Pix
Luckily, I’m faster and more observant than Rolly. I hit the ground just behind her, so when she runs, I don’t even think she knows I’m there.
Fuck, she’s fast.
I’m torn between being impressed and wanting to strangle her, but right when I’m about to catch up and flatten us to the ground, a bullet slams into the tree beside her.
She whirls, taking off in a different direction. I follow but more cautiously. The rain and darkness are making it hard to see anything.
They drive her up and out of the forest. I don’t even think she’s aware of it.
One bullet carefully placed at a time. A trap. The thought enrages me.
They aren’t trying to kill her, though, and that is the only reason I haven’t slipped into my murder mode.
Now that was information we didn’t have. They want her alive.
Why?
What is so important about her?
Her scent gets stronger and more stressed, and I realise she knows that she’s being driven.
Aware and is terrified.
What awaits her in the arms of these killers?
Merle sobs, and that sound almost breaks me, but I have no room to move, no space to fight, and I can’t see who is coming for her, so I stay back, waiting until she flings herself at another set of boulders and starts climbing.
Her pace is frantic. She climbs without skill but with a desperate edge that has her moving like lightning across the rocks. I find an alternate path and climb as fast as I can. Sage’s scent hits me, and a part of me relaxes.
She’s not alone.
She gets up and rushes into the forest, but a bullet from that direction stops her. She backs away, and now she really is trapped. There’s a long ledge of cliff, exposed to the skies, with nowhere for her to go. The way is blocked by forests filled with bad guys.
She has no idea exactly how bad the situation is. Precarious. Hanging on a knife’s edge. Exactly the kind of odds I love to beat.
I sneak up on the first idiot who thinks he can hurt what’s mine, finding him easily.
He’s wearing black, but he forgot to hide the shiny ring on his belt, and that glimmer gave him away.
Thunder crackles across the sky, and the rain falls in a sudden sheet.
I slit his throat and leave him slumped with no idea his death had even come for him.
I love storms.
She’s still standing out there alone, looking helpless and terrified. I’m about to turn away when she straightens. It’s a strangely confident movement. I pause, watching her, trying to figure out what’s bugging me.
Merle smiles.
It’s sudden and vicious and bloodthirsty, but then it’s gone. I blink hard, staring at her.
What the fuck was that?
“Come play with me, pretty kitties,” she sings low under her breath, the smile returning.
I almost get myself impaled, I’m so busy staring at her and trying to work out why she’s suddenly started talking and why she looks so fucking deranged.
I shove my knife up into the jaw of the alpha who just tried to kill me and let him sink to the ground, stalking through the trees sideways, watching this omega.
I recognise dangerous when I see it, and though she is appearing scared, she is also giving off extremely I’m-going-to-killl-you vibes.
She sobs and steps back when a beta rushes her, but Sage steps out and cuts his head off.
She screams.
Like a scream of true and absolute terror.
Then she bolts again. I let out an annoyed grunt and follow, chasing her through the downpour, the thunder and lightning, and the howling wind. It’s strong enough that I worry about us being snatched off the side of the cliff and thrown into the wind.
Where the fuck is she going?
She screams again, and ahead of us, I see her jerk to a stop.
“Oh, thank god,” she says in that deep and dark voice. I don’t recognise it as Merle. It’s so opposite of her personality. What the fuck?
The beta raises his hand and brings it down, crashing it across her cheek.
When she lifts her head, she’s smiling. Her eyes glitter gold, and my whole body breaks out into goosebumps.
I don’t know who that is, but that’s not Merle.
That’s not the pack’s omega.