Page 15

Shay sent Ewan away hours ago, so it’s just us. Help is waiting back in the courtyard, so I have to go.

I have to be fast.

Wheeling around, I sprint for the trees. As I run, I reach for my wolf. I can’t shift on the move like an alpha can, but once I’m in the trees, I’ll stop and do it then.

Vicious growls erupt from behind me and I twist my head back, my hair blinding me until I shove it out of the way.

A large white-gray wolf flings himself at the six black and brown wolves, and they all go down in a mass of snarls, growls, and blood.

Is Shay hurt already?

My heart contracts and I slow, because I have to know.

Another growl, this one coming from a direction I wasn’t expecting, makes me jerk my head back around.

I skid to a stop.

Aron.

He’s here. He found me.

Everything freezes. My heart, my brain, time, all of it just… stops.

The large black wolf with blue eyes takes a step toward me, and I know I would run through fire if it meant getting free of him.

Spinning around, I sprint in the opposite direction. I have to get away from the wolf with blue eyes. I have to get away.

I plunge deep into the forest.

The wolf’s pursuit is soundless, but that doesn’t mean I can’t feel him behind me.

5

Isit with my back flush against a tree and my arms wrapped around my shaking knees.

I barely breathe.

Shift, Lexa. Shift and you can run faster. You can escape.

But I don’t, because my fear holds me still. It won’t let me move.

“Lexa?”

I press my back harder against the tree.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

“I can hear your little heart, darling.”

Oh, God.

He’s going to find me.

Sweat dribbles down the side of my face. I smell the terror in it, and I know Aron must scent it, too.

I ran for so long that I stopped hearing Shay fighting with the other wolves miles back. He could be dead already.

My teeth chatter and tears fill my eyes.