“I think we shall.”
I put my hand in my alpha’s hand, and together, we run up the stairs. Below, the sound of pursuit echoes in earnest.
Chapter 63
No one escapes their fate
Running through the rain is difficult enough, but the city is full of these black-robed assholes, and it’s become lethal. Every corner we turn, they are there waiting. I swipe my wet hair off my face and look back the way we came from. They’re only minutes behind us. We haven’t been able shake them, but my lungs are burning, my legs ache, and I have nothing left.
“We’re being driven,” Jarek mutters angrily.
I grit my teeth and let out a grunt of acknowledgement.
I slink around the corner and duck into a building, cutting through to a little hidden garden at the back of it. To my surprise, it’s still alive and hasn’t been eaten by the fire.
I crouch down in the green and hiss in annoyance.
“They are coming this way,” Jarek says, but I can see he’s tired, too. It’s been hours, days. They are relentless.
I stand up, hating that my legs are cramping and protesting. I just want to sit down for a while.
“Come on, this way,” Cadel says and leads us through a door I’d missed on my first sweep. I’m getting tired, and tired people get people killed.
We come out in an alley and wait while another patrol of Betas rushes past. I swipe the water from my face. Feeling the cold down to my bones.
The rain stops and leaves the world shining and feeling like it’s got a thin layer of oil over it.
“There they are!”
Cadel grabs my hand and runs, bursting out onto the street. We cut across, but a group of black robes pours out of the building opposite, rushing to cut us off.
Mordecai turns and runs the other way, and we follow, close on his heels. The streets echo with the calls of our discovery.
Drums start booming. Horns blow.
“In here!” Mordecai shouts and dives in first, grabbing the door that he slams and bars behind us.
Jarek runs at a wall and jumps up, reaching the floor above and managing to maneuver up there. He turns and holds out his arms. I run and grab onto him, and he pulls me up, his grip slipping just a bit before he grabs tighter.
I slide up beside him, checking for danger, searching around us. When I see nothing, I shift out of the way, giving them room. Wood boards creak under my weight and bow slightly, but it holds.
“Hurry, Jarek.”
He braces and holds out a hand to Mordecai, who barely needs to touch him before he’s up, then to Cadel.
It’s getting harder and harder to move through this shattered landscape. Everything that was helping us has turned into a hindrance.
“Where is she?” the Beta’s Voice rings out. Not close, but not far away either.
I curl my fingers into fists and glare at the wall, listening intently. It doesn’t matter what body she’s possessing; she always sounds the same.
“We’ll find her!”
“Do that, and do it soon or heads are going to roll!”
“I don’t understand why you need them all dead.”
I recognise the newly appointed Beta’s Fang.
