wait for his brothers they would be able to destroy the wolves for good.
I just wasn’t sure if we had that long.
Chapter 35
The nest was empty except for the three of us, but it was far from silent. All around were the low sounds of growls and heavy footfalls.
Paris wouldn’t be able to stick with his ridiculous claim that we would be safe here much longer, I thought smugly. A particularly loud growl wiped the smirk off my face.
I bent low to Miranda, but the old pain in my leg made me stand back up quickly. She sat rubbing her ankle mindlessly, oblivious to the tension all around us. How could she still be sitting there?
I glanced up at Paris, but he was watching a spot over my left shoulder. The look in his eyes made my heart stutter, then speed back up to a deafening roar.
“Get up,” I ordered Miranda without fully looking down at her. I was watching Paris, searching for the sign that would mean the wolves were finally there.
I felt her shift to her feet with a slight groan and automatically fastened my hand lightly around her arm. We wouldn’t be separating today. My lips tightened until I could feel the defined lines pinching my nose tight.
“What do you see?” I whispered, still watching Paris.
