Page 86 of Freed

My mind keeps trying to relive the moments leading up to the attack, when I had let Cherry walk off with only Lexi at her side to go play cornhole. I should have insisted on going with her, I should have placed myself between her and the forest.

So many should have’s. You’d think we would have learned our lesson by now. This isn’t even the first rogue attack on our property. But things are different this time. We’re stronger. She’s stronger. And we have the bond.

“Hold tight, baby. We’re coming,” I tell her through the bond.

“I know,” she says back, making my chest expand with the knowledge that he still hasn’t caught her. “I love you.”

Fuck. I can hear the pain and fear in her voice. Despite the fact that she knows we’re right behind them, she’s still being hunted by her enemy, and that’s enough to push me a little bit faster.

We all come to a halt at a narrow passage between the rocks, covered with fallen trees.

“She went through there,” Bain says, even though we can all smell her scent just as he can.

My eyes narrow when I see Blaze’s footprint in the dirt, further in, realizing he has followed her through this narrow gap.

“What the fuck, how did he get through there?” Chase asks as we all skid to a stop at the narrow spot Cherry and Blaze somehow managed to slip through. I’m not surprised Cherry fit through here; she’s tiny. But Blaze? He’s far too big, just like we are.

“Come on, we need to find another way around,” Maddox says as he moves to the left.

“Chase, you’re with me. Hunter, Bain, and Gage, you go the other way and try to find a way through.”

Nobody argues as we quickly get moving again, searching for any way through the rocks. We are so close. And I refuse to think about what will happen if we don’t make it in time.

Chapter 32

Chase

“Cherry and Blaze shouldn’t be able to outrun us,” I tell Maddox as we run along the cliff face, looking for a way through.

“I know,” he says as we keep moving, the elevation getting higher and higher. “I’m not sure how either of them are able to do it. Adrenaline, perhaps?”

If that were the case, we should be the fastest people out here.

I picture Cherry running through these woods with Blaze right on her heels and start to salivate, imagining pouncing on him and ripping his throat out. Not that that would keep him out for long, but long enough for us to inject him with the serum.

The serum. “Shit, I don’t have any serum, it was in my pockets. Do any of you have it?” I ask the other guys through the bond.

“It doesn’t matter,” Bain growls through the bond. “We’ll kill him and drag him back to inject him.” I guess that’s true, but I’d much prefer to end it here than have him anywhere near our home. But beggars can’t be choosers.

I growl in agreement just as Maddox finds an opening in the cliff. It’s a tight fit, but the two of us maneuver our way through. On the other side, we both lift our noses, trying to find which way her scent is coming from. It doesn’t take us more than a few seconds to pinpoint it. I could pick her cherry, vanilla, and fire scent out anywhere.

We start running again as the scent grows stronger. We move in near silence as we weave through the trail she obviously came through only minutes earlier. Everything in me tells me to move faster, that even though I know she can come back to life if she dies, it doesn’t stop the fear of her being taken or hurt.

I don’t want her to suffer so much as a paper cut, let alone the fear of being chased by a monster through the woods.

The only thing I’m sure about now is the fact that this ends today. There is no way Blaze is getting away from me now that I have him in my sights.

And as we skid to a stop, finally seeing him for the first time since the last time I killed him, a growl vibrates through me. He’s facing Cherry in her wolf form, and she’s standing at the edge of a cliff as she stares back at him, looking terrified.

My growl grows louder, and is suddenly accompanied by four others as Bain, Gage, and Hunter appear at the other side of the treeline.

But Blaze doesn’t even turn to look at us; instead, he lunges forward. Toward Cherry.

Instinct has her stepping back, but there’s nothing there, and her back legs slip over the edge. Her eyes widen as her front legs claw the ground, scrambling for purchase.

We all move at once. Maddox, closest to Cherry, runs to the ledge just as she slips over. I charge Blaze, wasting no time to tackle him to the ground. He’s heavier than I expect, and as we tumble on the ground, I suddenly find myself staring at a massive brown wolf.

“What the fuck?” I snarl through the bond. I jump back, trying to figure out what I’m looking at. When I tackled him, Blaze must have shifted. But he’s not a wolf. Not entirely. He has the strong body of a wolf but with the head of a bird. A fucking ugly one.