The wolf glared balefully at me from a distance of a few meters. To my disappointment, the wound I’d inflicted was already healing.
“Stubborn bastard.”
Was it too much to ask for him to need a little recovery time? Just a tiny bit. Enough for me to catch my breath.
Movement from above made me realize I’d somehow fetched up against a wall of the arena. Right under where Liam and the rest had been seated.
Nathan leaned over the edge to peer at me through the pit’s bars. “You were supposed to stay by my side.”
I craned my head back to look up at him tiredly. “Is that really what’s important right now?”
“It feels pertinent to the situation—yes.”
Liam planted a hand on the ledge, dropping down onto the bars covering the pit.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to do that, boss,” Nathan said as the Fae still arguing with Thomas raised their voices in objection.
Liam crouched, grabbing hold of two bars and yanking. Metal groaned, creaking and complaining as he exerted his strength. The veins in his neck bulged from the effort.
Liam’s furious gaze found mine. “Climb!”
I stared at the smooth rock of the wall, my thigh on fire. How exactly did he expect me to do that?
“Now, Aileen!” Liam barked.
There was a sound from behind me. The slightest shift of sand that warned me of Brax’s charge.
More desperate than graceful, I scrambled up the wall, turning barely-there depressions and pockmarks into makeshift hand holds, ripping a few nails and scraping my fingers and knuckles in the process.
Halfway up, I launched myself toward the ceiling and safety.
It was a miracle that I got one hand around the bars. The tingling, numbing sensation that immediately followed made my grip loosen.
For a moment, I felt myself slip.
Then Liam’s hand covered mine, forcing my fingers to remain closed despite the pain traveling from my palm to my wrist and down to my shoulder.
“Don’t you dare let go,” Liam ordered.
Brax’s wolf hit the wall, catapulting himself upward.
I pulled my feet out of reach, tightening my abs as I crunched upwards.
The wolf snapped at air, missing me by millimeters. He fell, his body twisting in midair so he landed on his feet.
The wolf circled, eyes trained on me. First in one direction, then the opposite.
He yapped, sounding frustrated as he tossed his head.
The bars trembled as Connor jumped down next to Liam.
“No. Go back,” I moaned.
My brother ignored me, focusing on his uncle. “I can help.”
“Connor,” I tried.
They shouldn’t be out here. Either of them.
