“No way,” I growled. “I’m never leavingyourside.”
“Personally, I don’t want to be far from Tarzan in case things go wrong,” Hectormumbled.
Ignoring his comment, I said, “No splitting up. We pick a route and go with it. And we’d better do it fast before Gunner comes out here to look for ushimself.”
“He’ll never touch me again,” Niko growled. “I’m going to keep this baby safe nomatterwhat.”
Delta looked surprised at that comment, but didn’t say anything. He waited for us to come to aconclusion.
“I think we should use the river route,” Virgil said. “Is that okay witheveryone?”
“Yes,”Nikosaid.
Hector justnodded.
If everyone else agreed, then I would too. “Alright.Let’sgo.”
Delta seemed relieved. “Great. Followmylead.”
We all shifted into our wolf forms and disappeared into the trees. Despite Hector’s earlier explanation, he still smelled like an alpha to me. I guessed those scent-blocking things really worked. Still, I liked knowing that there was another omega among us that Niko couldconfidein.
The thicket thinned out, and sounds from the town became louder. Smoke rose in thick clouds from the buildings and the scent made me wrinklemynose.
But before we got too close to town, Delta turned and ran down adifferentpath.
Ipausedand looked around at the rest of the group. They all nodded at me, silently indicating that they were all onboard.
We all followed Delta’s lead. It was a cold night, and it got darker the further away we strayed from the town. That would work to our advantage, I thought. As long as we could reach the river and stay undetected in the shadows, our plan would go off without ahitch.
Soon I caught the scent of water. As we got closer to the river, I heard the soft rushing sound beside us. We’dmadeit.
“We just need to follow this until we reach Indigo Mountain,” Delta explained using our shifter mindconnection.
“Alright,” Ireplied.
I walked closer to Niko, trying to keep him warm and support him emotionally at the same time. I wanted him to know I would be there no matter what happened. He responded by nuzzling my fur with hissnout.
Behind us were Hector and Virgil, walking quietly. Nobody had said much since we left, which I didn’t mind. All of us were anxious to be out of here, but probably nobody more than Niko and I. Hector and Virgil deserved to be free of Scarlet Ridge, but they also didn’t have a potential baby to be worriedabout.
The longer we trekked, the more nervous I became. It was quiet except for the soft rushing sounds of the water. From our position, I saw what Delta was explaining to us earlier; in the darkness, we could see a skyline of buildings up ahead in the distance. I kept my head low. Hopefully it was dark enough that nobody would see us - and nobodyshouldhave been looking for us hereatall.
Something snapped in thedarkness.
Niko suddenly cried out. I whirled around, instantly by his side. “What’swrong!?”
“It’s okay, I just tripped,” he said, getting to his feet and sounding a bitembarrassed.
Hector and Virgil let out sighs ofrelief.
Delta growled. “Don’t make any more noise than you need to. We’re trying to be stealthy,remember?”
Hearing him talk like that towards my mate pissed me off. I stepped forward, my hackles raising. “Watch your mouth. He said it was anaccident.”
Delta narrowed his eyes. “Okay. Just don’t blame me if we get caught because you all couldn’t bequiet.”
My lip curled in anger, but Delta turned around before he could see it. We stiffly continued walking along the river. Niko’s head was hung low inshame.
“Just ignore him,” I growled to my mate. “You weren’t eventhatloud.”
