32. Chase
Chase
“Cherry and Blaze shouldn’t be able to outrun us,” I tell Maddox as we run along the cliff face, looking for a way through.
“I know,” he says as we keep moving, the elevation getting higher and higher. “I’m not sure how either of them are able to do it. Adrenaline, perhaps?”
If that were the case, we should be the fastest people out here.
I picture Cherry running through these woods with Blaze right on her heels and start to salivate, imagining pouncing on him and ripping his throat out. Not that that would keep him out for long, but long enough for us to inject him with the serum.
The serum. “Shit, I don’t have any serum, it was in my pockets. Do any of you have it?” I ask the other guys through the bond.
“It doesn’t matter,” Bain growls through the bond. “We’ll kill him and drag him back to inject him.” I guess that’s true, but I’d much prefer to end it here than have him anywhere near our home. But beggars can’t be choosers.
I growl in agreement just as Maddox finds an opening in the cliff.
It’s a tight fit, but the two of us maneuver our way through.
On the other side, we both lift our noses, trying to find which way her scent is coming from.
It doesn’t take us more than a few seconds to pinpoint it.
I could pick her cherry, vanilla, and fire scent out anywhere.
We start running again as the scent grows stronger.
We move in near silence as we weave through the trail she obviously came through only minutes earlier.
Everything in me tells me to move faster, that even though I know she can come back to life if she dies, it doesn’t stop the fear of her being taken or hurt.
I don’t want her to suffer so much as a paper cut, let alone the fear of being chased by a monster through the woods.
The only thing I’m sure about now is the fact that this ends today. There is no way Blaze is getting away from me now that I have him in my sights.
And as we skid to a stop, finally seeing him for the first time since the last time I killed him, a growl vibrates through me. He’s facing Cherry in her wolf form, and she’s standing at the edge of a cliff as she stares back at him, looking terrified.
My growl grows louder, and is suddenly accompanied by four others as Bain, Gage, and Hunter appear at the other side of the treeline.
But Blaze doesn’t even turn to look at us; instead, he lunges forward. Toward Cherry.
Instinct has her stepping back, but there’s nothing there, and her back legs slip over the edge. Her eyes widen as her front legs claw the ground, scrambling for purchase.
We all move at once. Maddox, closest to Cherry, runs to the ledge just as she slips over. I charge Blaze, wasting no time to tackle him to the ground. He’s heavier than I expect, and as we tumble on the ground, I suddenly find myself staring at a massive brown wolf.
“What the fuck?” I snarl through the bond. I jump back, trying to figure out what I’m looking at. When I tackled him, Blaze must have shifted. But he’s not a wolf. Not entirely. He has the strong body of a wolf but with the head of a bird. A fucking ugly one.
He jumps to his feet and opens his beak, letting out a squawk. But his body is all wolf, and it’s huge. Probably just as big as Bain’s.
I quickly glance Maddox’s way and see him peering over the edge of the cliff.
“Hang tight, Cherry. We’ll take care of Blaze, then we’ll get you out of there.
” Maddox spins, joining us as we surround Blaze.
“She’s ok. She slid down to a ledge about forty feet down.
She’s stuck, but she’s safe while we deal with this,” he tells us through the bond, letting me relax a little.
That might actually be the best place for her right now. He can’t reach her there.
I lower my front half to the ground, as Bain and Hunter do the same, then, on Bain’s command, we attack.