That meant he was more lethal than a normal Savage. He’d most likely been a member of the group who split away from Nathan when he decided to join the Alliance. This Savage was probably held captive with Simone before Killean rescued her.
With his shaggy blond hair, average height and build, a hawkish nose, and thick lips, he wasn’t handsome or ugly. She wouldn’t consider him plain either, but more the type who blended into a crowd until he chose for others to notice him.
This man once despised everything he’d become, but when he gave a cruel, remorseless smile, she realized he’d embraced his new role in life. He didn’t deserve the fate handed him, but Willow couldn’t allow her sympathy for him to get in the way. He had to die.
The sun glinted off something at his side. She spotted the red-orange jewel in the hilt of his sword before another noise to her right turned her head in that direction. A pair of red eyes blinked at her from the shadows. And then, a rustling of branches sounded behind her. It felt like someone took an ice cube to her neck as the rustling grew closer.
When she chanced a glance behind her, she spotted three more red eyes and another set of white-blue ones that hadn’t been there before. She never should have climbed out of the tree, but she didn’t have a choice. Maybe she could have made it another day before her thirst propelled her out of it, and then she would have been weaker.
But would they have left if she’d waited another day?
That was a question she would never know the answer to, and she couldn’t turn back time. She was out of the tree, and they were closing in on her.
From somewhere deep inside, she found the strength to move faster. She pushed her tired legs as her lungs burned, and her heart thudded so fiercely, she was sure it bruised the inside of her ribs.
Not like this. Just one more day. Not like this. Just one more day.
The words became a looping mantra in her head. She wasn’t ready to die, but she’d welcome death if it meant avoiding the fate that had befallen these things.
Despite the creepy howls they issued all night, the Savages were silent as they stalked her through the trees. They already had their prey in view; there was no reason to terrorize it into making a mistake. The rushing sound of water increased until it became a crescendo drowning out all other noise.
The river grew so loud she felt like she could almost touch it, yet she didn’t see it until it was almost too late. She was so focused on escaping, she almost ran straight over the edge of a cliff.
Somehow, her brain shot the command to stop through her panicked body before she plunged over the side. Dirt flew out from beneath her feet and over the cliff when she skidded to a halt at the edge of it.
She was so close her toes hung over the edge, and the icy mist of the waterfall sprayed her face. Willow’s stomach plummeted when she leaned forward to peer over the five-hundred-foot drop to the boulders poking out of the rushing river below.
She turned back and edged away from the cliff as more Savages emerged from the trees.
* * *
The panic clawingat Declan’s chest while he ran confused him. He hated being in these woods, with these things, and not knowing where Willow and Lucien were, but he’d never felt frightened. Ready to tear the head off something, yes, but not terrified. Even when they encountered and slaughtered eight Savages last night, he never felt an ounce of panic.
He glanced at the others, but their faces remained set in stone. He was aware of how impassive someone could look, while inside they were a turmoil of emotions, but these feelings weren’t coming from them. They emitted a mixture of fear, desperation, eagerness, and dread, but no panic.
Where was it coming from then?
Declan came to an abrupt stop. The others, not expecting his sudden halt, ran on for a few more feet before they realized he wasn’t with them. Turning in a circle, Declan surveyed the woods. A small breeze caused the trees to sway, but it was the only movement as the woods were devoid of life. The squirrels and birds had fled the monsters hunting their area.
“What is it?” Vicky asked him.
He held up a hand as he listened for anything unusual. Then, he caught the distant murmur of water. When he turned toward the sound, his heart rate picked up a little as the overwhelming sensation of impending doom descended over him.
“This way,” he said.
He didn’t wait to see if they would follow when he took off in search of the river. The panic grew with every step; as he ran, he realized his empathic ability was drawing him towardWillow. But if her emotions were any indication, he might not make it there in time.
* * *
Willow’s mouthwent dry as more Savages materialized. There were ten now… No, twelve… Fifteen…
A cold bead of sweat slid down her back when the number swelled to twenty with an unknown number slipping through the shadows behind them. Her fight-or-flight instinct was all for the flight option, but there was nowhere for her to go.
Glancing behind her, she tried to see through the plume of mist the waterfall kicked up, but it was impossible to tell what lay directly beneath her. If those boulders a little further down the river were any indication, she would not be in for a soft landing. A couple of hundred feet away from where the waterfall spilled into the river, the water calmed as it twisted around the rocks.
Only a few feet to her left, the river was a raging monstrosity, looking to suck up anything in its path before plunging it over the waterfall. She could jump into that river and take her chances.
If she landed on one of those boulders, the fall wouldn’t kill her unless it knocked her head off or tore her heart from her chest. She’d survive the drowning sure to follow, but the fall might injure her so severely that these things would track her in no time, and she wouldn’t be able to fight them.
