2. Korr #2
“Matt,” I turn, sharp enough that he freezes, though the look of indignation doesn't fade. “If someone’s still out here, you running in blind won’t help her. Let me go first.”
His jaw works, fury and fear warring behind his eyes, but then he nods.
We follow the trail up toward a series of caves, moving low and fast, every sense stretched tight.
The forest is silent, like the birds and crickets are holding their breath to see if we make it to her in time. And then something splashes south of us.
My heart ricochets into my throat.
“Did you hear that?” Matt whispers.
I don’t answer. I’m already moving, Matt right behind me, as we abandon the trail of blood for the very real, pained groan we hear.
My pulse beats like a hammer.
Then Matt makes a sound I’ll never forget.
Not a word.
Not even a cry.
Just raw devastation.
Naked, coated in blood and bruises, Annalise's fingers claw into the mud as she drags herself forward—so slowly, you wouldn't even know she was moving if you weren't looking for even the slightest twitch.
She doesn’t hear us approach, mind already dissociating from her injuries—or whatever hell she's survived.
Even so, whether from her resilience, stubbornness, or sheer brutal will—she keeps moving.
Her arms are shaking so violently, I don't know if they'd be able to drag her more than another inch or two.
“Lee…No…” Matt cries, his knees giving out as we reach her.
Just looking at her has bile rising in my throat.
One of her eyes is swollen shut, the other barely open.
Her face is distorted and swollen at least three times what it should be.
She’s too filthy to tell where the bruising ends and the mud begins.
And if this is what I can see, I don't want to think about what I can't.
"Please, Lee. Don't leave me," he begs, voice breaking as he lovingly brushes her matted hair away from her face. "Please! I can't lose you."
Slowly, her head tilts to look at him, and as her tears begin to fall, something in me fractures. Years of training go out the window as I fall to my knees beside her.
“Annalise,” I say, low and gentle—too afraid of being the one to push her into another dissociation. “We’ve got you, alright? You're safe now. We need to check your injuries before we can move you. Is that okay?”
Her body sways like she’s barely tethered to consciousness. Her lips part, but all that comes out is a thin, broken whimper.
“Are they still here?” I ask. “Nod or shake as much as you can, you don’t have to talk.”
Her nod is so small, I almost miss it, but Matt's immediately back on high alert, weapon raised as we scan the trees with lethal focus.
“Platt…dead…” her voice is so weak, we have to strain to hear her. “Web's alive…was in…the cave.”
“Stay with her!” I command, jumping to my feet.
I can taste his need for revenge like charcoal on my tongue, so before he can argue, I add the only thing I know that'll keep him here, “She needs you, Reyes. Keep her safe, and if anyone other than me comes back this way, take the shot.”
He's barely agreed when I take off, sprinting up the game trail. If I didn't already know where I was going, the heavy trail of blood would leave no doubt. Wings beat aggressively above me, but I don't slow.
“Tell him one is dead, and the other is about to be.”
A low, primal rumble consumes the forest around me, shaking the trees and sending small loose rocks tumbling down the hill.
“He wants their bodies,” Kali warns.
“They’re his when I’m done with them.”
I’m almost to the mouth of the cave when I spot Web leaned against the rock, one hand gripping his junk through his pants, a dagger flashing in his other. As soon as he sees my gun is pointed at his head, he throws his hands in the air. “We were just playing. She wanted it! She—”
Pop. Pop. Pop.
Two to the heart. One to the head, for good measure.
Tyr lands with so much force behind me that the earth trembles, boulders and chunks of stone breaking free from the cliffside around us.
“Could you have at least waited until I got the other one out?” I shout at Tyr, emotions too high for self-preservation.
Scorching air smacks me in the face. Faster than I can blink, Tyr is inches away, razor sharp teeth bared, and growling.
“He’s still furious," Kali warns. "You should avoid talking to the Alpha until he’s back with his bonded.”
“That makes two of us. But now I have to walk into a fucking unstable cave.”
“Then you'd better hurry and get the other one out. I’m almost there, but I don’t even think I could save you from him right now.”
I step into the half-collapsed cavern, my phone light shaking in my hand as the beam begins to sweep across the walls. I'm only a couple feet in when I see them—small, bloody handprints charting her path like a hematic map.
A thick trail of her blood streaks across the light stone leading all the way to a cot.
A cot where Platt lies dead, vacant eyes staring back at me.
From here, I can't see a clear cause of death. He’s still fully dressed, but the position of his body—and the glistening sheen to his lips and face—tell the story well enough.
He was on top of her, pinning her down, taking what he wanted between her legs.
I swallow hard, rage coiling so tight in my chest it burns.
Rocks continue to fall from the walls and ceiling as I step closer, needing to retrieve his body before the cave finishes collapsing around us.