Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
“Hannah?” Cenric’s knock gently rapped against the thick door. “Are you ready?”
No.
“I’m just pulling on my shoes now,” I called out, doing my best to keep the fear out of my voice. Right now, the element of surprise was the only real weapon I had.
Well…that and the six-inch blade I’d tucked into my back pocket after discovering it by blindly running my hands across Kyre’s shelves.
“Good,” Cenric said, throwing the door open. “Because we need to hurry.”
No, he did.
Time was ticking on his murderous little plan, and he needed me dead and gone before Tauren alerted everyone that Drogan was dead. He had to be back at the bonfire, not just to avoid suspicion, but so he could spin the narrative he wanted.
Which meant every second that I wasted was another that Cenric lost. And if I managed to waste enough of them, then maybe I might be able to save Tauren after all.
Focus on defeating the plan, not the man—that was my best chance of success.
After seven years of nightmares, I knew I wouldn’t be walking away from this fight alive. The Fates or God or whatever name you called the power above had made that crystal clear.
If I ran, I died.
If I fought, I died.
If I surrendered, I died.
But if I did all three? If I wasted Cenric’s precious time by running? By hitting him with branches? By throwing dirt and pine needles in his eyes? Maybe I could run down the clock.
And if I punched and kicked and clawed and bit? If I left a dozen bleeding marks all over his face and hands? Well, he’d have a hell of a time trying to explain those wounds away, wouldn’t he?
It would be a hard thing to stand in front of a crowd and accuse Tauren of murder when he was the one covered in the bite and scratch marks that only a kirre could make.
It wasn’t a great plan. I knew that. Any strategy that depended on me surviving long enough to do real damage to an alpha had long odds. But it was the only plan I had.
So it had to work.
“Hannah,” Cenric huffed when I took a few extra seconds to fiddle with my shoes. By the sound of it, he was already losing his patience.”We need to move.”
“Sure, I just—“
“Now!”
I stood up and inched my way to the door.
I’d been hoping to shuffle and drag my feet all the way into the forest. Surely, that would have bought me a few more seconds. But Cenric wasn’t about to let that happen. As soon as I was close, he grabbed my wrist and held it tight as he started pulling me toward the dark cover of night.
For a second, I thought about screaming for help, but quickly dismissed the idea.
Even though we were only on the edge of the village and my friends at the bonfire would certainly be able to hear me wail, Cenric was too close.
The second I opened my mouth to draw in a sharp breath, he’d know what I was up to.
He’d go for my throat before I had a chance to let out a single scream.
“You don’t have to hold my hand,” I said, being careful to make it sound like I believed he was helping me. “The moon is bright enough for me to see the path.”
“Yes,” he snipped, his tone sharp now that he had me in his grasp. “But we need to make up for lost time.”
He pulled me forward, through the trees and bushes, past the rocks and streams. Step after step, his brutal hold never let up on me. Not even for a single step.
Not until the glow from the village lights behind us finally faded to dark, and the sounds of revelry had turned to silence. Only then did Cenric’s fingers finally loosen, and he threw down my hand.
I stole the opportunity to shuffle back a step or two as I glanced around at our surroundings.
Oh God, this is it.
I knew that blackberry bush. I’d seen that fallen tree thousands of times. And that cliff in the distance. And that distant grove of ferns.
This was where it started—the dream. The chase. The battle for my life under the canopy of the Wilds.
This was where I died every night for years on end.
Except this time, there would be no waking up after.
This time, it was real.
“Why are we stopping? I thought you said we needed to hurry.” I tried to sound innocent, utterly clueless, but I must have pushed it too far.
Hearing the overly breathy tremble in my voice, Cenric’s eyes narrowed. Like two dark daggers, they pierced straight through me.
“Oh, come on now, Hannah. I think you know.”
True… but I still needed to keep him talking as long as possible.
“What do you mean?” I pushed my back up against the tree behind me. Its trunk, gnarled and warped by rocky soil and a lack of sun, had built up a thick pile of fallen vines and branches around its base. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you do,” he snapped.
Now that it no longer served his purpose, he’d let the amiable mask slip right off his face. His cheeks flushed with red, and I caught the first flash of long white fang as his upper lip curled up in disgust.
Feigning surprise, I let my knees give out and slipped down the length of the trunk to the ground.
“Cenric, y-you’re scaring me.”
That, at least, was the truth. I certainly didn’t have to fake the shake that had crept into my voice.
“Good,” he replied, his cold smile chilling me to the bone. “Nelissa will be pleased. She was hoping you’d die afraid.”
A new rush of fear pulsed through my veins as I stretched out my arms, my fingers covertly feeling along the debris pile at my side for something heavy to grab on to.
I found it just as he made his first step toward me.
Long and pulpy and hard, the chunk of splintered timber felt more like a solid cut of firewood than a naturally severed log. But whatever it was, it did its job.
Gripping it tight, I whipped my makeshift weapon in a wide arc. It connected with Cenric’s ankle with a loud crack.
The blow caught him by surprise. His eyes flew open wide as he tilted to the side. Arms flailing, he toppled to the ground.
So this is how I get away, I thought, my curiosity strangely satisfied before I popped up and started running.
Where to, though, I wasn’t sure.
Trusting my instincts, I followed the path laid out in my dreams.
Cold air rushed against my skin. My feet pounded against the ground. My legs burned with exertion.
I’d done this so many times. I knew it by heart. There had to be a reason for that. I just needed to trust it.
Laurel leaves and redwood needles slapped against my face. The canopy above blotted out all traces of the night sky. I was running blind.
Even so, I knew what was up ahead. Every rock. Every thorn.
I jumped and dodged and skipped over each one without thinking.
Legs pumping and lungs burning, this time I didn’t fall. Not even once. I slipped through the forest like I belonged there.
Maybe because now I did.
Maybe because now it was my home.
Behind me, branches cracked and splintered as a massive body crashed through the brush, coming for me. The percussive thunder of its giant paws, furiously beating the ground, shook the trees.
Cenric was up…and after me.
Which meant I wouldn’t get much farther on foot.
Breaking through the darkest part of the forest, I finally caught sight of the faint silvery blue glow above. That’s when I felt it—the first excruciating bite of razor-sharp nails against my back.
I screamed out in pain as thick, warm blood spilled down my spine, drenching the denim around my waist.
It didn’t matter how many times I had lived those cuts. It never got any easier. It always made my knees weak. Always sent a wave of burning hot bile into my throat.
But it also let me know the time had come to stop running. Now it was time to stand and fight.
Rounding the next tree, I wrapped my hands around a fallen limb and whirled around, swinging it like a baseball bat.
Cenric howled as the slab of wood made contact with the side of his face. Just like in the dream, he stumbled, reeling from the blow, but didn’t fall.
That didn’t matter, though.
I still smiled to see the rivulet of bright red blood trickling down the side of his face, pulsing with every hammer of his heart, and staining his beard.
Before he could regain his balance, I whirled around the other way and delivered a hard slap to the other side.
That one spilled even more blood.
As much as I wanted to go in for another hit, I held back. Two blows at a time—that’s all I could get in before Cenric reached out and grabbed me.
So no matter how hard I wanted to keep going until I caved in the bastard’s skull, I forced myself back, out of his immediate grasp.
“You…bish!” Cenric slurred through a busted lip. “I’m going to kill you for that.”
“Like you weren’t planning it already.” I rolled my eyes and lifted my chin. “But now you’re going to have a hell of a time trying to explain how you got those injuries to the rest of the pack. It’s hard to frame someone for murder when you’re the one dripping in blood.”
“I’ll figure something out,” Cenric growled as he lifted himself back up to his feet. “I always do.”
“Not this time.” I shook my head as I kept moving backwards. I never thought that I’d be so glad to know this route well enough to walk it in reverse. “Tauren will know what you did. He’ll kill you the second you set foot back in the village.”
“I doubt it,” Cenric spat. “With Drogan dead, I’m the new Lykaon. That means he’d have to tear through at least half the pack to get to me. And I think we can both agree that no matter how brave and strong my cousin might be, that’s too big a task, even for him.”
“Alone, maybe. But Tauren has allies.” I lifted my chin proudly. “Lots of them.”
“No.” Cenric laughed, a cold and terrible sound. “He had allies. No self-respecting alpha would fight by the side of a man who would stoop to killing his own mate and father. No matter the reason.”
“And no one in their right mind would believe that Tauren was capable of those things,” I shot back. “Not even his worst enemy.”
“They will believe me. My word will be law.”
“Maybe…but I think you’re forgetting something, Cenric.”