“Josie, focus!” Genevieve whisper-yelled, gripping my face between her two hands. “If we don’t move now, they’re going to take us back.”
Her words cut through the haze and offered me a moment of clarity. A flash of memory of a car ride that felt like a lifetime away. A dress and the smell of my alphas surrounding me, and the stupid anxiety I’d felt about what I looked like. I’d give anything to be that girl again.
“Pack Turro. They live in this area.” My mind wandered to Donovan’s painting, to that feeling of solidarity I had felt when reading his note. “He’ll help us,” I said with more confidence.
“Don’t know who the fuck that is, but sounds good to me. Let’s go.”
Genevieve forced me to my feet, throwing her arm under my shoulder to support my weight.
“The briefcase?” I asked, looking around when I realized I had dropped it at some point.
“I’ve got it,” she said, holding it up. Relief and gratitude washed through me.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I said, tightening my hold on her.
“Which direction?” she asked, a soft smile on her lips.
“I’m not sure,” I said, trying to wrack my brain for any details I could remember about their location. “We passed Glen’s on the way to their house,” I said, desperately trying to remember details from the cocktail party. Most of what I remembered from the drive there was Cam’s hands on me, his protectiveness as he made me go over the plan. “It was on the righthand side of the road.”
“So we need to go in this direction?” Genevieve asked, pointing to our left.
“Maybe?” I responded, my lip trembling.
“Better than nothing,” she said.
We made our way through the woods with painful slowness, the mud cold against my bare skin.
“I’m sorry,” I gritted out as I stumbled for the millionth time. The rain was coming down hard, making it almost impossible to keep my footing. Genevieve’s arms shook from exertion.
“I’m going to bind our legs together,” she said. “Like we’re doing a three-legged race.”
She propped me up against a tree and tore more fabric strips from her dress. Her skin was turning blue from the cold. She tied my bad leg to hers and put her arm around my shoulder. “We’ll step at the same time. That way, I can support your leg better.”
We shuffled along for what felt like hours, growing colder and wetter, before I finally collapsed.
“Sorry, sorry,” I sobbed to Genevieve, who tried to pull us back to standing before she dropped to the ground with a muttered curse.
I drifted in and out of consciousness, trembling and vaguely aware of Genevieve dragging me. Through the thick haze of pain and cold, I heard shouts and felt hands on me before succumbing to the darkness.
ChapterThirty-Three
Josie
Iwoke in an unfamiliar room. My head was pounding, my mouth was dry, and my leg screamed in pain. For a moment, I thought I was back in Glen’s dungeon, but then I realized I was on a soft bed.
I stayed still and kept my eyes closed, unsure if anyone was in the room with me. I couldn’t hear or scent anyone but didn’t dare make a move until I was sure. I lay there for a few moments, counting out my heartbeats. When I still didn’t hear anything, I slowly blinked my eyes open.
The room was dark and I couldn’t see any clocks. There was a window to my right, but the heavy curtains were pulled. It could be any time of day.
I pushed myself to a seated position, biting my lip to hold in my cry of pain. I leaned against the headboard as nausea rolled through me, forcing myself to take deep, steadying breaths. Who knew how long I would be left alone? I needed to figure out what had happened.
I thought back and had flashes of memory of Genevieve dragging me through the woods. I’d been in and out of consciousness. At one point, I’d come to when we were wedged behind trash cans, the smell strong enough to rouse me. I struggled to reach back into my memory… there had been shouting.
No, no, no.
Glen must have found us.
I threw the blankets off and was relieved to find I was still clothed. I peeled back the skirt of my filthy, smelly dress and saw the wound on my thigh had been cleaned and bound.
