Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Raven rose cautiously to her feet and backed away slowly, making her footfalls quiet the way her father had taught her when they went hunting together.
Like all predators, rapid movement would attract attention and trigger their prey response. If she stayed small and still, she could creep behind the buildings, head to the back of the park, reach the rear gate, and escape into the woods.
Without her pack, she had no food, water, or shelter. She wouldn’t last long. But a single night while these thugs took what they wanted before going their merry way—that was doable.
They’d take some of the food, but there were only ten of them. She prayed they wouldn’t hurt Kodiak or the other animals. Either way, she had no choice.
She was out of options.
It was completely dark out now. Stars winked to life overhead. Thin clouds drifted across the moon like filmy ribbons. Without electricity, the automatic security lights strung along the path were dark.
Moving carefully within the shadows, she managed to reach the maintenance shed without detection. The air had grown chilly, temperatures dropping into the forties at night. Her adrenaline masked the cold, but she would feel it later, alone in the woods at night, exposed to the elements.
She crouched, eyeing the twenty yards of open ground she had to cross to reach the cover of trees between the shed and the food storage buildings. Once she reached the trees, she’d be invisible—
Footsteps sounded nearby. Three men rounded the corner of the lodge, not thirty yards distant. They approached from the far side. Their flashlights swept the ground along the wrought-iron fence. In the dark, their shapes were only vaguely human.
Raven cringed back against the wall, cursing silently. Panic bit at her. They were between her and the fence. As soon as they reached the shed, they’d discover her.
Still crouching, she crept along the rear of the shed and peeked around the opposite corner.
She faced the park now. On her left stood the lodge, the restaurant, the souvenir shop, and the entrance.
Bikers bumbled around inside the restaurant.
Two shapes appeared through the windows of the lodge—her home.
To the right, the flagstone path led past the food storage buildings to the east exhibits: the reptile house, the bonobos, the otters, eagle, and porcupines, the ostriches, then the bears and wolves at the rear.
She had only a moment to decide. The goons behind her would discover her position within sixty seconds at most. She inched out from behind the maintenance shed and moved to the path.
Waist-high bushes lined the path, with slim birch trees interspersed every thirty feet. Other than the bushes, there wasn’t much cover until she reached the reptile house, another fifty yards away.
Raven ducked behind the bushes along the path and crawled on her hands and knees. Twigs and burrs jabbed into her palms. The woodsy scent of fresh mulch filled her nostrils.
Voices rang out behind her. Harsh, braying laughter echoed. Flashlight beams swept across the darkened sky.
She crawled faster. Despite the cold, sweat beaded her forehead. Icy shock trembled her limbs. Her pulse roared in her ears. Get out of sight. Get to the rear gate. Get out. Get out. Get out.
After what she guessed was fifty yards, she risked a peek above the hedge. Splinters of mulch needled her kneecaps. Ahead of her, the shadowy bulk of the reptile house reared out of the night.
Dropping back down, she kept crawling. When she checked again, she’d reached the eagle house. She could just make out the shape of Hera, the American bald eagle, who was napping on a high branch within the mesh walls.
Everything felt slow and jerky simultaneously. Every movement loud as a gunshot. Her breath sounded ragged in her ears. She kept going.
After what felt like an hour, she reached the bears.
The perimeter fence stood only a few yards behind the bear and wolf exhibits.
She forced herself to wait in the stillness, straining her ears for strange noises over the trill of insects.
A peacock squawked. Across the park, the squealing of the bonobos echoed.
Voices. Not too near yet, but closing in. A flashlight beam bobbed behind her. Danger was headed her way. Time to move.
Heart in her throat, she rose to her feet.
The bear enclosure was large. To circle to the back, she had to walk along a section of path directly in front of the enclosure, about twenty yards long. It was devoid of topiary bushes or trees, leaving her completely exposed.
Her boots scuffed the flagstone. She softened her footfalls. She craned her neck as she checked in all directions, listening hard, peering through the dim moonlight, constantly scanning, searching for danger, for anything out of place—
A shadow that didn’t belong.
Directly ahead of her, maybe ten feet at most, a large shape bent over the railing of the bear habitat. It stood completely still and unmoving in the darkness.
Alarmed, she blinked. The shape was still there. Her eyes adjusted enough to determine that the shape was distinctly human.
Adrenaline crackled through her. She couldn’t retreat the way she’d come. Several bikers approached from behind her. Raven did the only thing she could think of. She took off running.
She raced past the bear enclosure. The shadow moved. It jerked back, startled.
“Hey!” the figure cried. “Hey! Stop!”
His footfalls slapped the flagstone behind her. He cursed, fumbling with something, probably attempting to activate his flashlight. Or perhaps a gun.
Her pursuer was larger than she was. Stronger. Likely faster. She couldn’t outrun him. Her only chance was to hide—somewhere he was least likely to look.
There weren’t many options.
It was a risk. It was dangerous. Between human predators who killed for pleasure and animal predators who rarely killed humans in the wild… it wasn’t a choice.
Raven wheeled sharply to the right. She fled between the enclosures. Her pursuer was somewhere behind her. She had a few precious seconds. Maybe.
The timber wolf paddock was surrounded by a double fence, with several feet of no man’s land between. She pressed her right hand to the bioscanner. She was shaking so hard she had to do it twice.
Finally, the outside gate opened. She slipped inside and relocked it, then sprinted to the inside gate, opened it, and entered. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she willed herself to calm the hell down.
She couldn’t show fear. Couldn’t allow herself to feel it, either. Wolves could smell fear. They knew if your heart rate increased, could scent every molecule of your sour, panicked sweat.
Crouch low at their level and don’t move, her dad had instructed the few times he’d brought her inside the fence. Don’t startle them. Show you’re submissive. Speak in their language.
On the path behind her, a flashlight beam flickered to life.
There was no time. She was exposed. At any second, the thug would discover her. She had to get out of the clearing into the forested area around the perimeter. She had to move, to hide—right now.
She took a hesitant step into the enclosure. Then another. Her heart hammered against her ribs.
Deeper in the enclosure, a twig cracked.
The wolves were here. They sensed her presence.
It was only then, surrounded by darkness, locked inside the enclosure, that she realized her mistake.
The deer carcass she’d fed to the timber wolves earlier in the day was missing.
It had been right here, not twenty yards in. The wolves wouldn’t have finished the carcass yet. Even if they had, there would be bones, a skull, patches of fur, gristle, which she’d be able to see, even in the dark.
Her heart turned to ice in her chest.
The deer carcass wasn’t here because she wasn’t inside the timber wolves’ enclosure. In the dark, in her panic, she’d entered the second enclosure instead.
Raven had locked herself in with the hybrid wolves.