Kira padded in, quiet as a mouse.
The men were still on the porch, as far as I knew.She came straight for me, crouched, and fixed me with this wild, don't-you-dare-blink look.
She plucked at the dragon flower pin that was still on my sweater. She didn't yank it, but rolled it between her fingers, then twisted and removed it with one slick move.
Kira held it up, just long enough for me to see the back, the post, sharp and solid, plus the visible mechanism where the catch could click open.
She winked and whispered, "Watch closely."
In one hand, she still held the pin. Her other hand hovered over my right wrist, just above the zip tie's locking bar. With a single move, she stuck the back end of the pin under the lock, wedged, then twisted. The bar started to shift. With a pop, it was open.
She left the pin in my palm, pressing it hard enough to leave a mark.
"Only takes a second if you get the angle right," Kira muttered. "Wait a few more minutes to move. Wait until we're arguing again. Tell Livia I'm here. She'll know what that means. My name is Kira."
Then, lower, urgently, she said, "Not all hunters are like those two. Some of us remember the rules."
I clamped down a nod. My throat was closing up, but I forced myself to breathe.
She swept upright and sauntered to the frontporch. "Why aren't you assholes running the perimeter?"
"We just got back," William said angrily. "Do you want us to go again already?"
I stared at the pin in my palm. Gold and blood-bright, like a secret handshake.
I didn't waste a second. I waited until Kira was fully in the other room and then moved. I'd rather get eaten by a bear in the woods than help them take a shot at my girls by being bait if they caught me again.
No phone, obviously. Mine was probably crushed by a passing car by now.
But I still had my boots, and now, free hands.
I scanned the room. They'd probably hear the door. There was a window at the back, with cheap plastic horizontal blinds. I braced my hands on the window frame and shimmied it up. The first few inches fought me, but then it slid.
No time for subtlety. I yanked out the screen and tossed it into the brush.
Senses on red alert. Every heartbeat was a threat.
I climbed out.
The outside air slapped me. Cold, wet, the smell of pine and garbage. They'd been dumping the trash out back, and animals had gotten into the bags.
Scuttling away carefully, I made it my way toward a dip. At its edge, I looked back.
The cabin glowed behind me, no one the wiser. I could just hear them arguing. If she sent them on a perimeter check, they'd find me. Surely, she wasn't that stupid to release me then accidentally send the men to find me.
I tore away from the cabin, just working on going down the mountain. My wrists hurt and bled, but adrenaline and hope was enough to make me fly.
Branches whipped my face, stinging my cheeks and nose. I didn't care. If I could get somewhere with a phone, I could warn them.
I crashed through the brush, slipping on moss, nearly upending myself on a downed log, but I kept moving.
Breath burned in my chest.
Kira's words haunted me. "Tell Livia I'm here."
If I survived, step one would be to call Chance. He'd tell her. Odds were, if anyone could weaponize that message, Livia fucking Meyer would.
The next hill almost took me out. I scrambled up on all fours, boots scrabbling for purchase, palms full of mud and pine needles. Somewhere, a branch snapped, maybe me, maybe someone else.
