Chapter 13 #2
A hand grabs me by the shoulder, and sheer terror ices my veins. He found me. No, no, no. Not now. Not when I’m this close. I whirl around, suppressing a scream.
“Nata—” Veronica starts but I cup my hand over her mouth. There’s a small amount of relief she’s not Viktor, but that’s quickly replaced with worry. He might’ve heard her say my name, and if we don’t move fast, he’ll know where we are.
I motion to the fence and hunch forward, bringing my palms underneath to tug at different sections.
Veronica does the same, frantically searching the opposite way.
Nothing. Not even the slightest give. Small sobs and grunts break from Veronica’s parted lips, and I curse her for it internally.
She’s going to get us both killed if she doesn’t stay quiet.
Who knows where the hell Viktor is, but I know without a doubt he’s close, and we’re running out of time.
Overgrown grass lays against the fence, coating my hands with fresh dew as I follow the line and give each slat a firm tug.
Nothing. I can barely fit my fingers under it, let alone my entire body.
Maybe Sergei was wrong. What if the groundskeeper fixed it, and trying to escape only expedited me to the front of the line of a very painful death?
Anxiety builds with each useless thrust. I pull again and again, finding nothing but splinters and new cuts on my fingers and wrists.
The thought to give in, to sprint back to the house and lock myself in the cage pangs in my chest. If I went back, would he at least let me live until the red moon like he promised?
I’m not so sure anymore. After everything that has happened tonight, after outrunning his wolf, I have a hard time believing he’d let that go.
I challenged him, and now Viktor’s not going to stop until he has me.
I reach down one final time, hopelessness deflating my chest, and pause.
Something is different here. The grass, it isn’t standing proud against the fence.
What’s left of it matts to the ground. I don’t have to squeeze my hands under but can fit my whole arm to the elbow with ease.
A foot of space separates the bottom from the dirt beneath.
I grab hold and take a deep breath, praying this is it.
Then, I yank the barrier with every ounce of strength I can muster.
The slat resists at first and barely gives an inch.
Another pull, this time leaning my body backward.
Crack. The sound is small, no louder than a twig crunching under a boot, but it’s coming from the fence.
I don’t worry about the noise giving away my position, anymore.
I attack the board with fury, using my full weight against it.
My hands are slick with what might be blood, but I continue undeterred.
I refuse to let a couple of scrapes stop me now. I’m going to get—
An earsplitting scream erupts from the left, locking me in place. Despite the darkened void of the woods, the image of Veronica’s blond hair becomes visible, as does the haunting silhouette of Viktor and his glowing gaze.
“Please, no!” she shrieks, her voice breaking. “You don’t want me, you want her! She’s right over there!” Veronica points her arm in my direction, and all of the blood in my body drains to my toes.
Fuck.
Viktor’s large head shifts to me, and his deadly eyes meet mine. Veronica continues to plead for mercy until Viktor slashes clean through her throat. And before the pleas die out, she falls over, her body twitching in the dirt.
He takes a terrifying step over her lifeless body.
Then another.
I will my arms to pull, gaining a new crack in the fence with each exhausting tug. Viktor’s snarls grow louder, and tremors shake the ground as he nears. He’s not strolling to me. Not anymore. He’s fucking sprinting.
A piece of the fence breaks off in my hands, as long and wide as my shoulders.
It will be enough. It has to be. I drop to the matted grass and tunnel my way underneath, hands reaching outside of the property for purchase.
The snarling increases, only quickening my pace.
With my torso through, I dig my feet into the dirt and push myself farther.
I’m almost out. Just another few feet and I’ll—
A hand grabs me by the ankle and rips my body halfway in.
“Help!” I cry into the wilderness. No one answers besides Viktor, and his response is to yank me closer to him with each passing second.
“Nik!” But I know deep down it’s pointless.
The last time I saw him, he was closer to death than I am now.
Tears fill my eyes and blur the trees in front of me. “Hel—"
Hands wrap around my wrists. “I’ve got you, Miss Nat.” Dimitri’s familiar voice sends goose bumps down my dirt-coated arms, and the outline of his straining face becomes clear.
I kick my feet, earning a frustrated growl from the other side of the fence.
Viktor tightens his grip, bringing an unsettling numbness to my toes.
Dimitri continues pulling, stretching my arms to the absolute limit.
Pain sears my joints, but I’d choose an out-of-socket arm instead of what Viktor has planned.
It doesn’t work, though. No matter how hard Dimitri tugs, the wolf responds with a heave of his own, keeping me in place.
I flail my legs, and when that doesn’t work, I resort to stomping my heels into his chest. His stomach.
His face. Kicking again and again until his grip finally loosens.
Viktor roars, the sound deafening my own screams of suffering.
Then, a sharp sensation ignites in my shin, the first few layers of flesh boiling in an instant.
I kick one last time, freeing my foot from him while Dimitri hauls me the rest of the way through.
He only stops when we’re yards away from the fence.
Away from where Viktor might be able to reach.
My entire leg throbs, a tremendous pain shooting in spurts from my thigh to my hip.
I didn’t get caught on the broken board.
It wasn’t Viktor’s claws piercing through me.
I know exactly what it was. The thing scorching the blood traveling to my toes.
What has me cradling my leg in torture. I peer down at my ankle, and that’s when I see it.
A distinct row of teeth marks puncturing my skin, and the blood trickling from each canine impression.
Viktor bit me. He fucking bit me.