Tanix directed us toward the rear of the procession.
“Who?” Aurelia asked with alarm, struggling against my hold. “Who did you take?”
Her ability to pivot for the sake of her community or for survival was awe-inspiring. I’d just turned her world upside down but she was ready to face the next obstacle. Knowing how shitty her life must’ve been up to this point, it was no wonder she took terrible situations in stride.
“We captured some of Granny’s patrol,” I quickly told Aurelia so she’d stop struggling. “In wolf form, I can suck them into the pack and force a bond with them. It gives me complete control. When I’m in human form, a few powerful wolves in the pack can hold the bond I created and consequently hold my control. Only in human form could they have the free will to walk away.” To Tanix I said, “How’d they get free?”
The horses back near the carts were visibly agitated. The donkeys had their ears back, tension wound through their withers, clearly wanting to bolt but held in place by the harnesses. People ran here or there, clothes were scattered on the ground. Wolves darted through the trees.
Instead of answering, Tanix stopped in the area where the prisoners had been kept, grouped together and flanked by two pack members. Nova turned from talking to one of the pack and stepped up quickly, her eyes tight. It meant she didn’t have a handle on things and was likely angry at herself because of it. I never needed to reprimand this wolf, she did a great job of that on her own.
“Alpha,” she said, shaking her head. “We were in position, same as yesterday. Our people didn’t notice any real change, just that suddenly the pack bond seemed a bit slippery with one, then the next prisoner. Then the other few. Nothing came of it, though. There was no change in their demeanor.”
“Why wasn’t I alerted?”
“You were, uh, otherwise engaged.” Her gaze flashed to Aurelia.
“I instructed them to monitor the situation closely,” she went on, “until you could be reached. The moment we stopped, though, the prisoners scattered. One blink and they were gone. They barely needed to flex to rip the pack bond. Grasping at them through it was like running fingers through water. Speaking of water, there’s a creek that runs parallel to here. It’s wide and shallow, and they all ran through it. We have yet to pick up their scents outside of that creek. We’re still looking.”
“Dante, Sixten?” I asked.
“Organizing the search effort,” Tanix responded, his clothes at his feet. “The prisoners escaping shouldn’t have created this amount of chaos with the horses.” The look he gave me was pointed, meaning there was a large predator out there, helping to create a diversion by scaring the animals.
Fuck. I set Aurelia down quickly and shed my clothes. If the escaped prisoners met up with those who’d evaded capture, they might think it an ideal opportunity to try and pick off some of my pack, one by one.
What they didn’t know was they were about to run up against the big bad wolf.
“Guard the woman,” I commanded Nova. “Pull everyone together. Group them tightly around her and the supplies. Wait for my return.”
I ran to the side and shifted, waiting for the flash of pain to subside before feeling the pack bond stretch out around us. My wolf took hold of it, quickly getting a feel for where everyone was and effortlessly structuring them. Tanix was sent in the opposite direction with a team accompanying him, just in case the prisoners running toward the creek was a diversion.
How had they broken my bond?
I dashed through the trees, my wolf calling others to us as we ran. They fell in line as my wolf caught the scent of the prisoners.
He bared his teeth as he stepped in the creek, the pack spreading out around us, with Sixten flanking us to the right and Dante quickly joining my wolf’s other side. Issuing cues through his body movements and pushing his will through the bond, my wolf steered both Dante and Sixten to break off and go up the creek. We took fewer people with us down the creek. If we ran into the enemy, it would be easy for my wolf to force a bond and protect our people. The others might need to fight, and therefore needed the numbers.
Currents of scent drifted through the air. I thought my wolf caught a faint, familiar whiff, but not one from the prisoners. Slowly, he tried to catch it again but it was elusive, older. He couldn’t quite place it. Continuing onward, he had our people spread out a bit, most on land, hunting for a sign that the prisoners or anyone else had come this way. Nothing.
After about a half hour, with no alarms pushed through the bonds from anyone else, we called everyone in and headed back.
“That was a very well-executed escape,” Tanix said when we met back up, just out of the creek. “Verywell executed. We wasted no time in going after them, but they were just.. . gone. Vanished. We didn’t pick up any scents stepping out of the creek.”
“We had people stretched out along the banks, too,” Sixten said, her hands on her hips in obvious frustration. “Nothing.”
“Think it was magic?” Dante asked.
“I’ve never heard of magic like that, and we know the most powerful of faeries,” Sixten replied. “We know the new demon... thing, whatever it is he’s calling himself?—“
“Lord,” Dante supplied.
“Lord, whatever. He doesn’t have that kind of magic.”
“The woman ran into the trees at near the same time the prisoners escaped,” Tanix said softly, his gaze on me firm. “They took off in the opposite direction.”
I felt a pang in my gut, knowing what Tanix was suggesting. His account of the timing was correct.
“Did she try to run?” Sixten asked, looking between everyone. “Didn’t she just wobble into the trees some?”
