The vehicle ran into the other one and sent Chad flying since he'd only been holding on with one arm. Zayn and I both jumped on him, stopping him from reaching for the gun in his waistband. The forest was dead silent, watching the scene play out.
I shifted back. "Zayn, stop. We need to keep him alive."
He was tugging on his arm, which already looked wounded. He was going to rip the guy's arm off, and I couldn't blame him. I wanted to rip his arm off too. Especially since he was the one that bought Zayn's sister.
Jesus, the thought of one of my sisters being bought and sold made me see red, and I nearly shifted back to rip out his throat.
Zayn wasn't stopping, so I grabbed the scruff of his neck and yanked on him. Chad was a bloody mess and seemed to have passed out.
Sullivan had shifted back too and was walking a crying Mateo to one of the ATVs that had crashed into a tree and was lying on its side. I didn't really know what he was doing, but he seemed to be handling himself just fine.
"Zayn, shift back until we get these guys situated." I turned to watch Sullivan pulling a chain out of a storage box on the back of the vehicle.
Zayn took my moment of distraction to lunge for Chad's throat, ripping it out all the way to the spine in one swift move. He took off in the direction we had been headed.
"Son of a bitch!" I couldn't let him catch up to Wren and his sister when he was in the state he was in. What if his wolf was still pissed at Wren?
"Go! I'll tie this one to a tree and then follow." Sullivan shoved Mateo, who had seemed to have completely given up, against a tree.
It was easy to follow Zayn's scent, but harder to pick up on Wren's. It was definitely there but wasn't as concentrated as it had been when we first started following. She was headed deep into the mountains, through a narrow valley.
After about an hour, I finally caught up to Zayn, who looked ready to keel over from exhaustion. It wasn't terribly hot, but running as fast as we both could took a lot out of us, especially since we hadn't eaten since the night before.
How long was she going to run?
I trotted next to Zayn, who didn't spare me a glance. I wanted to tell him everything was going to be okay, but shifting was going to take too much energy.
Another hour passed, and Zayn came to ascreeching halt and sniffed the ground. He was limping slightly but still took off running. Wren's scent was stronger where we'd stopped, and now Zayn's sister's was present too.
Had Wren been carrying her? It was the only explanation. What I couldn't explain was how Wren had done it and stayed so far ahead of us. She couldn't carry another wolf in her fox form, which meant she was on foot.
Following Zayn, I was surprised to see a clearing up ahead and a rickety old cabin. The scents led straight to it.
My heart was beating out of my chest at seeing Wren again. I could smell the faint scent of blood mixed in with her scent and hoped she wasn't injured. We were deep in the wilderness and had no way to get medical help if needed. Although, if she could heal Sullivan, did that mean she could heal herself quicker than our normal accelerated healing?
Zayn shifted as he jumped onto the porch and pushed the door to the cabin open. "There's no one here!"
With a grunt, I shifted as well, my muscles burning from running so hard for the past few hours. My throat felt like it had sandpaper in it andburned when I tried to swallow my saliva. "Maybe they're finding food and water. We need to too."
Zayn sniffed the air and then stepped off the porch. "Wren's scent is that way and Zola's is that way."
He was conflicted on which way to go, so I made it easier for him. "I'll go find Wren. You go after your sister." Putting a hand on his shoulder, he winced and looked past me, avoiding my eyes. "It's going to be okay."
Without a word, he shifted and took off into the trees behind the cabin. The terrain sloped upward, heading around the bottom portion of the mountain. Hopefully, he would catch up with her soon.
I followed Wren's scent, which led me to water. Thank fuck because I was dying of thirst. The stream was small and coming from the side of the mountain, and when I got to it, I fell to my knees, leaned forward, and stuck my whole head under.
My stomach twisted hungrily, but water would have to do until I found Wren. After drinking out of my hands, I stood and sniffed the air. I spun around, and there she was, sleeping in the shade under a tree.
I stood still, watching her. Her red hair fanned out around her body was curled in on itself. She was beautiful.
Being as quiet as possible, I walked to her and looked down. She didn't look to be injured. In fact, she looked radiant. She was wearing something different than she was wearing the night before, and it looked like they had been cut to make shorts and a tank top. Her feet were bare and looked as smooth as a baby's bottom.
I was still deciding on how to wake her when I found myself airborne, flying backward. My body crashed into the hard ground, and I sat up to see a flash of red running toward the stream.
"Wren!"
Pushing to my feet, I took off after her. She was practically a blur, and I thought maybe I was seeing things with how fast she was moving. It almost looked as if she was floating.
