Page 58

The Wilds

Dair is quick to find us somewhere to pitch our tent for the night. He wanted us to keep close to the river so that we could stock up on water and maybe even catch some fish before we hit the Wastes, but we all wanted to get further away from Gar.

While he didn’t do anything outwardly wrong to any of us, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something weird going on. In the quiet of the tent, I ask, “Dair, when you came through before, were there other people in the village? Did you see residents walking around?”

He hums. “Yeah, I suppose there were people milling about.”

“So why were the only people we saw Gar and the woman that led us to him?”

My stomach tightens with anxiety the longer the silence goes on. Eventually, he says, “I don’t know, but we’re on the other side now.”

I try to ignore the feeling of dread, but it persists long into the night. Ferris sleeps restlessly on one side of me; Dair is deep asleep on the other, but I can’t shut off my brain. Finally, at some point, I close my eyes and drift off into sleep.

Iwake as a rough hand covers my mouth. Immediately, my nose floods with a disgusting metallic scent, causing me to gag into the hand. Fuck, it’s Gar. I can’t see anything in the darkness of the tent, but I feel his disgusting breath as he whispers, “Hush now. It’s time to go.” I thrash, trying to dislodge his grip on my face, but he flashes a knife near enough that I can see it, and barks, “Come.”

I tense, waiting for his command to sink into my body and betray my autonomy, but his compulsion does nothing. His eyes narrow on me, and I think quickly, deciding to pretend that his bark worked. I get up, moving in unnaturally smooth motions, like I would if he’d compelled me. His grip loosens with false confidence, and when he turns to open the tent, I glance around the dark interior, looking for my alphas.

They aren’t here.

Outside the tent, my eyes finally adjust to the darkness, and I see Ferris lying on the ground with a small pool of seeping darkness near his head. I can’t help the whimper that escapes my throat as worry tightens my belly. Gar turns back toward me and barks again, “Shut up!”

I bite my tongue to prevent any further noise and listen to him mutter, “Dela knows better than to pick the bonded ones. Ain’t no one good gonna buy you, girl. Shame too, with that pretty hair.”

What the fuck is he talking about?

“Every year we do this shit,” he complains. “Soon as the village folks migrate south for winter. Keeps us warm in the cold season, you see. But we ain’t gonna make shit off you with that bite on your neck. Now hurry up, that wolf of yours can’t be far.”

Gods above, that’s why no one was at the village. They’d all left, probably right after Dair’s group came through. But then what? Gar and that beta woman stay there over winter and abduct omegas?

He walks us so far away from the tent that I can’t see Ferris anymore, muttering the whole time about how he’s getting too old to keep this up. Meanwhile, I’m making a plan. My little knife is tucked into my boot; I just need to access it. I really need him to think his bark is working on me, so, I pretend to trip.

I fall to the ground, wordlessly, since I’m supposed to be unable to make noise, and his hold on my arm loosens as he turns to look at my prone form. “Useless!” he shouts. “Get up!”

I reach into my boot as I stand, grabbing my knife to flick it open, and when I’ve risen to my full height, I slash the blade against the underside of the arm that’s holding my own, spilling his blood onto the dirt where it belongs.

He yells in pain, releasing me, and I shift into a fighting stance to take another stab. He comes at me in anger, not thinking, and I stab the short blade into his side. Unfortunately, the blade isn’t long enough to do major damage, but I feel it scrape against a rib, and I hope that means I’ve nicked a lung.

He screams, blood gushing down his clothes. Then he brandishes his much longer blade, swiping at me. “You’re dead, you hear me?”

I dance away every time he strikes at me, but my own blade is too small to safely get another stab in, and my axe is back in the tent. I’m going to have to get lucky or wait for him to bleed out.

In the near-total darkness, I feel the energy of the night shift. Dair. I can feel him even if I can’t see him. He’s hiding in the shadows like the monster that he is. Closer, my omega purrs, he’s getting closer. I laugh out loud, I can’t help it. This fucking idiot really thought he was going to take a wolf’s mate?

“What are you laughing at?” he snarls.

“Your death,” I hiss as a deep, animalistic growl vibrates the air all around us, flushing my body with gooseflesh as my nipples pebble.

“What was that?” Gar yelps, swinging his blade through shadows.

Silver eyes shine like moonlight in the darkness right behind my attacker, and I smile, feeling feral and bloodthirsty.

Calmly, I say, “Behind you.”

Gar rotates slowly, body trembling like he knows death awaits him in the darkness. His echoing scream is abruptly cut off as Dair’s wolf slashes his throat with a clawed paw.

Gar’s body falls to the ground, forgotten already, and then Dair is there, holding me, pressing me into his hot, naked chest.

“Baby,” he breathes. “You did so fucking good. You were like a godsdamned warrior.”