‘You’re my alpha. I’m pack. You can speak into any Paladin’s mind you want now, and them into yours.’
Whoa. Like a real wolf pack … Sawyer couldn’t do that.
‘Did Sage make it to the bunker? Is that where you are? Are she and my baby safe?’
I had to slow down, I was getting winded.
‘Yes. She said you were on your way with Astra. Gave us all a shock coming in with a baby… congrats…’
I chuckled. Yeah, it was weird, I’d give him that.‘Thanks, are my parents okay? Sawyer? Is he happy about the baby?’
Truth be told, I was a bit nervous to just drop the “I had your baby in the woods bomb” on my husband.
‘Everything is fine down here, but it’s not safe for you to just barge into Wolf City. I’m coming with Arrow to meet you at the border and sneak you in.’
I nodded, but something he said didn’t add up.
Rab and Arrow were coming out to meet me, not Sawyer. There was no reality in which Sawyer would know I was back and not come out to meet me. Unless maybe he was with the baby, but why could Rab answer me and not Sawyer?
‘Rab … where is Sawyer?’I clutched Astra in my arms, noticing that she’d fallen asleep on my chest. Poor thing needed food and rest.
‘Slight complication with that, but I’ll explain everything when you get down here. Don’t worry.’
Okay … as much as I wanted to push him, force him as his alpha to tell me, I also trusted him and he was being very nonchalant … so it couldn’t be that bad.
Right?
Unless Sawyer was in a coma, nearly beaten to death, and that’s why he couldn’t answer me!
‘Sawyer, I’m back,’I tried again, but got nothing, felt nothing. Our bond was completely shut down.
I realized then that I loved Sawyer so much it hurt. It had reached that point of no return, where if something catastrophic happened to him I would never be the same. Shoving those negative thoughts down, I ran, scouting the woods for Ithaki or vampires.
‘We are at the hedge that surrounds the school and touches the border,’Rab told me.
‘Hey, Alpha,’Arrow chimed in, and I grinned.
‘Hey, meet you soon,’I told Arrow.
Sterling Hill, or what was left of it, was always surrounded by large, leafy, green privacy hedges. They went for as far as the eye could see around the multiacre property. If they were hiding near there, then I’d know about where to meet them, assuming I remembered the way. I’d been running through the Wild Lands, parallel to Wolf City, but I was far enough in the woods that I couldn’t really see where I was in relation to Wolf City. Had I passed Sawyer’s parents’ house yet? Or what was left of it? I felt like I’d been running forever with Astra in my arms. Deciding to risk cutting closer to have a peek, I slowed and peered through the trees. What I saw stole my breath.
I’d found Sterling Hill and … it was gone. All of it.Gone.
The campus where I’d found my freedom, where I’d fallen in love with Sawyer, where I’d gotten to study photography, it was flattened. The only way I recognized it was from the position of the rubble and the parking lots and pathways.
Shadows walked along the paths, and I held my breath when I realized they were vampires. I could tell by the supernaturally fast way they walked. The sun was still high in the sky, which was typically vampire sleeping time. It meant they were taking caffeine pills to stay awake and patrol.
If they smelled me, or my power, we were screwed big ti—
“Alpha!” Rab whisper-screamed.
My head snapped to the hedge nearest me and I broke into a run. Crossing through the final stretch of Wild Lands trees, I burst over the flag line and then out into the open for a split second before running vampire fastintothe hedge.
I quickly learned the hedge was an illusion. It was hollow inside, with a chicken wire cage. The hedge was actually creeper vines that grew around the cage so thickly you could barely see inside.
Genius. Whichever alpha had built the bunker had thought of everything, including this escape tunnel.
“Here you go.” Rab held the cuffs Sawyer had given me as an engagement gift, and then took Astra from my arms, stroking her hair and face gently.
