Total pages in book: 193
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
“We can’t just leave them,” I tell Khalil when I remember the pups.
“They followed you once,” he says.
Sure enough, when I look over my shoulder, the pups are weaving in and out of trees as they trail us from a distance.
“This way,” Thorin says after we walk for less than a minute.
He and Khalil must have been following Meera’s trails—or the wolves that killed Roman—when we stumbled upon the pup.
“There are multiple tracks here,” Thorin says when we reach some downfall and a creek running downhill. “Meera’s,” he says, pointing out her distinct tracks. She’s wounded, so they’re off unlike the multiple sets we find. “There was a fight here.” Thorin swears. “Meera was outnumbered.”
My heart doesn’t speed up or slow down.
It breaks.
I completely forget the pups are stalking us until they sniff the ground and whine before suddenly taking off in the direction of the creek.
“What the—”
“Fuck. We need to follow them.” Zeke takes off after the pups, giving us no time to ask why. The rest of us follow, forming an arrow of desperation with the pups making up the head followed by Zeke, me, Khalil, and Thorin bringing up the rear.
Finally, we come across four trails that form an intersection, and lying in the center of that crossroads is—
“Meera!”
I run past Zeke, dodging his hands when he stops instead of pressing forward. I ignore their shouts for me to stop. The pups have already reached their mother. They’re climbing all over her and tugging at her ears and tail, begging her to rise and ease their fears.
But she doesn’t.
The she-wolf continues lying on the ground, and her breaths are so shallow that I’m not sure she’s breathing at all.
As soon as I reach Meera, Zeke snatches me back. “Careful, Aurelia. This just happened. There’s a chance that the wolves that did this to her are still in the area.”
“We have to help her.”
“She’s dying.”
“We have to help her!” I scream. When none of them move to aid the she-wolf, I turn my teary gaze to Thorin. “You promised me.”
Thorin curses and then reaches for his belt. He quickly unbuckles it and then snatches it from the loops in his jeans before kneeling in front of Meera. The pups’ ears flatten, and they growl but don’t attack. Neither does Meera, who I realize is conscious but weak. Her eyes are glued to Thorin, and worry still churns my stomach at the thought of him getting hurt because of me. My vision is blurry as I watch him wrap the belt tightly around Meera’s snout, creating a makeshift muzzle, but I pay the unshed tears no mind. Instead, I kneel when she growls, and for the first time, I allow my fingers to run through Meera’s tawny fur. A warm feeling spreads through me when Meera stops growling.
I hear Khalil and Zeke also removing their belts and quickly securing them around her forearms and hind legs.
“That should be enough to get her to the truck,” Khalil says before he carefully scoops Meera up. The wolf whines and then goes deathly still in his arms.
Thorin and Zeke grab Remy and Rom by their scruffs, and then we’re off.
I realize, after we’ve taken two steps and I hear footsteps all around us, that their arms are full and we’re really fucking exposed.
Meera, the pups, and my mountain men—I’m their only line of defense.
“Aurelia,” Thorin warns when he spots the same thing I do. A large wolf stalking us from the brush up ahead. The wolves that attacked Meera have returned to finish the job. “Take Remy.”
“That’s okay,” I say as I draw an arrow from my quiver, load it, and take aim. “I got this.”
My gaze snags on Rom. His ears, which were previously flat with displeasure over being carried are now twitching in awareness. A moment later, Remy’s ears do the same, and he whines as he stares off into the bushes.
Khalil shifts his hold on Meera. “Goldilocks, I really think—”
A wolf we didn’t see stalking Khalil lunges from the bushes. There’s no hope for Khalil to react in time, so heart in throat, I don’t think. I spin toward the sound and let the arrow loose the moment I see my target. It only takes a single breath, but it feels like a lifetime before the arrowhead spears the wolf in its hind leg and sends it flying back into the bushes.
“Shit,” Khalil chokes out when he sees how close he came to death. “Guys, I think she’s got this.”
“We need to hurry this the fuck up,” Zeke says. He hands Rom off to Thorin and then removes the crossbow from his shoulder.
Anticipating a second attack, I quickly load another arrow, and Zeke does the same while falling behind to take up the rear. I continue to lead the way five paces ahead.