“We’ll look at it tomorrow,” Jarek says, taking the map and folding it back up.
I go to protest, but they look so exhausted that I can’t. I want to laugh and cry and make noise, but instead, I lay back down as my alpha’s fingers brush through my hair.
“In the morning, we’ll go,” Cadel says quietly.
I stare at the wall. It’s not going to work. I lick my lips and resist the urge to scream in pure frustration.
They’ve cleared the buildings and put up obstacles around it, including what looks like barbed wire fences.
“How do we get to it?” I say and count the Beta’s Path disciples wandering back and forth. “A hundred disciples, the High King, the Beta’s Claw and Fang, and if they are all here, the Warden will be around somewhere, too.”
Mordecai lets out a frustrated growl. “We can’t get through them,” he snaps, and his fingers clench the wall we’re hiding behind, making it crumble.
Cadel leans into my hair and inhales deeply. “Stay here. I need to find something.”
“What?” I half stand up, but he’s gone before I can grab him.
Jarek grabs me and drags me back down.
“The path to the left looks the most precarious; it’s steeper and looks unstable, so when we go up, we go up on the right side.”
I don’t like the tone of his voice.
“You don’t think we’re all going to make it, do you?”
He shakes his head. “I’m just planning for any outcome.”
“That’s not an outcome!” I snap at him. “It’s not an option. We all live. We all need to live.”
He grips my cheeks and holds my face still. “I’m going to try so hard to remain among the living for you, Kaida. I promise you I will do my absolute best to survive.”
“You better,” I growl.
He kisses me hard before pulling back, looking wild and more panicked than I’ve ever seen him.
“Maybe we can wait?”
“No, it’s going to have to be now; they are only going to intensify their defenses and refine the trap.”
Jarek sits there quietly, his hand on my back. I turn to say something to him, but he’s got such an expression of intense sadness that it steals my thoughts and everything but this bubble of grief that isn’t mine.
“You are beautiful,” he whispers and wraps his arms around me, hugging me tight.
“We’re going to be okay,” I say firmly. “We’re all going to make it.”
“Of course, we are.”
A howl rips through the world, calling to me, to us. I jerk hard, slamming my hand to my chest where it feels like something is moving inside me. The longer the song continues, the more aggressively it moves.
It’s stretching, pushing.
Wolf. The freaking wolf is back.
YES!
I embrace whatever is inside me, letting it flow out of me. It hurts, but only for a second, and then I’m twisting, landing on all fours.
I let out a low, menacing growl, hearing the sound of our alpha running towards us and something else behind him. I explode out, snapping my teeth at the Ravage Wolf that is on the Anarchy Wolf’s heels. He jumps sideways and slams into a building. I change direction, racing to catch up with the black wolf that keeps saving me.
